If you’re in business and regular use vehicle hire suppliers, or if you are considering moving your owned fleet to hire, I’m sure you’ll be aware there can be so much more to vehicle hire then the rates. Type of vehicles (reliability, age, fuel consumption, specification), availability of vehicles maintenance package, tyre policy’s, fuel policy, damage and recharge procedure. It can be difficult knowing if you are comparing apples for apples. Making a quick and hasty decision can cost you money, time and hassle.

Below is a list of questions we hope will help.

1) Guaranteed Availability

What guarantee do we get if the book and what choice of vehicles do we have?

We understand that’s customer often need vehicle hire at short notice for unforeseen problems – breakdown, urgent orders etc. At Central Self Drive we offer all our account customers guarantee vehicle Availability within 24 hrs and this time can be reduced to just 4 hours! to suit customer needs.

We also offer a brokerage system meaning if we don’t run a certain or unique vehicle to your business or odd job we can source in a verity of vehicles.

2) Fair wear and tear, damage and recharges policy

What is your recharge procedure and policy? Can we self-repair? How do you calculate the loss of use charges?

Damage and recharge procedures – this can be the most stressful and costly experiences for customers when hiring vehicles if proper checks and simple questions are not followed, been lured in by low hire rates to find later that any costs to repair outweigh initial cost-saving incentives.

At Central Self Drive we are committed to a fair and transparent recharge & damage policy

We have continuous improvement processes in place which are revised regularly by engaging in a dialogue with customers and acting upon their feedback.

• Where possible we will repair vehicles at the end of their life cycle or in quieter periods to reduce the loss of use charges
• We take a proactive approach in getting the vehicle back on the road again reducing the loss of use or replacement vehicle charges
• We use our experience and buying power to get the vehicle back on the road as quickly possible and cost effectively whilst maintaining manufactures high standards.
• Contribution to repairs – If a preexisting damaged panel sustains further damage you will either not be charged or just charged a contribution to the repair.
• Where possible we offer self-repair or a price match service.
• We are a proud member of BVRLA and adhere to their fair wear and tear guidelines
• Our rental teams attend the BVRLA fair wear and tear training course.
• We can bespoke customers a harder use fair wear and tear policy or damage insurance. – Please ask one of our team for details.

3) Replacement vehicle policy

If I break down how soon will you send me a replacement vehicle? If I need a service can I have a replacement vehicle? And will it be like for like?

This is an area of our industry we see more and more businesses getting frustrated with. We must remember that many customers use vehicle hire to keep their vehicles and operations running 24/7.

So what use is a small 3 door car as a replacement vehicle if you usually hire a Luton van with a tail lift. Or been told you can’t have a replacement vehicle unless the service or repairs will take more than 4 hours.

At Central Self Drive, we will provide you with a free LIKE for LIKE replacement vehicle –for service, repair or breakdown! Keeping you on the road 24/7

4) Fuel policy

Can vehicles be delivered full of fuel? Do I have to pay for a full tank of fuel up front and return the vehicle empty?

We have found so many variable fuel policies in the vehicle hire industry. Most commonly, rental companies sending vehicles out empty and customer returning them fully or with more fuel in.

On a transit van, this could increase your rental cost by over £100. And then to find when you do send a van back with less fuel in the hire company charge as much as £2.50 per litre to re-fuel

At Central Self-drive we keep it simple. We send you a vehicle full of fuel. You return the vehicle full of fuel!

5) Maintenance and management program

In-house fleet repairs – making sure, when you have a problem with one of our vehicles, we have complete control making sure vehicles are repaired promptly, cost-effectively and customer downtime is limited.

We can also carry out repairs on weekends or out of hours when needed fleet managers to help take all the hassle stress and man-hours from unwanted vehicle problems. Allowing the customer to concentrate on the core of their business activities

At Central Self Drive we want to be more than just your vehicle rental supplier, our aim is to be your Fleet Management Partner. We believe in reducing our customer’s workload by taking all the stress, hassle and man-hours from the unwanted problems that arise when dealing with vehicles.

We achieve this by regularly entering into dialogue with our customers through service level reviews and acting upon feedback, which in turn means we all get to know the people we are dealing with, their business needs & requirements, eventually creating long-term trustworthy relationships.