Those deciding to rent a car for their holidays have been advised to read and understand the terms and conditions outlined in the hire contract before committing their signature to the dotted line. Recent research by Which? Holiday has found that many car hire companies are severely lacking in the amount of information they offer up to customers before they hand over the keys. Researchers at Which? Holiday looked at eight car hire companies at Heathrow and Charles de Gaul and came up with some worrying results. When trying to examine the contractual terms and conditions on the websites of both Avis and Enterprise they could find nothing. Limited information was found on the websites of Budget, National and Alamo. A lack of information about the total cost of hiring a car from some of the companies meant that it was not possible to do an accurate price comparison because no information was given about the price of waivers or extra costs.

A spokesperson for Enterprise reportedly told the research team that their website was merely a tool for booking a vehicle and that the transaction as well as terms and conditions being made available would take place at the booking desk. National and Alamo also allegedly said that customers should not compare waivers and insurance cover on price alone because their levels can vary.

Hertz, Europcar and Enterprise all told Which? Holiday that the clause in their contracts making the hirer of a vehicle responsible for paying the full price of that vehicle in the event that they cannot produce the keys after the car has been stolen is a way of preventing fraud and negligence. They said that there were circumstances where exceptions would be made.