bank holiday rental and new London charges

Low-Emission-Zone

Bank Holiday Rental and new London charges

Bank Holiday rentals and the cost of driving in London

With the Easter Bank Holiday period over and more Bank Holidays imminent we thought it would be helpful to give you an explanation of how our rental system at such times works.

Unlike with some other rental companies, you can rent a vehicle for only as long as you need.

If, say, you only wanted the vehicle for Good Friday, you can pick it up on the Thursday and we will insure it for you to drive home. You must not then drive it until the start of the rental day, when it will be fully insured. You only pay for the day for which you actually rented it.

Also, because we have four open yards, to which you can return your vehicle regardless of which of our depots you rented it from, you don’t need to worry about paying for extra days you don’t want just because the rental office is closed for the holiday.

Just leave the vehicle at one of our four open yards and pop the keys into the box.

The new Ultra-Low emission zone (ULEZ) charges in London

The charges are steep when it comes to vans and vehicles larger than 3.5 tonnes at £100 per day and they apply to all vehicles that are not compliant. That’s on top of the congestion charge we all have to pay.

To be compliant, a vehicle has to have a 66 (or newer) registration, in other words be no older than September 2016. If your business has to make a delivery or deliveries within the ULEZ and your vehicle is older, you will have to pay this and it can add a significant amount to your business costs.

We are increasingly getting customers specifying that they only want to rent a compliant vehicle.

However, the new charge was introduced with only two months’ warning and with a fleet of 300-plus vehicles from cars to vans to trucks, it will take time for us to replace all our vehicles.

We do have some compliant vehicles and we have more on order. In the meantime, we are doing everything we can to ensure our customers who need to be ULEZ compliant can rent a suitable vehicle but please be patient until we are able to completely replace our fleet.

Easter holidays are coming and we’re adding to our fleet!

New-cars-for-Easter

Easter holidays are coming and we’re adding to our fleet!

As the Easter school holidays approach and the weather improves more people plan for days out, weekends away and for holidays.

That means the demand from customers for rental cars goes up so if you are contemplating an Easter holiday trip please let us know as soon as you can. Please remember to leave enough time for us to do all the necessary DVLA checks well in time ahead of your desired rental date.

This time of year is when we also replace some vehicles and add to our fleet.

This year we are in the process of buying two additional small cars, both Renault Clio’s, to be available in time for the extra holiday demand.

We are also buying some Luton Bedford vans.

That means we’ll have some vans for sale at our Colchester depot it anyone is looking for a second-hand van perhaps for their small business.

Whatever your rental needs we’re happy to help. Just give us a call.

Rent a vehicle to help to tackle climate change

Car-rental

Rent a vehicle to help to tackle climate change

Happy New Year to you all.

How often do we jump in the car to do a local errand, when we could walk? It can be very tempting when the weather’s a bit cold and bleak and there’s a car sitting outside the house.

But not only does every car journey add to the toxic gases in the atmosphere, we may also be getting less exercise than we should to stay healthy.

Owning and maintaining a vehicle, getting it regularly serviced, MOTd and keeping the fuel topped up can be a costly exercise and also short journeys in urban areas are often not helpful to fuel efficiency.

Inevitably the value of a car will depreciates over time and because technological innovation is advancing so rapidly older cars are rarely as economical or fuel efficient as newer models.

If we are serious about reducing global warning and helping to reverse climate change, we may need to not only change our habits to ensure that we throw away less and recycle more, but we may have to re-think our attitudes to car ownership.

Obviously, there will be some people who cannot manage without a car, either for health or work-related reasons.

However, for those who can reconsider, there is always the option of renting a vehicle for those occasions when a longer journey is necessary, especially where there is inadequate public transport as an alternative.

Renting means you will have a newer, more fuel-efficient vehicle because vehicle rental companies like Robertsons generally upgrade their fleet after three years.

However, you will also be assured that the rental is well-maintained and regularly serviced.

It may actually save you money and improve your health – as well as the health of the planet – if you rethink owning a car and switch to rental!

Chrsitmas Rentals

Christmas-Rentals

Christmas rentals, bike awareness and the rise of the SUV

Private rentals of ours for the Christmas period are coming in fast so if you know you will need to rent a car, let us know as soon as possible.

The road safety charity Brake has been highlighting the dangers to cyclists during 2018 Road Safety Week.  It says that those travelling on two wheels are 63 times more likely than drivers to be killed or seriously injured when out on the road and that a rider is killed or seriously injured on UK roads every hour, two thirds of these accidents occurring on rural roads.

