Enterprise rent-a-car discount.

I note from the Caravan Club Magazine (June 2015 Page 40) that the club has a deal with Enterprise rent-a-car. I phoned Enterprise when my campervan broke down at noon one day in September, in Dumfries, South West Scotland. The operator was an Indian sounding gentleman, whose lack of British geography led me to believe he actually was in India. His main concern was how I was going to pay for the hire car even though he had not stated a price, availability or what sort of car was on offer. I asked for a large car as I had to unload the contents of the campervan to go back home. The campervan would be at the local Fiat dealership for some time. His first offer was of a small Renault Twingo at a price of £500 for four days hire. This car would only be available at 3pm. When I questioned the price (I didn’t know about the club deal at the time) he reduced it by £340 to about £160 for four days, and offered an only slightly larger car available at 4pm.

During our conversation I had the distinct impression that he had really no idea where I was. “I’m looking at it on Google” he kept saying. I had to spell out the locations etc. When I came to tell him where the Fiat garage was I had to spell out Glasgow (the address was Glasgow Road). At that point I gave up and rang off.

I then tried the local car hire company, Glenrental. Without knowing about the previous conversation they immediately offered me a large, nearly new Volvo, four days hire for £165. No messing about, no trying to get more money out of me, no special availability times, just an honest professional service.

The advert in the CC magazine says that Enterprise has 7000 branches worldwide, but on this occasion it was beaten by a company with one. Size, as they say, isn’t everything.

If the club is going to partner up with other companies then I feel that they should do a bit more research to find out how easy it is to use the service and how ethical the company is. On this occasion Enterprise tried to cheat me out of £340. They only have to do this a few times and it pays for the club discount and more. How much does the club make out of this deal?