One week small car rental in Exeter from Enterprise- ripoff or typical pricing?

We have done a couple of rental in the US recently and they were sky high compared to pre-pandemic. Could be the market these days.

How far in advance did you book the rental?

If you are looking at just a few days out, that may be the price due to the fact they may have very few cars 'on the lot'

Not sure if the rates will be attractive with short notice, but AutoEurope is the rare third-party booker with a good reputation, and usually their full-coverage rates are much better than anything one could get from the rental company directly.

£250 seems as good a price as you’re likely to get for the week. It’s the full coverage insurance that is the problem. If you live here you can buy separate car rental insurance for a much lower fee that you can use internationally as well as domestically. It doesn’t have to be with your current car insurance provider. Does anything like this exist in Canada?

Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd update as I returned the car today after a week. Enterprise was very good, there was no further attempt at upselling, and a small rock chip I picked up from a passing truck was dismissed as not a big deal when I returned the car. I'm also quite comfortable driving in the UK now having driven for a week on Cornwall/Devon roads, some so narrow the hedgerows were scraping both sides of the car at the same time. Roundabouts, left side driving, narrow roads now longer worry me. Not saying I'm good at it, just that I'm comfortable with it. Now I am going back to the drearyness of hauling luggage, catching trains and buses etc. What a pain. But the cost of the rental car is just too high - a thousand Canadian for one week, and that's not counting fuel and the non stop parking fees everywhere you park. But it sure was convenient.

Any tips for North Americans after driving for a while? I'm glad to hear the rental was fair, if expensive.

I have rented cars in the UK and Europe and never had an issue with a US car rental company like Enterprise.

Only one that I had a huge problem with was Europacar.

They gave me a really low price for the mid sized car that I picked, but guess what, it wasn't available and the equivalent they promised was not equal and it didn't have the navigation system that was to be included. Also, they wanted to charge me a ridiculous amount for a GPS system.

So, I had to upgrade to a larger model that cost twice what I had already paid for up front.

Selling up and being slightly underhand about extra charges is part of the car hire business model in the UK I think.

I’ve never had an issue with a rental car in the UK and I’ve never been pressured to get any additional insurance, anywhere. UK rentals have been more costly than on the continent especially since the pandemic. Our 3 week rental in Germany in May was pricey, but our 3 week rental in Spain last month was inexpensive. There are many factors that are factored into a rental price.

I haven't rented a car for quite some time. Apologies for my slightly offhand comment above. I often hear of people being surprised having to pay lots if cars are damaged and "class not being available". Gut feeling, unburdened by actual fact, my comment was to imply that the car rental industry seems to work their customers quite hard to maximise their bottom line. Do people think that car rental companies are more particular now with damage, insurance claims and the like than they were back in the old days?

I hope the OP comes back to us. I'm curious to know which make and model, manual or automatic etc. that they ended up with.

Hi GerryM,
Re your questions,
The car they gave me was a Hyundai I20. It was a Hybrid of some sort which I have never driven before, but seemed fine. It was a 6 speed manual transmission which for me was fine as I have driven 5 speed manual Volkswagens for the last 25 years at home. Shifting with my left hand instead of right didn't bother me but I can certainly understand how an inexperienced manual shift person could get overwhelmed when you are trying to navigate a traffic circle/roundabout while signalling and figuring which exit to take, then having to shift gears. But I have friends who 10 years ago rented an automatic in Bath and they said it was very expensive because they are rare and you wind up having to rent a high end Mercedes or something to get the automatic.
As far as tips for American/Canadian drivers, I watched this Welsh guy's short videos on driving in the UK for Americans and I don't think I could too much. For me the biggest annoyance was learning to judge the distance on the left side of the car to the curb - I scuffed up the left tire and hit the curb a few times. Pulling over on narrow roads wasn't as scary as I thought, usually the other person had pulled over before I even got close. And after a while I was quickly and instinctively spotting the pull outs and zipping in. In traffic circles/roundabouts I was never sure whether I should stay inside for going 3 exits or if I was supposed to change to the outside before exiting, but basically as long as you make sure to signal, people seem to give you room. I think an important reality is that drivers in England pay far more attention to driving so any little mistakes you make they easily correct for, wheras drivers at home are half asleep and sloppy and distracted - inviting disaster. I think the bottom line is if you are a competent, experienced skilled driver at home you will quickly adapt in England or Britain. If you are a nervous, inattentive, careless or inexperienced driver at home then you will most likely run into problems driving in the UK

Here is the link to the guy's videos I mentioned if anyone is interested
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLoC9ZcTe_SRt1crB_GyDU0bhIMMIuQN&feature=shared

Ah yes. I've watched a few of that guy's videos already. Quite helpful.

Yes, the left side can be tricky at times. I don't think it helps to be in a strange car that you haven't quite adjusted to the size of yet. Clipping the curb with the rear wheel on a left turn out of an intersection and (more worryingly) going to the wrong side of the road when coming up to a right turn are things I've seen my American friend do.

Automatic small cars are certainly more common than they used to be here. Modern transmission technology makes a small automatic car much more drivable than the 3-speeds of old. It helps that you can drive a manual to save some money on rental over here. Hyundai make some decent little cars these days that are well equipped.

If you're going off at the third exit of roundabout you'd generally be in the right hand lane on approach. If you're signalling, going fairly slowly and looking out for other cars you can possibly get away with more in the UK without people honking. Just be ready with a small wave and a sheepish smile if people get mad at you. The constant stop signs and traffic lights of the US and Canada would get on my nerves after being used to roundabouts all my life. Four way stops seem crazy to me.

You sound like quite a confident driver in the first place so you're going to do a lot better. Driving in the UK has to be about co-operation much of the time; knowing the etiquette around yielding and having others yield to you. Flashing your lights when you're yielding and thank you waves when someone yields to you get you far.