Last year, according to Government figures, 100 cyclists died on UK roads and 470 pedestrians were killed, an increase of 5%.

Among Brake’s tips for drivers are giving cyclists more space, leaving riders a 150cm gap when overtaking and opening a car door using the ‘Dutch Reach’ method. The procedure involves the driver or passenger opening their door from the inside with the hand that’s furthest away from the door handle, which forces them to turn their body and increases the ability to look out of the car and spot passing cars and cyclists.

This technique may feature in an updated Highway Code, which is among the possible measures the Government is considering to improve cycle safety.

Among other suggestions is encouraging insurers to offer motorists cheaper insurance if they take a course to make them more aware of cyclists on the roads and giving local councils more powers to tackle parking in cycle lanes.

The rise of the SUV

This is the time of year when we start to put in our orders update our fleet of rental cars and we have discovered that many of the manufacturers are discontinuing the large saloon cars, such as the Toyota Avensis and the Vauxhall Insignia.

The popularity of these cars has been diminishing in recent years, making them uneconomic for the manufacturers to produce as demand has risen for SUVs.

Fleet Rental for your Business?

Rental-Fleet-Cars

Preparing your car for the winter

It’s that time of year again! The weather may not yet have thrown its worst at us, but as the last year has shown with the “Beast from the East” followed by an unprecedented long, hot summer, we need to be prepared for anything!

At the start of the autumn this means getting your car ready for winter driving.

The checklist includes making sure it has an annual service. Many of the problems caused by the cold can be prevented if you do this.

Battery: the average life of a battery is about five years, and the battery comes under additional strain not only from the cold weather but from heavier use of lights, heater and blower.

Tyres: a good tread is essential for efficient braking and steering, so they need to be at the correct pressure as well as having sufficient depth of tread.

Antifreeze: engine coolant should be a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze and this can easily become diluted if you have topped up the system with water over the year. Don’t forget the screen wash – a good quality 50% mix of screen wash will reduce the chance of freezing when it is particularly icy.

Windscreen and wipers: give the windscreen a thorough clean both inside and out. Any smears can cause visibility problems when light shines on them.  Wipers will get heavier use during the winter so make sure the wiper blades are in good condition with no nicks and tears.

Lights: these, too, need to be cleaned.

Underseal: when the roads are gritted in icy conditions many don’t realise that the grit contains salt. This can cause damage to the car’s bodywork, so you should also check for scratches and dents in the paintwork to ensure it is not vulnerable to damp getting through to the metal and setting up the conditions for rust to develop.

If you are driving in the winter the advice is to carry a winter emergency breakdown kit with you. This should contain a shovel, blanket, warm coat, torch and for long journeys a hot drink in a flask and a fully topped-up mobile phone.

If you want to avoid all the winter check hassle, you can always rent a vehicle from us. While we can’t supply a personalised winter breakdown kit we do make sure that all our vehicles have been properly checked and prepared for winter driving.

Preparing your car for the winter

Winter-Driving

Preparing your car for the winter

It’s that time of year again! The weather may not yet have thrown its worst at us, but as the last year has shown with the “Beast from the East” followed by an unprecedented long, hot summer, we need to be prepared for anything!

At the start of the autumn this means getting your car ready for winter driving.

The checklist includes making sure it has an annual service. Many of the problems caused by the cold can be prevented if you do this.

Battery: the average life of a battery is about five years, and the battery comes under additional strain not only from the cold weather but from heavier use of lights, heater and blower.

Tyres: a good tread is essential for efficient braking and steering, so they need to be at the correct pressure as well as having sufficient depth of tread.

Antifreeze: engine coolant should be a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze and this can easily become diluted if you have topped up the system with water over the year. Don’t forget the screen wash – a good quality 50% mix of screen wash will reduce the chance of freezing when it is particularly icy.

Windscreen and wipers: give the windscreen a thorough clean both inside and out. Any smears can cause visibility problems when light shines on them.  Wipers will get heavier use during the winter so make sure the wiper blades are in good condition with no nicks and tears.

Lights: these, too, need to be cleaned.

Underseal: when the roads are gritted in icy conditions many don’t realise that the grit contains salt. This can cause damage to the car’s bodywork, so you should also check for scratches and dents in the paintwork to ensure it is not vulnerable to damp getting through to the metal and setting up the conditions for rust to develop.

