Hiring a car in the UK

My wife recently passed her driving test, and we decided to hire a car from Enterprise in Lewisham for a trip to Seven Sisters with our toddler. Neither of us had ever hired a car before, so we did some research online and spoke to friends to understand the process. We were nervous about driving a car that we didn't own, and particularly about how much we would get charged in case we did have an accident and damaged the vehicle. In this article, I describe the process end-to-end and what we learned, in the hope that someone may find this helpful.

Table of contents#

• 1. You need a licence and credit card to hire a car
• 2. Choose where to hire from
  • 2.1. Traditional hire company
  • 2.2. An intermediary
  • 2.3. P2P platform
• 3. Excess insurance is significantly cheaper with standalone cover
• 4. Book early if you can, as prices fluctuate
• 5. Schedule your hire based on the opening hours of the branch
• 6. Make a plan before you even pick up the car
• 7. Our experience with Enterprise
  • 7.1. Enterprise groups cars by tiers
  • 7.2. Add-ons, such as excess cover, cost extra
  • 7.3. Picking up the car
  • 7.4. The drive
  • 7.5. Returning the car
  • 7.6. The final receipt and payment experience was disappointing
• 8. Conclusion

1. You need a licence and credit card to hire a car#

1. Satisfy the minimum age requirement, which varies between hire companies.
2. Full UK driving licence
   • My wife got her licence about a month ago. I called up Enterprise ahead of time and confirmed that this wouldn't be a problem.
   • Avis, for example, requires you to have held your licence for at least one year.
3. A credit card in the driver's name with space for the hire, and a deposit of £200.
   • Credit cards are preferred because they reduce risk for the hire company [Expedia - Can you use a debit card to rent a car?].
   • If the total hire costs over £100, a credit card also gives you extra protection [moneysavingexpert - How to book cheap car hire].
   • If you plan to use a debit card, make sure the hire company will accept it ahead of time.

We weren't asked for a DVLA check code (valid for 21 days), but some rental companies may ask for this too.

2. Choose where to hire from#

In this section, we will compare some of the main options in detail. However, if it's your first hire, I suggest not overthinking it or trying to find the cheapest one. Just make sure you have excess protection, which we will discuss in a later section. I went with Enterprise mostly because one of my friends recommended it and because they don't have a requirement to have held the licence for at least one year.

2.1. Traditional hire company#

The table below compares some of these hire companies. The Which? column is the customer score from its survey of 3,637 renters. Which? surveys a representative panel it recruits itself. Trustpilot is open to anyone, so for most hire firms it collects the angry minority. From this table, it looks like Arnold Clark is the only decent one, but unfortunately their branch was slightly further away from our place.

* When I called Arnold Clark to enquire, they said time held on a foreign licence counts towards the one-year requirement, so you don't need to have held a UK licence for a full year.

2.2. An intermediary#

A popular intermediary is Booking.com, whose car hire is run by Rentalcars.com. You still collect the car from the car hire company, and you still sign their rental agreement at the counter. Booking.com/Rentalcars.com scored 76% in Which?'s broker survey, which puts it at the top of the brokers they measured but behind Zest Car Rental at 90%, its only recommended provider.

It could be cheaper to hire via a broker, as they buy in bulk and can pass some of the discount along. However, they may become an extra party to deal with in any dispute.

2.3. P2P platform#

You can rent someone else's car through a peer-to-peer [P2P] platform like Turo.

As Turo has better reviews, it's worth considering. Turo's plans cap what you owe the platform for physical damage, and the price is shown at checkout. Claims processing costs of up to £250 per claim sit on top of the cap, refundable only if a third party's insurer accepts full fault and handles it. There is no inspection when you hand the keys back. The photos you take and upload within the app are therefore very important. The host has to report damage within 24 hours of the trip ending, and then picks whether to deal directly with you or let Turo manage the claim.

3. Excess insurance is significantly cheaper with standalone cover#

The excess insurance at most hire companies is very expensive, ranging from about £15 to £40 or more per day. Standalone cover from a separate provider can be a lot cheaper [moneysavingexpert - How to book cheap car hire]. I got many quotes for less than £50 for excess cover for a whole year, including those that covered wheels and glass. Some options cover additional drivers or P2P hires.

However, if you don't buy the car hire company's own insurance, they may require a larger deposit. If there is an incident, they will charge you their excess, and then you'll need to claim back the cost from your own excess insurance provider.

For our first trip, we decided to use the car hire company's own excess cover for the convenience factor.

4. Book early if you can, as prices fluctuate#

I was eyeing an automatic car at around £110 for a Saturday-Sunday 24-hour booking. We delayed making the reservation as my wife was not feeling well. By the time we booked, on the Friday before the trip, the price had jumped by about £40. You could make reservations with free cancellation weeks or months in advance, and set reminders/alerts to ensure you cancel them with sufficient notice in case you don't need them in the end.

5. Schedule your hire based on the opening hours of the branch#

A rental day at Enterprise is exactly 24 hours, with a 29-minute grace period. Hiring a car for 10 hours would cost the same as hiring it for 24 hours. At weekends, you also need to factor in that branch opening times may be reduced. Our local branch at Lewisham is generally open from 08:00 to 18:00, but only from 08:00 to 14:00 on Saturdays and from 11:00 to 15:00 on Sundays. Because a full day is 24 hours, we could not pick up before 11:00 on Saturday, since the earliest we could return the car on Sunday was 11:00.

At airports, you'll likely find better opening hours on weekends, in addition to lower prices. However, we decided to stick with the local branch this time.

