Ask Car Hire at Benbecula airport?

My first thought is, who are they?

My second thought is that there will be a reason why they are cheaper, if they are.

Having looked at their website they seem to operate out of one base- the Crossroads Filling Station at Creagorry and deliver cars as needed to the seaports and airport. So how large is their fleet- if they have to replace a car do they have the fleet size to do so? I don't know. They also only serve Uist from what I can see. So what would be their response if you needed assistance on Barra or Lewis/Harris? If they had a spare car do they have the staff to deliver it?

I can't see their full T's and C's. There is a new upstart on Tiree who (unlike the incumbent) have on line booking. I was looking at them this week (after a personal recommendation) and some lawyer in London must have written their T's and C's- out of all relevance and context to life on a little Island, and designed in my opinion to trip you up.

And that's before the fact that they (the new one on Tiree) don't even accept my UK licence, because it's not a photocard one but a paper one- and even then they want to run a DVLA check on the photocard licence.

At least with Car Hire Hebrides I know they have depots right across the isles, and a good sized fleet. But then to me, as a Brit, the chief thought is not can I escape with credit card insurance, and turn down theirs. That seems to be a big fundamental difference on the opposite sides of the Atlantic. In the context of the overall cost of the trip is the cost difference meaningful? Given that you are flying in to Benbecula (always has been outside my budget, whereas flights to Barra and Stornoway are in my budget) I wonder.

I really don't want to be negative about a family business but I'm not at all sure. A lot of queries (or niggles is the better word) in my mind.

Ask does appear to have a fleet of about eight cars plus a couple of vans, based on 2025 Google imagery of the filling station.

I originally wanted to fly into Barra, but no flights are yet bookable and since they are tide driven, not even schedulable to plan the surrounding time, plus Car Hire Hebrides charges L155 to deliver or pickup a car to Barra. A Barra/Barra rental involves using Barra Car Hire which operates with simply a phone number. Any price difference between flying in/out of Barra versus Benbecula is swept away with the delivery fee. The time involved with ferries and getting to the departure ports wipes out those options for folks like us with limited time

Our trip includes Barra x2 then Benbecula x3 (dictated by wanting to be at Cnoc Sollier for the Wednesday session). A Barra/Benbecula car rental would be ideal, but the one-way fee, Caramba!

A Barra/Barra rental means getting to Barra the morning of the flight out, which relies on Eriskay ferry. A Ben/Ben rental eliminates the exit scramble for a potential of a later arrival in Barra than planned, which isn't as disruptive.