Has anyone used Easy Car rental in UK ?
Same company as Easy Jet and supposed to have really good rates.

I don't think anyone's used it 'cause it's only just launched.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/002501.html

Yep - not actually started functioning yet.

End of this month at their London Bridge location, later in Barcelona and Glasgow if I remember the ad correctly.

Saw the founder of easy* interviewed on British TV about the new rental car biz. They advertise a rate of 9 pounds but there are a few mandatory fees such as a 5 pound cleaning fee and maybe a mandatory CDW. The penalties are extremely high for returning the car late. Something like 100 pounds if you're 5 minutes late. The locations won't be at airports. They have a deal with Mercedes to fill their fleet with A-classes. Sounds interesting but it's definitely not targeted at business travelers.

In addition to the MINIMUM 9 pounds fee (which has to be booked on the internet by the way), there is as Dudster has pointed out a 5 pounds cleaning fee.

Other points to consider are that there is a daily mileage allowance of only 75 miles (100 km) - mind you in a Mercedes A class I wouldn't want to do much more! Also there is an insuarnce excess of a whopping 500 pounds!

If you are considering the London Bridge location, be aware that it is on the top-floor of a multi-story car park, within SIGHT of London Bridge.

I think Dudster is mistaken when he says it is not targetd at the business traveller, but I agree that it is not suitable for the business traveller - like everything in life I believe you get what you pay for, and in this case, like the airline, I think you will get poor reliability.

If I was on holiday I think Easyjet would be great, but for business the limited schedules, lack of replacement aircraft and inability to transfer tickets are a massive hadicap. I have barred people who work for me from using the airline, the cost davings were sometimes great (although not always!) but the number of missed meetings was unacceptable.

I think the car rental business will be the same.

Nick

Thanks for the detail Nick. I think I'm going to be sticking with Avis... Stellios is going to have to do better than that.

There was an interesting article in The Sunday Times about East-rentacar today.

I won't bore you with the whole article, but it compared costs with the established car rental companies, and essentially Easy was MORE expensive in the majority of examples.

One interesting point was that a daily rental was for the DAY not for 24 hours - so if you rented at 9.00am you would have to have the car returned that evening!

Nick

I thought you didn't believe everything (or was it anything) that you read in the Sunday Times?

James: I only believe it when it supports the prejudice I have already formed in my mind

I saw Stelios say on TV that easyRentacar was targeted at city dwellers who occaisionally need a car to go shopping or whatever.

Dudster: I think you will find that Stelios says whatever he thinks his audience wants to hear - so if he was appearing on say a London based news program he would say it is a benefit for Londoners.

On another program he will say it is aimed at business travellers on another holiday makers.

Nick

I was pleased to see the announcementof EasyRentaCar. I have no intention of using the service, but will enjoy being able to use Stelios' full service car rental rivals (National, Thrifty etc) at even greater discounted rates as they react to the competition.

When I first flew from Edinburgh to London some 7 years ago, the cheapest fare on the market was with BA and was �92 return.

Now, one need never pay more than �49 - �59 with BA or BD if one shops around, all thanks to the competition spurred by Easyjet. And one can still enjoy the 'frills' and reliablity of a main line carrier. Thanks Stelios!

Incidentally, Thrifty offers a special deal for Gatwick Airport rentals of just �18 per day ALL-IN (i.e including CDW, VAT, Taxes and service charges) AND you get the best car available. It is aimed at leisure travellers of business travellers on longer stays in the UK (based on a 7 day rental).

Might also be of interest to LatinPassers in the UK?!

Happy Travels

Samuel

Thanks for all the great replies. I think I will avoid easycar this time. Way too many conditions and extras.I emailed them and asked if one could specify between manual transmission or automatic and they said you got what you got when you get there. Being from N. America I would be more comfortable with an automatic but realise I may have to pay a heavy premium for one in the UK. I will definately check out Hertz at Gatwick though.

Samuells..I mean't Thrifty not Hertz.
Thanks for the tip.
Dave