Following neatly on from my last post about Sixt’s deployment of electric hire cars in London, Renault has announced that it has received an order from Europcar for 500 electric cars from its forthcoming Z.E. (Zero Emissions) range of electric cars.

A prototype of the Renault Fluence Zero Emission electric car

The cars are due for delivery from the third quarter of 2011 and will be available for hire in cities across Europe – the primary market for electric cars at present. Renault’s Zero Emission (Z.E.) range will initially be made up of three models:

• Fluence Z.E. (pictured above) – a four-door saloon
• Twizy Z.E. – a small, city car
• Kangoo Z.E. – an electric version of Renault’s popular Kangoo small van

Car hire company Sixt will be offering electric car rental in London, stating from the 4th March, 2010. Sixt’s Fulham branch will be offering the Citroen C1 Ev’ie for hire – an all-electric version of the popular C1 supermini.

The C1 Ev’ie apparently has a range of up to 75 miles, a top speed of 60mph and can be charged for as little as 95p in electricity costs. Drivers of electric cars in London gain access to a number of benefits, including:

• Exemption from the London Congestion Charge
• Designated parking spaces and recharging spots

The electric C1 will be on display at Sixt’s Fulham branch and will be available for rent from 4th March.

Click here to visit Sixt’s website.

The era of low-cost airlines has got us all used to saving money when travelling abroad – and given the prices that some of the budget airlines charge, your car hire can be more expensive than your airline ticket!

While there isn’t much I can do about that, there is one area where it’s easy to make big savings by simply booking ahead: Airport Parking.

Airport parking is pretty much essential if you are planning to drive your own car to your departure airport and leave it there while you’re away. The problem is the cost. It’s easy enough to turn up at most airports and park in the airport’s official car park – without any pre-booking or planning. However, your bank manager may not thank you for it when you get home.

A far better solution is to pre-book your airport parking so that you don’t have to pay the top whack rate that’s charged to drive-in customers.

Pre-booking also gives you access to more car parks – some of which are a little further away from the airport but much cheaper. These usually include a free courtesy bus transfer service to get you to the airport, so aren’t really any more inconvenient than most airport car parks (you need to use a bus at some of these, too!).

Websites such as Park and Go search through a large number of airport car parking operators to find the best available dealers, including any discounts that are available for pre-bookers.

For example, I’ve just got a quote for a 7 days’ parking* at East Midlands Airport:

• East Midlands Airparks Service: £26.40 (5 minutes from airport, 24-hour security, transfer included)
• Prestige On Airport Parking: £44.99 (on-site at the airport, Park Mark Safer Parking Award holder)

That’s right – the on-site airport car park is nearly double the cost of the off-site airport car park. Any ideas which one I should choose? True – you might save a few minutes with the on-airport car park – but by leaving home a few minutes earlier, you could save £22. Seems a good deal to me.

For more information and instant online quotes and bookings, visit the Park and Go website now.

*Quote for 4th March – 11th March 2010. Prices change regularly and your results will vary.

Avis has updated and extended its Inspirational Weekends promotion, offering UK weekend car hire from just £15 per day in February and March.

The offer is available from Avis car hire locations all over the UK and is valid right now!

Click here to visit the Avis site

Leading car rental broker Holiday Autos is currently running some irresistably good car hire offers that are only valid for bookings made before the end of February – so click on over to the newly-facelifted Holiday Autos site and get a quote now:

• Up to 15% off Cyprus car hire
• Up to 10% off Greece car hire
• Up to 10% off at selected destinations in Italy
• Up to 30% off all Bahrain car hire
• EXTENDED: Up to 15% off Bulgaria car hire
• Finland 5% off winter car hire bookings

To visit Holiday Autos’ website, click here

For this weekend only, all car hire bookings made directly with Sixt in Spain are subject to a 20% discount.

The offer applies from 1800 Friday 29/01/2010 until 2400 Sunday 31/01/2010.

Click here to visit Sixt’s website direct and book or get a quote for car rental.

If you’ve had enough of our ’seasonal’ weather and would like to escape the UK for a while or if you are already planning your summer holidays, you may be interested in this brace of new discounts from giant online car rental broker Holiday Autos.

Each offer is for a 20% discount on car hire in a selected country for 48 hours only from 10am on the day specified below.

The deal is valid for all car groups, all rental periods and all pickup locations for the specified sale destinations until 31st October 2010.

Offer prices will be automatically included in your quotes, so you don’t need any discount voucher codes to get these cheap prices (remember each offer is for 48 hours from 10am on the days specified below – e.g. Friday 8th and Saturday 9th you get 20% off UK car hire):

• Wednesday 6 Jan: 20% off Spain car hire
• Friday 8 Jan: 20% off UK car hire
• Sunday 10 Jan: 20% off France car hire
• Tuesday 12 Jan: 20% off USA car hire
• Thursday 14 Jan: 20% off Italy car hire
• Saturday 16 Jan: 20% off Ireland car hire
• Monday 18 Jan: 20% off Portugal car hire

It’s been a while since I brought you news of any car hire offers, but I think that this selection will more than make up for what you’ve been missing. Online car hire broker Holiday Autos is really pulling out all the stops this Christmas and has a cracking set of deals currently on offer:

• Up to 15% off Bulgaria car hire (book before 31/12/09 and pickup before 31/01/10)
• Up to 15% off Austria car hire (pickup between 01/11/09 and 28/02/10)
• Up to 10% off USA car hire for pickups before 31st March 2010

Plus more great new offers:

• Up to 20% off all cars in Lithuania for bookings and pick ups until 28 February 2010
• Up to 30% off car hire in Bahrain - book by 31/12/09 and pickup your car before 28/02/10
• Up to 35% off car hire in Egypt - book before 15/12/09 and collect before 31/03/10
• 5% off Finland car hire - book before 31/12/09 and collect before 31/03/10
• Up to 10% off all Portugal car hire - book and collect before 31/12/09

There’s sure to be something that will wet your appetite here – but if there isn’t, visit Holiday Autos Offers page for all the latest discounts – new deals are added regularly.

If you would like to try an electric car and live in or near London, then help may be at hand. GoGo Electric Car Rentals is based in Brixton and has a fleet of Mega City electric cars that are available for daily rental.

Benefits of electric car use in London include free parking, exemption from the congestion charge and even free parking at specified points in the City of Westminster, according to GoGo Electric Car Rentals. To find out more, visit GoGo’s website or give them a call on 0845 299 7260.

If you are planning a trip abroad this year and have not decided whether to hire a car or not, it may be worth deciding on car hire and booking a rental car before you go.

Here’s why.

1. Cost
2. Availability
3. Simplicity

Cost

Booking in advance is often cheaper – the hire company gets some or all of your money in advance and has guaranteed demand for its cars. This means that they can let you have the car for a little less than if you walk in off the street to book a car (not always true, but often).

Availability

This summer has seen unprecedented demand for hire cars in popular holiday locations such as Spain. The reason for this is that the global economic downturn has resulted in many car rental companies reducing the size of their fleets – meaning less slack in low season but extremely high demand for available cars in high season.

There have been plenty of car hire companies that have been fully booked this summer – if you leave booking a hire car until you arrive, you may be disappointed.

Simplicity

While foreign car hire offices are usually pretty helpful and many speak English, this is not always true and booking a rental car in a foreign language can be difficult.

Booking in advance means that you can complete the booking online, in English, and know that your chosen car will be waiting for you when you arrive – all you will have to do is sign a few forms and take the keys. It’s much simpler than trying to arrange a hire car from scratch.

Click here for an instant online car hire quote