If you are driving in the winter the advice is to carry a winter emergency breakdown kit with you. This should contain a shovel, blanket, warm coat, torch and for long journeys a hot drink in a flask and a fully topped-up mobile phone.

If you want to avoid all the winter check hassle, you can always rent a vehicle from us. While we can’t supply a personalised winter breakdown kit we do make sure that all our vehicles have been properly checked and prepared for winter driving.

Have you considered fleet rental for your business?

Business-Fleet-Rentals

Have you considered fleet rental for your business?

August is peak holiday season when there is time to relax, regroup and, for business owners, to consider plans for the future.

Whether it is about cutting costs or improving cash flow for growing the business, one of the considerations could be whether you rent or own your fleet of vehicles.

The advantages of fleet rental

Fleet rental is much more flexible than leasing, which ties you into a contract for a specified period of time and can restrict maximum mileage.

With rental, there is no mileage restriction and the rental period can be as flexible as you need for both cars and vans, so you can return the vehicle when you no longer need it without incurring any early cancellation costs.

If you are intending to rent for a reasonable length of time, we can remove the Robertsons branding from the vehicles and you can substitute your own decals of your own company branding.

We do all maintenance, servicing, MOTs and any repairs that may be needed and you will always get an equivalent replacement vehicle while the work is being carried out.

The process of renting depends on who is insuring the vehicle.

If you wanted to use our insurance, we would need to check the licences of all your drivers, who would have to come into our offices, and we would then need to do a DVLA check for each driver every 21 days as a condition of our insurance cover.

If you opt to use your own company’s insurance, we need a copy of the fleet policy.  Your drivers’ licences and DVLA checks will still have to be done but it is your company’s responsibility, so your drivers would not have to attend at our offices.

If your company does not already have an account with us, we ask for a payment in advance of a week’s rental plus a deposit, and then invoice you weekly.

So if your fleet arrangements are coming up for renewal or you are considering replacing the vehicles your company owns, why not give us a call to discuss your needs.

Help us to help you!

Car-Hire-Colchester

Help us to help you!

While we are delighted that demand for our vehicles is extremely high, we never like to let any of our customers down.

But the long period of sunny weather seems to have persuaded people to take more day trips than would normally be expected even at this time of year and so demand for cars for a day has never been higher.

This is only likely to become more intense once the school holidays have started.

But it’s not only demand for cars, it’s also vans as people take advantage of the good weather to have a good clear-out, catch up with the D.I.Y. and sort out their gardens then want to rent a van for a short time to cart away all the rubbish.

So, on a few occasions recently when people have popped in hoping to be able to instantly rent a vehicle we have been in the unfortunate (or fortunate depending on your point of view) position of having to tell them that we have absolutely none available.

Therefore, we are asking all our customers to please call us and give us some warning of when they’re going to want to rent a vehicle.

You won’t have to wait too long because short term rentals will turn over quite quickly, but it helps us to ensure that there’s a vehicle ready for you when you are going to need it, and of course, when you do pop in to collect it the paperwork only takes on average 25 minutes to complete.

Long may the good weather continue!

How we take care of all our rental vehicles

Car-checks

Renting a vehicle for a self-drive holiday overseas

It is important that our clients and customers feel safe and comfortable in any vehicle that they rent from us, so inspection, care and maintenance are all carried out regularly.

For the 7.5 ton lorries, there are very strict rules including a PMI (Preventative Maintenance Inspection) check every eight weeks and these are very extensive.

They are done to a strict schedule and the check includes the vehicle’s fuel system, exhaust system, electrical system, steering, suspension, brakes, mirrors, windows, wipers, speedometer, plugs and cables, emissions, tire wear, lights, seat belts, airbags, gear shifts, indicators and air conditioning.

If a lorry is out with a customer, we arrange to collect it and supply a substitute while the check is being carried out. This check is in addition to the usual annual MoT and the servicing whose frequency depends on the specific mileage each vehicle has done. Generally, we will replace lorries every ten years or sooner if the mileage requires it.

Our rental cars are replaced every three years, when the warranty runs out.  This is partly because it is more cost effective and partly because we find that customers generally do not want to rent a vehicle that is more than three years old.

Every time a rental car is returned to us we check the tyres, water and water bottles, ensure all the light bulbs are working properly and do a thorough clean both inside and out.

Servicing again depends on the mileage reached and our system alerts us to when a service is due, so that even if a car is with a customer it can be recalled to the depot for a service.

As you can see we take our customers’ safety and security very seriously.