Car Hire etc

[markmarkymark]

Greetings all

Can anyone recommend a car hire place in the Reading / Berkshire area and / or a national service?

I have not used these services very often, but due to business reasons I may need to hire car for odd days here are there ...There are plenty of sites on the web, but where to start????

Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m really after the following:

1) Car: nothing too posh (but needs to do up to 300 miles in the day in some comfort)
2) I need to leave by 0630 in the morning and not back to 2000. I therefore need to optimise hire since I guess I will need to hire it for 2 days??? (I want to avoid 3 days)
3) In relation to 2) I really could do with it being delivered and picked up
4) Its for travel to clients (so its not personal use) - does that matter
5) Its got to be good value
6) Anything else I need to think about?

Would be interested in your views / suggestions / advice.

cheers

Mark
:)

[Gareth]

If you're doing it on a professional basis, then I'd go for perks... I think it's Avis who will throw in BA Air Miles when you hire enough with them. I've had problems with hiring stuff for personal use via them (they refused me a car when I landed at Gatwick once, because I have a debit card instead of a credit card... despite having let me drive to the airport 14 days earlier! :mad: )

For personal use, I can recommend a company called 1-car-1 (www.1car1.com) - they have been extremely good whenever I've used them, although looking at your criteria above, they're probably not the most suitable for your current needs.

[Graham F]

Is Wokingham ok for you or is Reading better?

If Wokingham i have used B T C Vehical Rentals 0118 977 0770 Eddystone Garage, Barkham Rd, Wokingham, Berkshire and found them very good in the past :)

[SMHarman]

Many of the national firms deliver / collect for an additional fee, you need to weigh the cost of the fee against the convinience and the cost of extra days hire / getting to / from the hire location.

With the national firms if you are doing this regularly sign up to their renter schemes, Avis Preferred, Hertz #1 Club Gold etc. This means the paperwork is presigned and you literally walk in find the car with your name on it and drive off.

Also with say Avis join the BA executive club, quote their AWD number and you regularly get a 1 car class upgrade, rent a B class, get a C class (not a Merc).

It does not matter what you use it for as long as it is not hire or reward or pacemaking.

The Chains are good value these days, they also may be better if you are looking at such long distances as the breakdown cover may be better / more effective.