Since 2009 we’ve been regularly renting cars from Enterprise. Until recently we’ve had mostly exceptional service in every branch we’ve hired from. Our last two experiences, both from the same branch, were disappointing to say the least.
We’ve toyed over buying a cheap runaround car during the past twelve months. Mainly so I could more easily get to my daughter and grandson’s regularly. But the cost of buying a car, taxing it, MOT, and insurance just felt too steep for the amount of time it would be used. And ‘car hopping’ from place to place as you move around the Inland Waterways as Continuous Cruisers isn’t something I enjoy, having experience it for a while when I used my mum’s car a couple of years ago.
Other Hire Car Experiences?
Does anyone out there have any recommendations? We’ve used Enterprise for so long, thinking they’re ‘the best for boaters’, but it feels as though that may no longer be the case. Their ‘by-line’ “we’ll pick you up” was a disaster last month, and the price of over £40 a day has become unaffordable for us. Maybe it’s just the Chester branch? I’m almost a Platinum member, and historically it’s been easy to hire with them, so I don’t want to cut my nose off to spite my face but …
Not So Simple With An Itinerant Lifestyle
Researching alternatives I was rather shocked to see many other firms asking for ‘utilities bills’ with a land address were required to rent a car. Something most live-aboard wouldn’t have access to! That’s a bit discriminatory I thought; though I do understand their rationale.
We far prefer to rely on Public Transport, which is a little cheaper now we both have Senior Railcards. If only they still provided free bus passes at 60 too! In May we are going to be in Angelsey with Lisa and her family, so have little choice but to rent a car.
Over to you readers. Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions to share? either in the comments below, or email us via our contact us page.
Thank you in advance 😉
Electric bicycles. (also called ebikes) They get really decent mileage these days, and could be stored on the boat … I know they’d be restricted by long distances and bad weather (not necessarily if you have the right rain-gear though) … but maybe worth considering. You could probably rent a couple for a few hours and try ’em out. 🙂
Nice idea. And one Barry has looked at previously. But 😂 not a chance. Far too expensive. And no room on our narrowboat to store bikes. Plus it’s just not practical. We need to get to Anglesey yo spend time with Lisa and the boys. It has to be a car. Probably will be Enterprise. Just a different branch. May be that particular branch is in a settling in period. I certainly shan’t be going back there unless I’m desperate!