Renting a car in London

I love driving. Car is much more than just a means of transport for me. Aside from giving me a sense of freedom and flexibility, it's a place to relax, enjoy the ride and a private conversation with my travel companions.

In spite of my special feelings towards cars, I have decided I didn't need to own a car in London. I don't go to work by car, so 70% of time it would just stand in the parking lot.

But from time to time I need to satisfy my need for driving, I do need 4 wheels and a steering wheel belonging just to me, as if only for the weekend. To go to Seven Sisters, to that Golf course in the middle of nowhere friends invited me to, to bring old fridge, shelf and a couple of chairs to the recycling center, go shopping to IKEA or just go for a nice drive to nowhere with a nice music.

I've tried several options of "temporary owning the car": car sharing club (ZipCar), taking a car from a friend, cheap rental, not-so-cheap rental. Let me share what I've learnt below.

For me the essentials of renting a car are:

1. car must be close to where I am. Taking 2 buses and a train (altogether 1 hour) to get to the closest rental office to pick it up and then repeat the same process to drop it - kills all the benefits for me.
2. car should be small (have you tried driving on residential London streets on a Land Rover Jeep? Walking is faster) but not too small. Under-1-litre cars do not feel like cars for me.
3. car should be in good condition - clutch comfortable, gears switching smoothly, breaks working properly,  tyres full, suspension not rumbling on every bump like it's about to separate from the car.
4. the whole rental experience shouldn't cost more than 100-150 GBP per weekend (incl insurance, fuel and - preferrably - parking)
5. A/C in summer
6. USB to charge my phone - I use Google Maps on my phone for navigation and the battery only lasts a couple of hours. 
7. some space in the trunk, preferrably, hatchback - when I take a car, I often make trips to either shopping mall or IKEA. This requires some storage space, hatchback allows for better expansion of that space. Doesn't have to be a lot, but Smart doesn't satisfy the requirements.

Non-essentials or "I don't care" things:

• manual vs automatic - I drive both.
• fuel type. I prefer petrol mostly because I am somewhat environment conscious, but come to think of it, using petrol is still harmful to the environment. As long as I know which fuel it is, I am good.
• color, "coolness", Parktronic, navigator in the car, TV in the car, all-digital-smart-vehicle type of stuffing - not needed.  I learnt to drive and owned cars when Parktronic was not in use, so it's more of a luxury than a necessity for me.

ZipCar

Car sharing by the hour was the first thing I tried. 

Car sharing is when there are cars parked in certain predefined locations, you can book a car by the hour in specific location. You must return it to the same location by the end of your booking. It's an "all-inclusive" option - insurance, congestion charge and even fuel is included. You get a fuel card to pay with, the only thing you are asked for is to keep the car neat and tidy, and refuel if level of fuel drops below 1/4 of the tank. The price is around 8 GBP per hour for a small and non-fancy car.

I had a membership discount, there were cars in the vicinity of where I live and I liked that the price is exactly what I see and can calculate by the hour. I used it for some time to drive to shopping malls from time to time and take my son to sports. Once I have taken it to go to Brighton. Big mistake. I did not pay attention to the mileage restrictions (60 miles per day, after which you start paying by the mile) and it cost me a fortune. Also, with time, "the vicinity" started feeling like too far from my house and tight schedule made me nervous.

So I started looking for other options.

Friend's car

That would be ideal. If someone had a car they did not use and I could pay for the fuel and maybe some symbolic maintenance fee. I'd buy insurance for myself (yearly ones are relatively cheap) and take it as needed.

I had a friend, who had a car here in London. She did not use it much and was happy for me to use it. The only problem was - the car was brought in from Germany. According to DVLA rules you can only use a foreign car in Britain for 6 months. After that you must register it with local authorities, which implies local insurance and potentially re-mounting the steering wheel from left to right (does anyone really do that!?). Many drive like this for years without being caught and could care less about registering, but, having given it some thought I realized, I was not ready to drive someone else's car like this. I even thought about bringing my Subaru from Estonia,  but then dismissed that idea as crazy. It would be even more expensive than buying a new car here.

Easy car

Around that time I considered option of easyCar.com. It's essentially easyJet in the market of car rentals. It's a system, which allows usual people rent their cars when they don't use them to others.
However, fast and simple calculation and research of the needed preconditions told me it was not worth it. Too expensive if I add all the insurance etc, and also some additional documentation was needed. Quick look at the offerings also showed that cars were not that good at all for the asking price. So I abandoned the idea.

Not-so-cheap rental

Since I needed and wanted to go our of city sometimes (yes, I do enjoy driving per se, so I would indeed prefer driving somewhere for 3 hours instead of taking a 1.5 hr train), I tested classic rental option. Again, I have some discounts with some rental companies, so I went ahead and booked a car via Enterprise. It is not cheap - about 200 GBP per weekend (Friday evening to Monday morning), but they were amazing. Easy booking on the site, good selection of cars and places for pickup, great service, good quality cars - it was well worth it.

I rented from Enterprise when I was in US. 2 hours into driving I realized that my tyre is flat. Refilling didn't help, so I called services next morning, and they put me a spare tyre.

"Limping" first car

I was able to drive back to rental office and they gave me another car with a full tank for free as a compensation for my troubles. The car was great, took me from San Fran to Los Angeles and I even dared to drive it on the beach.

Fancy second car

In London I tried Enterprise offices relatively close to my home at first. Unfortunately, it is only close if you drive - 10 mins from home. When you take buses to get there, it becomes an hour. I was frustrated. Then I remembered that one of the offices where I work is at Kings Cross, meaning there are plenty of rentals literally next door. And, important for London, they are outside congestion charge zone, which saves you another 12 GBP per day during working week.

