What a great car! What a fantastic rate! (easyCar)

Member Name: andymcf

Product:	easyCar
Date:	18/11/02 (201 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Nice cars

Disadvantages: Buy a CDW. Don't think of not doing so!, Don't damage it!, Don't think about turning up early!

Residents of the UK will know Stelios Haji-Iannou...or simply "Stelios" very well. He's the man behind EasyJet, EasyCar, Easythis, Easythat and (the real thing) Easyeverything. Dot Com. He's deservervedly very rich, but he is also Captain Cheapo - or Mr Nice guy. He speaks good value, at any rate. We just tend to dislike EasyJet, however often we might tend to use it. Personally, I'm not guilty in that respect and, anyway....this is a review of his car rental business, which - in my humble opinion - is really superb. Read on!

Having flown to Glasgow with baby Josh, we needed to hire a car. The best available rate was very clearly with EasyCar. We decided to give it a go. We're very glad we did. We booked on-line. That's what you do with EasyCar; you'll certainly pay more if you don't. If you're reading this review at Epinions.com, you've no excuse not to use the internet, anyway!

EasyCar are cheap. Extraordinarily cheap! 5 days' hire of a Mercedes A-class (a really superb compact car) with fewer than 5,000 miles on the odometer surely ought to have cost more than UKP 48. A LOT more. (I guess that's about $70). I booked on-line. I blinked in utter disbelief, but it was true. We're talking about a very high-quality car at an absolutely unbelievably cheap price.

I repeat. EasyCar are staggeringly cheap. So what is the catch?

As long as you spend a few extra bucks on their extended insurance, there really isn't a catch - but you really MUST do this if you want to sleep at night.

We'd booked our car and arrived at Glasgow International Airport. We caught a cheap bus direct to the pick-up point. Like most things in Stelios' Easy Empire, it's painted bright orange. We were 45 minutes early.

There was apparently NO WAY we could pick up the car 45 minutes early. The car was sitting there, amidst hundreds of others, but the computer system just
wouldn't allow it to be released a minute early. Blame a combination of Stelios' business acumen and Bill Gates' technology. We were told to wait. Silly, really, but no great problem. We strolled around the compound with baby Josh in his stroller, where there were literally hundreds of clean Mercedes A-class cars of every description. Some of their bases offer rather cute "Smart cars", but otherwise you'll always get a Mercedes A-class of some type, and there's really nothing at all wrong with that! From the basic "Classic" to the up-market "Avant-Garde", petrol....diesel, red, green, blue, silver......every variant you could ever think of, they have it. What you actually get allocated is, however, something of a gamble. The A-class is a really nice, trendy car (OK, it once failed the infamous Scandinavian Elk-test but (a) that problem has since apparently been corrected and (b) we didn't even once encounter any wayward elks, even in the highlands of Scotland) and it's great fun to drive; it is extremely comfortable and it suits young children just fine. It's small on the outside and big (comparable to the C-class) on the inside. It's a driver's car...and a passenger's car. The access to the rear seat is at a high, easily accessible level and makes installing a baby-seat an absolute doddle. We had brought our own baby car seat - EasyCar simply don't supply them - take note if this is important to you. Far better than my own Peugeot 206 GTi as far as child-friendliness is concerned, if a lot less gutsy.

Our booked pick-up time of 2.00pm finally arrived and the computer suddenly jumped into life. All systems go! I was asked for my driver's licence and credit card number. My 'photo was taken, digitally - and kept on record for future hires. All was suddenly tickety-boo. We were now ready to do business and pick up the car. Things moved quickly and we drove off towards the v
ery beautiful highlands of Scotland. There! I've said it! Scotland is beautiful. (I got married there...in a kilt. What Scotsmen wear underneath should be the subject of another epinion. I digress!).

And what was the question they asked first in the allocation process? You'll NEVER guess! Well, here goes...."What colour would you like?" Ye Gads! I stuttered, disbelieving....."It really doesn't matter......no....green". I'd gazed through the window and seen one in green. It looked nice. The clerk in the bright orange shirt that typifies the Easy Empire typed this information into the computer and my fate was instantly sealed. "Could I possibly have an Avant-garde version with a reasonably large engine?" (translates as "please give me the best car you've got"), I whispered. Nope! The only car they had in green was the basic A140 Classic, and the computer had already allocated it. Lovely to look at, but seriously underpowered....as we soon found when we climbed up the beautiful, but steep, mountains in the highlands of Scotland at a snail's pace, en-route for baby Josh's great-grandparents' home. I don't really know what to advise fellow customers in this respect - once you define a colour (and how very, very silly is that?) your choice seems to be pre-determined. Try going for red! Or, maybe, silver.

EasyCar like safe drivers. We all do, of course! They penalise people who do anything so much as remove a ghastly orange sticker from their car in a totally Draconian financial style; and we're talking HUGE sums of money here. Do NOT crash the car under any circumstances! Don't do anything to it other than drive it safely and return it with a full tank of fuel! And pay for their collision damage waiver in advance! You will, possibly, double your (very, very cheap) rental fee, but you will enjoy complete peace of mind by doing so. If you don't, you'll simply worr
y continuously.

Return the car with a full tank of fuel, no scratches and no blemishes and life is sweet. A scratch of any size and (unless you've bought the insurance) you'll pay through the nose. It would cease to be a cheap deal very quickly and quite needlessly.

EasyCar provided us with a clean, immaculately presented Mercedes for a silly price of less than $10 per day. It was a superb little vehicle at a ridiculously cheap price. The operation is somewhat idiosyncratic (but very efficient) but you really can't complain at the price - especially if you don't mind driving around in a car that has huge, bright orange stickers all over it. That didn't bother me at all.

Bottom line: Great car. Clean car. Efficient, if slightly bizarre, business operation. Absolutely incredible price. If you intend to put a million miles on the clock, you'll pay through the nose; mileage allowances are certainly not generous. We had planned our tour carefully and got a great price for the convenience. As long as you pay extra for the insurance you'll have a great time in a fantastic, clean, new car. If you don't, you'll spend your time worrying about the huge expense of paying for a potential accident, whoever happens to be to blame. Remember that we drive on the left in the UK; all the more reason to insure yourself if you're not used to that! And - NO - I didn't crash the car; nor did I worry about it; I had insurance!

Like everything in the EasyEmpire - it pays to book as early as you can.

I am very happy to recommend EasyCar most highly. So is Josh. Visit them at www.easycar.com

Andrew

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