UK holidays - The journey is as important as the destination

With holiday budgets tight, and families reducing costs on car maintenance and even downscaling their car to a more economical vehicle, Europcar is urging stay-cationers to plan their journeys carefully this Spring and Summer.

Catrional Lougher, Marketing Director for Europcar said: “27% of our customers rent because they are worried about the reliability of their own car, 21% because their own car has broken down and 24% need a vehicle bigger than their usual car. Furthermore, 23% rent because they don’t have a car.

“2008 saw a resurgence of the UK holiday which led to a real uplift in rentals and it looks set for this trend to continue in 2009 as households look to cut costs but not at the expense of safety or comfort.”

Europcar offers door to door delivery and collection or pick up from a Europcar branch – there’s one on average just 20 minutes away from every customer, and there are over 40 different models of cars to rent.

Options+ from Europcar is a simple menu of additional items such as baby seats, additional drivers and GPS which can be bundled with excess waivers to halve the cost.

It’s not only more convenient to rent a car rather than take the train, it’s often far more cost-effective. For example, 2 people travelling from Bristol to Edinburgh could save up to £233 on the price of a train fare, by opting to rent a car instead. Renting a newer car is greener than driving an older vehicle.

Rentals taken by June 30th 2009 and booked by 31st May are half price from Europcar, for example a small car will now cost just £9.99 per day*.

For more information and bookings, visit Europcar.co.uk.

*based on weekend rental of a Renault Clio 1.2. Offer available from all UK mainland branches and excludes UK bank holidays including 9th April 2009.