The latest car hire offers from Holiday Autos are in and they are a little different to usual, covering some great destinations that are a little off the beaten track.

Try these for size:

Estonia Car Hire

• Up to 30% OFF
• All booking durations
• Offer valid for bookings made from now until 30th September 2010
• Offer valid for hire periods between 1st September 2010 and 31st March 2011
• Offer valid for selected cars

Namibia Car Hire

• Up to 20% OFF
• All booking durations
• Offer valid for bookings made from now until 30th October 2010
• Offer valid for hire periods between 1st September 2010 and 31st October 2011
• Offer valid for selected cars

Puerto Rico Car Hire

• Up to 20% OFF
• All booking durations
• Offer valid for bookings made from now until 30th September 2010
• Offer valid for hire periods between 1st November 2010 and 21st December 2011
• Offer valid for selected cars

It looks to me as if Holiday Autos is using these offers to reward customers who book their holiday car hire well in advance, rather than leaving it to the last minute. If you’re planning a trip to one of these locations in the next year, why not click through to Holiday Autos’ site now and get a quote?

BAA Strike Update 17/08/2010: BAA has made an improved pay offer to members of the Unite union who were threatening to strike over the August Bank Holiday weekend. The strike threat has now been lifted for the time being and BAA staff will vote on the new deal. The union is backing the new deal and urging its members to accept it.

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Airline passengers have been hit hard by disruptions this year. First it was unusually large amounts of winter snow, then it was volcanic ash from Iceland. Now, there’s the threat of a BAA strike that could close down several airports over the August bank holiday weekend (click here for the latest news from BAA).

The knock-on effect for car hire companies has been considerable – and a fair number of travellers have found themselves out of pocket due to cancellation fees levied on them when they didn’t (couldn’t) turn up for their pre-paid car hire bookings as a result of cancelled flights.

Car hire firm Sixt has decided that this is a little bit unfair and has announced that:

SIXT have decided to waive cancellation fees on pre-paid rentals, for any customer booking directly with SIXT who may be affected by the strike.

Sixt says:

“we’ve grown tired of events and circumstances affecting travellers who choose to book a hire car with Sixt and are not wanting to punish customers for circumstances that are out of their control.”

Potential car hire customers should read this announcement carefully, however. The cancellation fee waiver only applies to customers who have booked pre-paid rentals directly with Sixt – not customers who booked through a broker or who didn’t choose to pre-pay.

Despite this, it’s a welcome move from Sixt – hopefully other car rental companies will follow suit.

I came across The A to Z of car hire in The Independent at the weekend. It’s definitely worth a read and has some genuinely useful tips. Author Simon Calder is a well known travel writer and knows his stuff.

My favourite tip is T, for Thirty – the number of miles you can drive in most cars before the fuel needle starts to drop. This is useful knowledge if you need to return a hire car with a full tank.

I would take issue with one of Simon’s points, however. He reckons that car rental companies only ask to see the counterpart (paper part) of your UK driving licence in Northern Ireland. Although I don’t have as much experience of hiring cars as he does, my experience is that there are a few other European countries where you might be asked for it, too, including all parts of the UK, not just Northern Ireland.

Click here to read the full article

Car hire broker Holiday Autos is currently running a number of very tempting special offers that might be ideal for you if you are still booking your holiday car hire for this summer or autumn:

• Save 20% off Max product on all USA car hire bookings
• Up to 25% off Italy car hire
• Up to 40% off Austria car hire
• Up to 30% off Spain car hire
• Up to 30% off Cyprus car hire
• Up to 25% off Greece car hire
• Up to 10% off Bahrain car hire

All offers are subject to terms and conditions – visit the Holiday Autos website for full details and an instant quote.

If you’re heading to Sicily later this year, you’ll want to check out the latest car hire deals from car rental broker Holiday Autos.

It’s offering up to 25% off bookings made for the following pick-up locations:

• Cagliari Airport
• Olbia Airport
• Palermo Airport
• Alghero Airport
• Catania Airport
• Trapani Airport

Your booking will need to meet the following criteria to qualify for a discount of up to 25%:

• Created – bookings from now until 31st August 2010
• Departed – bookings between 1st September to 31st October 2010
• All durations
• Selected cars

Click here to visit the Holiday Autos’ website now

Are you a regular overseas car hire customer? Perhaps you have an office or a holiday home that you visit regularly, hiring a car from the same location each time?

If so, Budget has an offer that might interest you. Budget’s Go Overseas! club is aimed at regular overseas car hire customers and offers you a number of benefits. The best of these is one day’s FREE car hire for every five you pay for.

You’ll also get access to Budget’s most competitive rates, plus you’ll receive a monthly newsletter with details of exclusive Go Overseas! deals and offers. Interested? Click on the link below to learn more and then look for the “Holiday Home Car Rental” link:

Anyone travelling to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico for a holiday can now arrange their car hire through Sixt, thanks to the company’s recently-opened office in the island’s capital, San Juan.

The branch provides a free shuttle bus service to and from the nearby interational airport and can also arrange to pickup and dropoff cars at various other points around the city. A wide range of cars and SUVs are available and Sixt’s franchise partner in Puerto Rico, Quality Car Rental, has more than 20 years experience of providing car hire in Puerto Rico.

CLICK HERE to get a Sixt car hire quote for Puerto Rico

Holiday car hire often means driving around in a new-but-dull little runabout. No disrespect to such cars – they are practical, easy to drive and cheap to rent – but sexy, they aren’t.

Of course, you can usually choose a slightly large model – a fleet favourite like a Ford Mondeo, VW Passat or perhaps a C-class Mercedes, for example.

But what if you want something really special and have a bit of money to blow? What if you are visiting places like Malaga and Marbella, where bling is king, and you don’t want to look like you’ve just escaped from the M25?

Sixt may have the answer. The German car hire giant is now offering Porsches for hire at its Marbella and Malaga branches. Drivers can choose between the pure sportiness of the Porsche 911 and the high-speed-luxury-for-4 appeal of the new Porsche Panamera.

Prices start from just £140 per day for a 911 and £330 per day for the Panamera (based on a two-week rental). The Porsches are available for both short and long-term hire.

Visit Sixt’s website for an instant quote:

Anyone booking a hire car from Hertz can now earn 2 Nectar points for every £1 spent on rental (excluding non-waiverable excess payments). The points will be credited to your account 28 days after the completion of your rental and will then be available to spend or use as normal.

Nectar points can be used for a wide range of things – including for making purchases at Argos – and to make the deal even sweeter, Hertz is offering a 5% discount to Nectar card customers when you book online using the CDP code 600412 (enter 600412 into the field labelled “Discount/CDP/Club Code”.

Remember to enter your Nectar card number when prompted and show your card to the Hertz branch member when collecting your hire car. If you forget to do this, just visit the Hertz website within 6 months of your rental to claim your missing points – look for the “Collect Nectar Points on Car Hire” link.

If you’re heading to Greece this summer and plan to hire a car, check out this offer from Avis.

Avis is offering a  10% discount on car hire in Greece as long as you meet the following conditions:

• Booked between 28/05/2010 and 20/06/2010
• Rental between 28/05/2010 and 20/07/2010
• Booked at least 2 days in advance
• 10% discount applies to rentals of 3-28 days
• Offer is subject to availability…

To find out more, visit the Avis website now for an instant quote: