UK Autumn Mornings - Take Care When Driving

As the Autumn takes its hold in the UK, it brings with it additional perils of driving, namely strong bright early morning sun and swirling mist. The blinding sunlight coincides with the early morning rush hour, therefore creating a considerable risk to drivers.The drivers have two options:-
1. Reduce speed and flip down the sun visor
2. Slap on the shades -and look cool!
BestCarHire.com has trawled the web to bring you some options when it comes to looking cool while driving.

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So whether you just want to hire a car or a people carrier, just make sure that you are comfortable and capable before you turn that ignition.

The People Carrier - Comfort and Joy!

How to make the kids think you are the best parent in the world - 

Get Yourself a People Carrier!

When I bought my first people carrier back in 1998 the Ford Galaxy was one of the new wave of vehicles built with the family in mind. This created a demand for similar people carriers from different manufacturers like the Volkswagen Sharan. All had one thing in common - the kids loved them!

Room for an average family, and their friends. Individual seats spaced apart to avoid sweaty bodies niggling each other. The ability to remove seats easily, allowing the people carrier to be turned into a good sized van. Another safety feature was the driver had good all-round vision, and the modern-day equivalents still boast this advantage.

Today's people carriers are classy. Known as the MiniVan in the United States, the types of vehicles available in the U.S. include the Chrysler Voyager suitable for 7 people, the Chevrolet Traverse again suitable for more the 6 people, the Ford Ecoline 8 seater and the monster 15 seater Ford Club Wagon.

Typically the people carrier and minivan come with the standard set of features. Take for example the Ecoline - With room for 8 passengers and 10 pieces of luggage, this air-conditioned, automatic passenger van is perfect for large groups looking to arrive at their destination in comfort. In the United Kingdom, the most popular people carriers are the Ford Galaxy and the Volkswagen Touran. Both the Galaxy and the Touran has room for 7 passengers and convenient luggage space, this air-conditioned, automatic passenger van is perfect for larger groups or families.

To make things easier, Click here to download the handy BestCarHire.com app for your iPad or iPhone, to allow you to choose the best people carrier or minivan to fit your needs.Please remember when searching for people carrier hire please tick the minivan selection box.

About the Author:

Malcolm McNeill is CEO of www.BestCarHire.com giving clients the ability to search for the best economy car rental - anytime and anywhere.

Follow BestCarHire on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+
Download the latest car rental iPad app here.

Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com.

The Truckers View - Bad Driving Habits

We all think that we are perfect drivers, and on the whole we are - NOT!,
An article published in Readers Digest, detailed some of the most bizarre observations made by US lorry drivers - some of them amusing, some of them blood curdling!

BestCarHire takes a look at some of these, with the presumption that the truckers are male and that the observations were made while driving.

Changing Lanes
“One time on the 405 in L.A., I saw a woman switch from a very nice business outfit into a leotard. At one point, she was just sitting there in her undergarments.
(BestCarHire opinion - why did this guy spend so long taking in so much detail - he should have been keeping his beady eyes on the road ahead!)

Dishonourable Discharge
“A woman had her baby in the front seat next to her and was changing the baby’s diaper (nappy).

Shoot the Piano Player
“I saw a gentleman one time-in a Suburban-and he had a full-size piano keyboard sitting between the two seats. He was using his right hand to play it while he was going down the road.”
(BestCarHire opinion: Can't see anything wrong here at least it wasn't his organ he was playing with!)

Wooly Fools
“I’ve seen a lot of people sewing or knitting while they’re driving. And, you know, that takes two hands.”
(BestCarHire opinion: a traffic light jumper maybe?)

Bitch of a Driver
“Last week, I had a lady pass me at 70 miles an hour, and I looked down, and her dog-a little Jack Russell terrier-was standing on his back legs and resting his paws on the steering wheel.”

Hard to Swallow
“I was in Indiana or Ohio, and a woman was driving down the road, steering with her elbows, eating a bowl of soup. Now how in the world do you pull that off without spilling?”

