Introducing the Private Car Rentals Concept

DriveMyCar Rentals (DMCR) puts a unique spin on car hire by hooking up renters with car owners. This peer-to-peer car sharing platform attracts owners by allowing them to generate income from their cars which in turn furnishes renters with the largest, most varied selection of cars to choose from.

Whether you want to save money with an old 1990 sedan or indulge yourself with a Maserati coupe, chances are you’ll find something that suits you. It’s also an excellent place for those seeking long-term car rentals at competitive prices.

All one needs to do is register yourself as a Driver for free. You’ll be able to search by make, style, rate and suburb. The results include pictures of the cars as well as the corresponding year of production. Select your car of interest and you’ll receive a brief overview of information like the all-inclusive daily rate, minimum rental duration, minimum driver age, insurance excess and the number of kilometres on the odometer.

Pick your rental dates to get an immediate quote and if you’re happy, submit a booking. You’ll need to do this at least 48 hours in advance of your pickup time and once the owner accepts your booking, you’ll have to pay a 16.5% administrative deposit to secure it (any cancellation prior to commencement and you’ll lose your deposit so don’t book until you’re certain!) You’ll then agree with the car owner where and when you’ll meet for the handover and to sign the agreement.

How reliable are the cars? Well, DriveMyCar Rentals ensures all cars are of roadworthy condition, complete with current registration and requires all owners to sign a declaration that their cars are in good working condition. Roadside Assistance for $1/day is incorporated in the daily rate though you can opt out of it.

All cars are also insured at a compulsory cost of $10/day which is also included in the daily rate. The amount of insurance excess on the car varies (starting at $1,250 up to $7,500 or even $15,000 for serious supercars) and you’re given an option to reduce the excess by 50% for a daily fee (from $5/day to $15-25/day).

When you first register as a driver, you start out at the Bronze Driver level. If you (and you should) upload your driving history information, making you more legit and trustworthy, you’ll be upgraded to Silver Driver which in turn gives you access to a larger variety of cars, particularly premium cars. Once you’ve rented at least 2 cars over DMCR and received positive feedback from the car owners, you’ll be awarded Gold Driver rating and have full access to all vehicles on the site.

All in all, DMCR is a highly promising site that’s looking expand their presence internationally this year. A few checks reveals they indeed have very competitive rates relatively to the Big Boys of Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty. There’s still room for operational improvement like making the search function more user-friendly but they’ve certainly set themselves apart.

One of their key selling points is the fact that there’s so much choice for the renter. If you live in Australia, there’s no reason not to give the site a check the next time you want to rent and are looking for something a little different.

Link:
DriveMyCar Rentals

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1. East Coast Car Rentals serves up Sydney Airport

2011 is here and once again, we’ve scoured the big brand and independent car rental companies within Australia’s major cities to get a gauge on what’s on offer. The aim of our research was to help point people in the right direction when it comes to finding value and understanding all there is to know about renting a car. Along the way, we made some interesting observations.

To recap, 2010 saw a jump in prices from the Big Boys (Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty) as compared to early 2009 of almost 40-50%. Our hypothesis pointed at the global recession as a the culprit for this staggering increase (read more here). Fortunately, despite the increase in Premium Location Fees charged by airports to the rental companies for operating on-site, it appears Big Boys’ rental rates have now eased down by an average of 20% across the major cities’ airports*. Accordingly, downtown car hire prices have also dropped.

The independents, however, have not adjusted their rates by much. Their offerings remain by and large similar apart from perhaps a fleet update. That means the price gaps between them and the Big Boys are now smaller. Therefore, those too time-poor to research all the various independents out there for the lowest price wouldn’t be overpaying by as much as before. Still, savings (sometimes significant) are up for grabs for those who make the effort.

On the down side, we noticed an increase in Standard Liability amounts. While many companies maintained their levels, a few were upped from e.g. $2750 to $3300, and none were reduced. This implies now more than ever, renters need to be smart about how to protect themselves. One of our most popular (and valuable) articles is on alternative car rental insurance options that, to put it simply, you just have to read.