6. Make a plan before you even pick up the car#

• Picking up the car
  • Allow at least 30 minutes at the branch to go through paperwork and checks.
  • Create a checklist of the photos and videos to take. Turo has a good checklist of exterior and interior photos to take. They also recommend taking photos from identical views so it's easier to compare.
  • Create a checklist of any other checks to make on the car. Car Excess has a pre-journey checklist written for hire cars covering fluids, tyres, lights, wipers and getting familiar with the controls. The RAC's FORCES checklist (fuel, oil, rubber, coolant, electrics, screen wash) may also be helpful.
  • Create a checklist of any questions that you want to ask the hire company.
  • Create a checklist of items to take, e.g., required documentation, car seat, power bank, etc.
• The drive
  • Know what number you need to call in the event of a breakdown. This will likely be on the booking confirmation email.
  • Know what you need to do in the event of an accident. This will likely be on the booking confirmation email.
  • Set up your navigation app in advance.
  • Check for tolls on the route and decide how you'll pay for them.
  • Check whether you'll enter a charging zone, e.g., ULEZ in London, and if so, ask the hire company whether the car is compliant.
  • Decide where you'll stop for breaks/refuel.
  • Decide where to park at the destination.
• Returning the car
  • Return early to reduce the risk of penalties.
  • Decide where to recharge/refuel before drop-off if the car hire policy requires you to.
  • Take the same photos and videos again.

7. Our experience with Enterprise#

7.1. Enterprise groups cars by tiers#

At Enterprise, rather than choosing a specific model, you're offered a tier. For a Saturday-Sunday hire two weeks away at my local Lewisham branch in August 2026, manuals started at around £80 for a Toyota Aygo and automatics at around £130 for a Vauxhall Corsa. The gap between the two closes as you move up the tiers. By the middle of the range, a manual and an automatic both cost around £145. Electric cars, where offered, cost roughly £20 to £35 more than their petrol equivalents in the same tier.

7.2. Add-ons, such as excess cover, cost extra#

Our own bill is shown in the table below. These are prices for one day. They made a pre-authorisation charge on the credit card, which included an additional £200 as a deposit.

DW, EP and RAP all carry the same exclusions. The ones that stood out to me are:

• Theft or loss without a police crime reference.
• Losing the keys or leaving the car unlocked.
• Using the wrong fuel.
• Ignoring a warning light.
• Taking the car outside the UK without written permission.

7.3. Picking up the car#

We arrived a few minutes early and only had to wait a few minutes before we were seen. We were given an Electric SUV - the Vauxhall Grandland, instead of the petrol Intermediate SUV we had booked. They said this was a free upgrade, and we didn't mind driving an EV. They asked for the driver's driving licence and credit card. The credit card was pre-authorised for the full amount + £200 deposit + £60 for electricity. We received the hire agreement via email immediately.

Following this, they took us out to see the car. I took a couple of minutes to take a video and photos all around the car, its roof and inside. I couldn't see any damage except some scratches on the alloy wheels, but they said they wouldn't charge for any scratches there even if we made them.

Finally, they got my wife, as the driver, to sign several forms acknowledging the excess cover we had, etc.

We probably took another 30 minutes to drive off as we needed some time to get our toddler's car seat (our own) attached, figure out the child lock on the doors, test the lights, wipers, etc., and set up the navigation to our destination. We discovered that the car wiper fluid was empty and got them to top it up.

7.4. The drive#

From Lewisham we drove to Seven Sisters going on mostly dual carriageways and motorways. Those were comparatively easy compared to the countryside with its narrow roads and potholes.

Although there was built-in navigation, we mostly relied on the Waze app (available on iPhone and Android), which helped a lot with lane changes.

Fortunately, the whole journey went well, and we didn't have any mishaps. The car was great, and we had no complaints. We returned late in the evening and parked overnight at a paid car park near our home. As it was our first hire, we couldn't relax into the trip and were exhausted by the end, but we'd expected that and planned around it.

7.5. Returning the car#

The return was straightforward, especially since we didn't have to recharge the car ourselves. They inspected the car, which took less than a minute, and then confirmed, to our relief, that there was no damage. Regardless, I took videos and photos as proof. Of the £60 pre-authorised for electricity, they said we'd only be billed £30, since we had used half the battery, and that the receipt would follow by email.

7.6. The final receipt and payment experience was disappointing#

A week after we returned the car the final charge appeared on our credit card. I was charged £44 more than I was expecting. I didn't receive the receipt via email. Instead, I found it at Search for a Past Rental Receipt. The numbers were different between the final receipt and the hire agreement issued on the day of the hire, and I couldn't understand the discrepancy.

I reported this to customer service and was told I'd be contacted by the branch. After a few days of waiting, I called up the branch, but the person I spoke to kept reiterating that the receipt was correct, which was very frustrating. Fortunately, they did refer me to the branch manager, who later called me back to say that the EV recharge was double-counted and refunded me. I appreciated the manager's corrective action, but the lack of clarity and alignment between the hire agreement and the final receipt was still disappointing. I also wish they would give the final receipt immediately upon returning the car.

8. Conclusion#

To hire a car in the UK, you need a full driving licence and, in practice, a credit card in the driver's name with room for the hire plus a deposit. Check the company's rules on minimum age and how long you've held your licence. You can book with a traditional hire company, through an intermediary, or from an owner on a peer-to-peer platform. For a first hire, don't agonise over squeezing out the last few pounds, but do book early and make sure you have excess protection. It's also worth planning and using checklists for the pick-up, the drive and the return.

Hopefully, next time we'll be less nervous and more able to enjoy the trip. For our next trip, I have booked a smaller car with Budget from the London City Airport via Booking.com at a significantly cheaper £40 for the day. I plan to buy excess insurance separately. Following that, I might try out Turo.

Please share your questions or your own car hire experiences and tips with me in the comments below.