02nd December 2016 | Author: John Murphy
I am not going to say that renting a van is a complex or in depth process but it is certainly an area that has experienced large amounts of change in the last 10 years. Basically van hire rates are less than half of what they were 15 years ago, the vans are typically newer, do more miles and depreciate faster. Somethings up right?
Well, yes it is. The car rental companies have entered the market and are now applying their same tactics to the commercial hire market. I recently needed a 7 seater car and picked one up from a local global franchise. While there I noticed a couple of things that really differentiated this type of operation from an independent like us. While the initial van hire rate looked cheap ( even to me!) its not that simple. Observations below.
When I initially started in the rental business I used to get highly frustrated answering the same question from every customer. Basically the "How much to rent a van for a day?" question. This would be regardless of if it was required for a day, month or a year. As I became more experienced I realized that it was lack of familiarity on the customers side that lead to the cost question always taking precedence.
Here are a couple of questions that can serve the customer better and should be asked:
As the reader will have guessed these are all things that I noticed during my very long wait to both collect and return my rental vehicle, the M50 toll surcharges were the icing on the cake.
The largest of the multiples allows customers to book commercial vehicles with a Vat rate of 13%. However upon billing the vat rate then shifts to 23%. I actually rented a van to make sure and this was indeed the case. So when you get a quotation make sure that the Vat rate is clearly displayed.
Next is the upsell. Basically when you arrive to collect your van you will be informed that you have the minimal amount of insurance and that you would be crazy to take the vehicle out with only that cover. So they will then try to tack on excess protection at 25 Euro per day. Its all starting to get a bit expensive now. So you decide to use your own cover, but they inform you that you can't do that. They are blocking you because they want you to buy theirs.
Ok, Mini rant is done. Thanks for reading.
John Murphy