A myriad of complicated choices with all their clauses and fine print continue to await the car hire seeker. As such, it is a welcome development that the new Australian Consumer Law has been launched to give extra protection to all consumers, with car hire being one of the targeted industries. Fine print written to protect car hire companies is no longer completely binding with this new law that now allows a case to be judged based on how fair a particular condition set by a car rental company is in the first place.

All in all, it looks like steps in the right direction for us renters. At Car Hire Insider, we’ll continue to work towards demystifying the car hire maze. Stay tuned!

* Our research covered Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.

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In the latest of promising industry developments, Hertz and Etihad have signed a three-year contract to offer a “seamless air to road luxury travel” experience, bringing Etihad customers money-saving deals and benefits. The partnership will integrate Hertz and Etihad’s technology platforms so travellers can conveniently book rental cars through Hertz’s dedicated microsite for Etihad customers, etihad.com as well as Etihad’s call centres and retail outlets.

In terms of perks, Etihad Guest loyalty program members will get access to exclusive offers on etihad.com on top of receiving 500 Guest Miles with each rental. Meanwhile, Etihad’s Pearl Business Class passengers will receive a 15% discount when renting luxury vehicles from the Hertz Prestige Collection, while Diamond First Class guests will receive complimentary access to the top level of Hertz #1 Club, the President’s Circle.

We did a quick check to see the level of discount that may be on offer – a 3-day hire from Melbourne Tullamarine airport showed the following rates:

• Economy Car (Toyota Yaris hatch): Hertz direct A$195.58; Via Etihad A$154.67 = 21% savings
• Standard Car (Toyota Camry sedan): Hertz direct A$217.63; Via Etihad A$189.97 = 12% savings

Not bad.

This is a first in terms of the depth of integration between an airline and car rental company and we’re glad for those who are in the position to take advantage of its effects. Kudos to improving customer experience. Lets hope this motivates more such partnerships to develop so we have more access to better deals.

Introductory Offer: All Etihad customers renting a car with Hertz by April 30, 2011 will have the chance to win a luxurious package of two return Etihad flights to either Europe or Australia, five nights’ 5-star accommodation at Relais & Chateaux, and the use of a Hertz Prestige Collection vehicle for five days to explore the open road.

Links:
Etihad Airways
Hertz (Etihad partner information)

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1. Car Hire Discounts from Partner Programs

Europcar has been named the World’s Leading Car Hire Company (for the 4th year running), the World’s Leading Leisure Car Rental Company (for the 7th year running), as well as the World’s Leading Green Transport Solution Company (2nd win to date) at this year’s World Travel Awards.

They also nicked the title of Australasia’s Leading Car Hire Company but lost out to Avis who won both the World’s and Australasia’s Leading Business Car Rental Company.

The awards, held on 7th November 2010 in London, is the travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars. The winning companies are voted for across a broad range of categories (from “leading” hotels, airlines, car hire companies, marketing campaigns, and so on) by almost 190,000 industry professionals worldwide.

The results highlight to us that in addition to being on top of the car rental game, Europcar places a notable emphasis on protecting the environment and acquiring a greener fleet. Perhaps, it may just be worth giving them a little preferential treatment the next time we hire.

Links:
Europcar
World Travel Awards

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Significant changes are on the horizon for Qantas Frequent Flyer members. A new exclusivity agreement means that from 19 November 2010 onwards, members will only get car hire discounts and perks when renting with Avis and Budget. So for anyone that favours Hertz or Thrifty, you’ll still be eligible to collect points for rentals that are completed by 18 November 2010, but after that, no more.

This move is supposed to be beneficial. QFF says it will allow them to offer a higher level of offers from their exclusive partners, thereby maximizing savings for their members. However, the obvious major drawback is that we are now limited to a choice of only two car hire companies instead of four.

