National Car Rentals Vs Independent Car Hire Operators
A major question when looking at car rentals is whether to use a National Company or a local Independent operator. With the National Companies the benefits are firstly, you are dealing with a National and sometimes an International Company and all the good and not so good aspects of that. Large companies are often Public Companies or they are owned by Public Companies and therefore must conduct themselves in a suitably responsible manner. The Officer holders of that company are ultimately responsible to their shareholders and must answer to them for a satisfactory financial return on their investment and the overall performance of that company. This obviously requires them to conduct the affairs of the business in an ethical manner and be answerable to the laws of the land. This ideally results in the business being run in a profitable, professional manner, with the customer receiving the benefits along with the security of dealing with such an organization.
On the practical side the customer can pick up and drop off his/her hire car at the airport usually requiring less waiting time. The cars are generally of a standard one would expect, i.e. clean, new or near new, fuelled and with local maps and/or GPS devices if ordered and come with generally good customer service to complete the experience.
The Independent operators do not have the luxury of airport desks so they must provide you with a shuttle service to and from the airport, so the wait may be lengthy. Most will have an option of both new and used vehicles with the used cars being cheaper of course. The age and condition of the cars will not please all travellers, however if you can put up with the wait for the shuttle and an older car to drive, then the price difference may be worth it. The quality of service can vary between operators as the independents are smaller and sometimes a one person operation. So the service will depend on the sort of day he/she is having and that is the major difference with a National company who have a bench mark for customer service that they must maintain. The Independent car hire company may offer a cheaper rate, but other dubious charges may apply without notification.
There are some secondary considerations and these are as follows. Nationals have a lot more branches and rental cars and therefore better availability and range of vehicles. Nationals therefore are able offer a much larger range of one- way hires i.e.pick up at one location and return to another. A National companies fleet is always new or as new and therefore much less likely to break down.
Finally, the decision is yours and yours alone and all you have to do to choose is a little research assisted by the internet, so drive saftely and enjoy.
