Although the internet has turned making discounted last minute travel arrangements into something of an art form, the canny traveller knows that the best way to save money is still to plan and book well ahead of time – preferably before everyone else does.

This is certainly true with holiday car hire. The last couple of years have seen stories of massive summer price rises for last minute car rental customers in popular destinations like Spain. The reason for this is that the credit crunch led to major car hire firms reducing the size of their fleets so that they could increase utilisation. This may have been good for their bottom lines but it hasn’t helped car rental customers so much.

Although things are gradually getting back to normal, booking ahead is still worthwhile. Sixt is currently running a special promotion offering savings of up to 30% for anyone booking summer car hire in Spain.

Click here to visit the Sixt website

Global car hire giant Avis has launched a number of special offers for February 2011:

• Weekend rentals in the UK from £16 a day
• Car hire in Spain from £11 per day
• Ski car rental with up to 15% off across Europe and up to 10% off in North America
• 2-day weekend car hire in Ireland from £53, GPS included

For full details on these and more, visit the Avis website.

Holiday Autos is one of the world’s largest car hire brokers and is constantly updating its range of special offers and discounts. Here are a few of the latest deals from Holiday Autos – to check out the rest, click here to visit the Holiday Autos website:

Worldwide car hire prices start from just £6 per day!

• Up to 30% off Mexico car hire – prices from £22/day
• Up to 20% off Greece car hire – prices from £21/day
• Up to 30% off South Africa car hire – prices from £15/day
• Up to 10% off Finland car hire – prices from £36/day
• Up to 30% off Namibia car hire – prices from £25/day

Are you planning to visit the UK and attend the royal wedding in London?

If so, we strongly recommend that you arrange your car rental and hotel bookings as soon as possible – London is going to be even busier than usual as William and Kate prepare to tie the knot, and cars and hotels will be in short supply.

We can offer a comprehensive range of rental cars from locations all over the UK – including key city and airport destinations such as:

• London Heathrow
• London Gatwick
• London Stansted
• Manchester Airport
• London Victoria Coach Station
• London Victoria Railway Station
• London Waterloo Railway Station
• London St Pancras / Kings Cross Railway Station
• London Paddington Railway Station
• London Docklands

Car rental is also available from all major towns and cities around the UK.

Click here to find the cheapest car rental quote

Car hire broker Holiday Autos is currently running a massive sale, offering 20% off car hire in one country every day until the 23rd January. To get a quote, click here now!

Here are the details:

• 10am Thursday 13th January: - 20% off USA for 24 hours
• 10am Friday 14th January: 20% off Cyprus for 24 hours
• 10am Saturday 15th January: 20% off Balearics for 24 hours
• 10am Sunday 16th January: 20% off Portugal for 24 hours
• 10am Monday 17th January: 20% off France for 24 hours
• 10am Tuesday 18th January: 20% off Greece for 24 hours
• 10am Wednesday 19th January: 20% off Ireland for 24 hours
• 10am Thursday 20th January: 20% off Spain for 24 hours
• 10am Friday 21st January: 20% off South Africa for 24 hours
• 10am Saturday 22nd January: 20% off Canaries for 24 hours
• 10am Sunday 23rd January: 20% off Italy for 24 hours

Click here to visit the Holiday Autos website

The 20% sale discount applies for all bookings made online for the specified sale destination within the 24 hour sale period (10am-10pm) and is valid for pickups until 31 October 2011.

Winter tyres are not automatically fitted to all hire cars in Europe, even in locations where they might be required by law on some roads. To make matters worse, even in countries like Austria where they are a legal requirement, you will probably still have to pay extra for them when hiring a car!

Car hire companies do things like this to keep their quoted rates as low as possible – but it is a bit frustrating.

Ski Car Hire – Request Winter Tyres

If you are hiring a car for a ski trip, you should make sure that your booking includes a request for winter tyres (also described as snow tyres). If you don’t do this, you may find that your car doesn’t have them. It will be dangerous and possibly illegal to drive into most mountain areas without them, even if it is safe and legal down in the valleys, where car hire offices are usually located.

With our car hire booking system, winter tyres are available as an option in the Special Equipment options. Once you have chosen your car, you will be able to specify which additional options you want. You may find that snow tyres have already been selected, as in this screenshot, which I took from a quote for car hire at Geneva Airport:

If you are planning to escape the winter weather this Christmas and head abroad, you may need airport parking.

Turning up at the airport without a booking and using the on-airport car parks is the most expensive way to park. It is much cheaper to pre-book your airport parking with a company such as Park and Go, who are currently offering a 7% discount on all bookings.

Park and Go

7% discount code: xmas7

Valid until 17th December 2010

Click here to get a quote

If you see this too late to benefit from the 7% code, Park and Go is also offering a 5% code that is ongoing:

Park and Go

5% discount code: WW10

Valid indefinitely

Click here to get a quote

If you are planning a European skiing trip this winter, check out the latest car hire deals from Avis. You could save up to 15% on car hire in popular European ski resorts.

Countries included in this special offer are: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland. (Terms and conditions apply.)

To see full details of all the current deals, visit the Avis website:

America has 50 states and more than 45,000 miles of highway. Some US states are bigger than many European countries. It’s the perfect destination for a couple’s road trip adventure – or for some family-friendly winter sun in Florida.

If you are planning to visit the USA this autumn or winter, check out the latest offers from car hire giant Avis.

Hire a car from just £18 per day* at a range of destinations including Miami and Orlando – perfect for a winter trip to Flordia. This offer runs until 31st December 2010.

Click here to visit the Avis website

*Rate based on economy car hire for 7 or 14 days.

Fancy trying an electric car without having to buy one? You may soon be able to rent one from one of the biggest names in car hire.

Hertz has committed to introduce electric cars to selected rental fleets in the USA this autumn and in Europe by 2011. One of the first models used is likely to be the Nissan Leaf, which is one of the first 100% electric cars to hit the mainstream market.

Hertz hopes that by making such cars available to the public to try, it will enable a much wider range of drivers to try electric cars than would otherwise be the case. This should hopefully encourage greater take-up of these models – a percentage of the drivers who rent an electric model will decide that they would like to buy one. Without the chance to use an electric car uninterrupted for several days, they might not be able to make this decision.

Hertz’s relatively large-scale purchases of electric cars will also help support the manufacture and development of current and future models, helping car manufacturers to accelerate the development of future models.

Hertz’s electric car hire scheme is due to launch in the US this autumn and in Europe in 2011.