As a sign of goodwill perhaps, to kick things off, all Australian car rentals three days or more from Avis or Budget that are picked up by 31 October 2010 will earn you an extra bonus 1,000 points on top of the usual points. Below we’ve listed the promotional codes you’ll have to enter to receive this bonus:

Bonus 1,000 Extra Qantas Frequent Flyer Points

Avis coupon code: MPPA074
Budget coupon number: MPNZ010

Let’s just hope QFF wrings out enough goodies to compensate for our lost options.

If you’re looking for a deal, don’t forget to check our collection of other car hire coupons and discounts from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty.

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1. Frequent Renter Programs: Is There A Winner?
2. Car Hire Discounts from Partner Programs
3. Car Hire Coupons & Discount Codes Galore

Good news for folks looking for Sydney Airport rentals!

East Coast Car Rentals, already amongst our top picks for independents in Brisbane, Gold Coast, and Melbourne have opened shop there and we’re pleased to find their prices for Sydney Airport hires are as competitive as ever. On top of that, they offer probably the lowest daily waiver reduction rates. Read more in our updated article on the Best Independent Companies for Sydney Airport.

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1. Sydney Airport – Best Independent Car Hire Companies
2. Sydney Airport-City Public Transport
3. Sydney City – Best Independent Car Hire Companies

Oodles is one of our top two recommended car rental comparison sites for the Big Boys of Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty. In our Oodles review, we highlighted the site’s unique ability to plug in discount codes (or coupons) from Avis, Budget and/or Hertz when doing a search but had lamented the fact you need to seek out these discount codes in the first place.

Now, they’ve added a new section in their homepage featuring ‘today’s top ten deals’. Clicking on a coupon code will automatically enter it as part of your search criteria. You can enter one code each for Avis, Budget and Hertz to be searched in tandem. We like this as another step in the right direction to simplify, simplify, simplify. Now if only they’ll let us plug in discount codes from Europcar and Thrifty too!

Click to view Oodles website

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Anyone who has rented a car from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, or Thrifty before mid-2009 will be in for a big shock when they notice the not-so-modest jump in current car hire prices. Our original post on car hire costs to expect used to say a 1-week car hire for a full-sized sedan will cost you an average of A$290. Now, we’ve revised it to ask you to expect a cost around the A$430 mark. That’s a whopping 40-50% average price increase across Australia’s major city airports!

Why has this happened? (with thanks to Sarah for the question)
The global recession has hit the travel industry hard – just look at all the flailing airlines – and that includes car hire. The story as told by the major car rental companies is that they’ve had to slash their fleet in order to stay afloat in these bad times. As a result, with greatly reduced cars available, they’ve had to push up prices. How absolutely essential it is for them to raise prices this substantially, if at all, is open to debate.

What can we do about it?
Thankfully, most of the major price hikes have been reserved to the big global brands. If you want to stick with these known names, you will just have to fork out the money. But you may be more motivated to consider other options: Many of the smaller independent companies haven’t increased their prices (and even if they have, it’s by a lot less). We suggest you do a little extra research on alternative companies as now, more than ever, your savings will likely be sizable. A little digging can go a long way.

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VroomVroomVroom and Bargain Wheels, two of the choice car hire sites we uncovered in our research, are now one.

The potential synergy is clear with each comparing different sets of car hire companies: VroomVroomVroom grabs you the live prices from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty, whilst Bargain Wheels delivers prices from the smaller independent car hire companies throughout Australia. VroomVroomVroom is at the top of their game in our opinion. At this point Bargain Wheels does not display results in a user-friendly fashion but they can deliver savings in particular locations (it is one of our recommended sites for Brisbane, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide).

The combined result could potentially be what every car rental seeker dreams of. So let’s hope this corporate buyout translates into advantages for us customers with VroomVroomVroom improving on Bargain Wheels’ usability and developing a search engine that will incorporate both their capabilities into one. We’ll be keeping an eye out on the two for you.

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