Car

Practicalities Getting There Car Car Hire 

Fly-driving is almost always more expensive than driving your own car. However, if you are going somewhere any distance from home, flying avoids the hassle of keeping your children amused for the duration of an extremely long drive. A car at the other end then gives you a lot more flexibility getting around.

Think about booking one a category up from the size you need if you will be doing anything more than short drives. This will help keep the children more comfortable and therefore less complaining.

Booking

Car rental is a complicated business. At its most basic it is governed by supply and demand. You could ring ahead and be quoted one price, only to find when you arrive at the airport desk that there has been a run on cars and the cost has risen.

Booking ahead may not always be the cheapest route but you can shop around for special offers, the price is guaranteed against currency fluctuations, and best of all with kids, you know there will be a vehicle waiting for your. If you can arrange to hire away from an airport you will probably find the rate is lower.

There are a raft of special rates and discount deals about which nothing may be volunteered so it may be worth asking. In particular look out for leisure rather than business rates at weekends near business centres, and ask about family rates or child discounts. Extra freebies are unlikely to be worthwhile unless they are discount vouchers for accommodation which might offer a saving - generally on chain hotels.

Many car hire operations are franchises, which means that the details on the spot are down to the local operation, not a central policy. Booking through a broker means even less control over the details of what you will end up with.

To complicate things further, even the international names offer different deals in different countries and while some hirers include everything, they may not do so always, so you always have to ask.

Note that you should be sure that the rate quoted includes extras such as local taxes and insurance plus adequate collision-damage insurance. (This last may be provided by your credit card but only for a limited period.)

If you are going to be driving much in any great heat, consider investing in the extra cost of air conditioning. It will mean much better moods all round.

Safety

Driving, generally on the wrong side of the road and often after a tiring flight is not ideal. Apparently the typical car hire crash occurs when leaving the airport, especially after long flights.

Consider arranging a transfer from the airport and either collecting or arranging a drop-off for your car the next day. (Motorhome companies in the US insist on at least one overnight before arrivals can take the vehicle.) There may be a drop off charge but you may also save a day's rental.

This will avoid hanging around at the airport when you have already got the children through a flight and it may well be late in the day and if after a long-haul flight you will probably be in need of a rest. In a rush, you may well skip the car inspection which would be better carried out at leisure during the next day.

Try to ensure that the vehicle has local number plates and does not carry hire car company stickers. this can be helpful not just in well-known problem areas like Florida but also anywhere with high unemployment such as say parts of Sicily. As with all requests, try to get confirmation in writing through in practice this may be difficult.

If you are at all doubtful about security keep the door locked while in the car. Avoid leaving maps and guidebooks lying around in sight, along with other items which will identify the car as one used by tourists.

Note that A report by Holiday Which? on 60 vehicles hires in Rhodes and the Costa Blanca in Spain found that just four passed an equivalent of a British MOT inspection and a full one third were regarded as unsafe. Although big name companies did better than smaller, local names, the difference was not marked and of the 21 cars hired from multinational firms, five were rated dangerous.

Child Seats

There is a particular problem with car hire when it comes to children's car seats. The cost of a car seat is, according to the companies below, never included in the initial payment but always charged on the spot and not one of the companies offers any kind of guarantee when it comes to providing these.

The fact that no company buys its seats centrally but in all cases tends to purchase ad hoc locally, is probably a good marker of the whole industry approach to the issue.

However, in the US in particular car hire companies are aware that the law requires that children up to the age of five are accommodated in a child seat. The rental companies are therefore obliged to provide the facility for as many children as are in the vehicle.


What to Ask For

Occasionally child seat hire is included in the standard price. If you choose to rely on the car hire company you might like to request a British/US-style model. Places like Cyprus may include more basic seats in the hire price but charge extra for the more comfortable padded ones.


Alternatives to Hiring

The more forthright companies we spoke to suggest that you will be safest if you take your own seat. This is all very well but your seat might not fit with the seat belts in the car you have hired.

At this point, said one broker, given the cost, you could probably buy one locally for the hire price which can range from US$5 up to as much as US$15 per day, or £25 per week, ie around £50 for a two-week holiday. This might be workable in Florida but is much less so if flying to one of the Mediterranean islands.


Using A child Seat on Board a Plane

Some operators point to the fact that the car seat can be taken and used as a child seat on the plane. This ignores some of the problems discussed under [Getting There - Flying].


Sending a Seat with Your Luggage

If you choose instead to sent the seat with your luggage, it is not advisable to do so with a hard plastic model. Baggage handlers might well drop it, causing invisible damage of the kind which could prove a serious problem in the event of a crash.

A polystyrene model would be better but they seem to be less adaptable to different seat fixings.

According to the child equipment experts at Lilliput in London, probably the best seat to take with you would be something like the polystyrene Britax [Suppliers] Supercruiser which makes use of the adult seat belt to strap in the child, rather than the five-point belt as found on the more sophisticated seats.

However, although officially acceptable for children under 18 months, expert child seat fitters do not recommend this style of seat below that age.

While a mid-range child seat may be available from car rental companies, baby seats seem to be much rarer, as are booster seats.

Given the importance of arranging things so children can see out of the window (to stave off both boredom and car sickness) it might be worth taking your own booster seat and this could be sent in the hold as the integrity of the seat is not as fundamental to the safety it provides as it is with seats for smaller children.


Three or More Children
If you have three or more children requiring child seats you have a particular problem. Most seats require shoulder straps for fixing. Few cars can offer this for all three seats in the back although some operators seem to be unaware of this. If this is pointed out, operators may then suggest putting one child in the front and need to be reminded that this is not safe if there is an airbag. They then can't report whether the car supplied will have a passenger airbag. . .

The only suggestion from some operators is to request an MPV which has three rows of seats and therefore more shoulder straps. You will however have to bear in mind that you can never actually book a specific model of car. If your original request is not available you will simply be allocated one in the same class - which might not be an MPV. Some models of MPV and some larger ‘full-size' or ‘luxury' US saloons come with an integral child seat, but you can never be guaranteed one of these so they are as good as non-existent.