Life is too short to stuff a mushroom, as they say, but is it really too short to do anything properly? Car hire is a prime example. When you need a vehicle for a short time, either at home because you’ve got a project to deal with, such as moving house or organising an event, you may think of the rental names that you see not just all over the country but at airports all over the world. If you’re making a trip somewhere else and getting there by train, boat or plane, the temptation to go for the familiar name is even greater. But that is to ignore the benefits of local car hire services.
Using the top search engine rankings is lazy and can be counterproductive. Doing it in your hometown amounts to little less than folly. The chances are you know a local car hire company. They may be affiliated with a taxi firm or a garage. You know where they are and they may have been in business for years, so they must be doing something right.
Support Your Local Car Hire Services
Local is good, and if you’re looking for car hire at a busy airport, that still applies. Whatever happened to the concept of buying British? Expand the notion a little and it becomes buying local. Good for the town, good for the businesspeople who are still plugging away in the face of mass-market giants who only notice your town exists if they can make some money out of it. This is an attitude we applaud when it comes from the mouths of politicians. We may vote for them mainly because they pledge to create new jobs and nourish the local economy.
Okay Google, Alexa or Whatever, Where Can I get a Good Cornish Party?
If you’re somewhere unfamiliar, you may again to tempted to use technology to find what you’re looking for. But whatever happened to asking someone in real life? The person at the local car hire service will know what’s a good bet for a reasonable Italian meal or where you might be able to buy some pyjamas because you’ve forgotten to pack yours. Alexa and Siri will tell you who does that kind of thing, but then you’re at the mercy of customer reviews which may or may not be genuine.
Okay, you may have to resort to satnav to actually find the place, but at least you will have somewhere in mind which comes with a personal recommendation.
Doing a Deal
The big names are bound by corporate rules. Everything is done the same way, regardless of where the office is located. So, if you want to do something that is even slightly outside the normal scheme of things, they’re sorry, they can’t do that. But if you’re dealing with the owner or the boss’s daughter, someone with a vested interest, you may be able to get some flexibility.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking the big names are necessarily cheaper. They may be able to get their vehicles at a better price because they are buying in bulk, but they also have huge overheads such as marketing budgets. How do they get to the top of the search engine rankings? There are ways of doing it, but they cost money. And their prime slot at the airport doesn’t come cheap, either. The independent operator doesn’t have such expensive trappings to take care of. So don’t automatically take the well-known option. Give the independents a chance.