So, I started booking rentals from Friday midday to Monday midday and driving home from work on Friday and driving to work on Monday morning. It turned out to be extremely convenient, but still expensive, because, in addition to rentals I also always bought full coverage insurance.

That is when I had a chat with someone at work who recommended buying a yearly insurance to cover all liabilities up to certain amount per year and using cheap rental companies. 

Cheap rental

Before I bought yearly insurance I tested cheap rentals. Between rentalcars.com and skyscanner.com I liked rentalcars.com better, although some say SkyScanner has cheaper options.

My first trial was not without disappointments. When I happily booked a crazy cheap option (49 GBP Fri-Mon from Kings Cross!), turned out that even CDW was not included, and I had to pay 3 times more (160 GBP total) to include CDW and full coverage). The offer was targeted at US citizens who apparently happen to have some US insurance which covers CDW here.

Lesson learnt, I started to read all the small print very carefully, and next attempts turned out pretty good. I got different rental companies every time, but, because the market is more or less established, you always get big and trusted players like Herz, Europcar, Budget - I had no problems with any of them.

So, I ended up buying a yearly insurance from insurance4carhire.com for 50 GBP covering excess on damage and theft up to £6,500 per year, worldwide. Personally, the way I drive, I might get some scratches on mirrors or bumper or wheels because I would brush the curb or would not fit nicely between two posts when parking. And it happens very rarely, so I feel safe.

I use rentalcars.com, they keep the clients by giving bonus points for each rental and providing discounts off advertised prices as you gather certain amount of points.

Enterprise has similar system of gathering points based on the amount you paid for the rental and when you accumulated enough, you can get a day or more of free rental by "paying with bonus points".

Tips and tricks

• Read the small print during booking! Check what is IN the price and what is not. CDW is a MUST! Lookout for mileage restrictions. Offers with restrictions are cheaper, but would only work for you if you do not drive far.
• On mileage restrictions: clarify with the rental if it is limited to per-day, or accumulated. E.g. if you have restriction of 100 mi per day and you drive 20 on first day and 180 on second - clarify if they charge you for 80 miles on second day or not. Usually they don't do it, but worth to double check.
• If company doesn't state it explicitly, know that by default, if the scratch is less the size of a credit card or not through paint, you should NOT be charged.
• Unless you are OK to spend some extra money, do not agree to s.c. "upgrades for just 12 pounds per day". Initially choose a car you are happy with and say "no" to selling. Sometimes they will upgrade you anyway because they only have big cars. :)
• Be picky about damage check at the beginning. Spend extra 10 mins and point out everything to them. The person checking the car when you return it will be someone else, so whatever this one says might not hold true.
• Check the trunk and interior when inspecting the car. People tend not to open trunk and back doors, and sometimes it's dirty there. Again, whoever checks the car later will not believe you that "it was like this".
• Rental price across the road from the airport is usually 1.5 times cheaper than in the airport, and both are way cheaper than price in Central London. Rentals outside, but close to the airport usually have free shuttle buses. Ask for it.
• When you feel you are being charged unfairly, don't be afraid to ask for manager. The agents inspecting the car and asking for your signature often would not call the manager or go to the manager and get back with "manager approved to not charge you this time".     

Conclusions

Between owning a car, using Uber all the time and renting a car when I really need it, renting turned out the cheapest and most efficient option for me. The cars I get are always new and I get to try different marks and models. Many times because rental offices have no cars left I get "free upgrades" just because bigger car is the only one they have left. :) Like this one below. It was supposed to be a tiny Vauxhall, but we got a big Renault with built-in navigator, Parktronic and all the fancy toys inside. Nice...  

And, by the way, this is my own car back in Estonia. I love her so much, couldn't sell her, so I use her every time I am coming to Tallinn.

Morning meditation at Kings Cross

I love coming to Kings Cross office in the morning and having coffee on the terrace with a view. I call it my morning meditation. I take a cup of latte, a bottle of water and head out.

It's quiet here at this time of the day. Too early still for the majority of this office's residents to come in. On the other hand it's too late for the commuters' crowd down below at Kings Cross, so the street below doesn't look like typical London rushing flow of people, but rather like a leisurely bunch enjoying the morning in the modern district being rebuilt in style.

London is hit by another heat wave again, so I immediately feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and squint against the bright sunlight. I put the coffee onto the parapet, inhale and exhale deeply as yoga teachers taught me years ago, to relax and "reset".

First I look around, enjoying the diverse landscape with UFO-shaped dome of Kings Cross railway station in front of me, intense greenery of Saint Pancras and Fitzrovia behind it, London Eye to the west and imagining the river somewhere behind it. To the east there is contour of the City in the morning haze and barely visible Canary Wharf farther behind. Shard sticks out next to the lower but still prominent St Paul's dome. I take it all in, along with the vast blue sky above all of that with feathers of white clouds spread over it here and there.

Being above the buildings it feels like being on top of a small mountain and looking at a panorama.  

I close my eyes, take a sip of morning coffee and focus on taste. Not too hot, not too cold with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon - great start of the day. 

Without opening my eyes I shift my attention to sounds, which are as diverse as the view. I know there is a construction site close-by to the east side - for many months sounds of drilling and banging dominate the soundscape of Kings Cross surroundings. There is another construction on the west side, but farther and smaller - the sounds are muffled and rare. 

In spite of Kings Cross being the major transport hub, it's not too loud. There are sounds of cars honking and accelerating at the crossroad, distant beeping of the pedestrian traffic lights, but other than that, it is relatively quiet. From time to time on top of all that there are shrieks of gulls gliding over the city.

I breath in and out again,  open my eyes and, recharged and with Kings Cross and Central London now inside me, ready to dive into work.