You Couldn't Make it Up!
“What I see all the time is women steering with their knee, with the makeup mirror in one hand and a brush in the other, putting on eye shadow and blush and going 65 or 70 miles an hour. Usually they’re going back and forth across the line, running over and hitting the rumble strips. I blow the horn at them.”
hands.”
(BestCarHire opinion: by blowing your horn you've probably made this lady smudge her makeup and completely ruin her day. How bad do you feel now!)

Reading Between the Lines
“One guy actually had a paperback book taped to his steering wheel. It would move when he turned the wheel.”

Cruising for a Bruising
“What I see a lot of times, more with ladies, is they’ll be sitting cross-legged, driving with cruise control. All I can think is, How long is it going to take to get their legs uncrossed and get their foot down to the brake if they need to stop suddenly?”

'Armless Fun
“I’ve seen a lady with a cigarette in one hand, a cup of coffee in that same hand, driving with her elbows and talking on a cell phone at the same time.”
hands.”
(BestCarHire opinion: she is probably on the phone reporting the fact that she is being harassed by a lorry driver, driving right up her rear end!)

Cyber Driver
“The other day, I saw a guy with a cup of coffee between his legs, typing on his laptop computer and trying to drive. We hit a curve, and he wasn’t going with the curve. I had to tap my horn to alert him.”

From the small sample above it shows that women were more culpable than men. Now that could be for 2 reasons:

1. The observations were made by male chauvinist American lorry drivers, with nothing better to do when driving long-haul journeys.
2. That woman drivers pay more attention to what's going on elsewhere than what's heading towards them - we'll leave you to make your mind up on that one!




With thanks to Michelle Crouch from Reader's Digest

About the Author
Malcolm McNeill is CEO of www.BestCarHire.com offering clients the ability to search and rent a vehicle of their choice - anytime and anywhere

Follow BestCarHire on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+
Download the latest car rental iPad app here.
Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com.

The Car Rental Funny Side - BestCarHire.com Meets Dilbert

When you want to hire a car, you want a company who can provide the best choice of vehicles, with the best car hire packages. Whether you want a hire car for business or to rent a vehicle for pleasure, the BestCarHire.com can provide a choice of 550 vehicle suppliers in 30,000 locations around the world.

Many thanks to www.Dilbert.com

About the Author
Malcolm McNeill is CEO of www.BestCarHire.com offering clients the ability to search and rent a vehicle of their choice - anytime and anywhere

Follow BestCarHire on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+
Download the latest car rental iPad app here.
Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com.

Faro Car Rental Deals from BestCarHire.com

If you are going on holiday to Portugal, BestCarHire.com can save you money by offering you low rates for longer term car hires in September.

Please see sample of prices below.Please visit our website for more bargains and further details.

About the Author
Malcolm McNeill is CEO of www.BestCarHire.com offering clients the ability to search and rent a vehicle of their choice - anytime and anywhere
Follow BestCarHire on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+
Download the latest car rental iPad app here.
Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com.

The BestCarHire.com Guide - What To Do If You Knock Down an Animal

God forbid it should happen, but how would you react if you ran over an animal?
Would you just keep driving, would you claim your road-kill trophy or would you try to resuscitate it?

In the UK, a dog (as well as a goat, horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep and pig) does come within the remit of the Road Traffic Act and is a reportable accident so you are required by law to report it to the police.

The UK Highway Code Rule 286 says:

If you are involved in a collision which causes damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property, you MUST

stop
give your own and the vehicle owner’s name and address, and the registration number of the vehicle, to anyone having reasonable grounds for requiring them
if you do not give your name and address at the time of the collision, report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any case within 24 hours.

For those other creatures, how you react is up to yourself. Lately in the UK there has been an increase in the number of road traffic accidents involving the expanding deer population. This type of accident can cause considerable damage to your vehicle, as well as the poor deer.
From the deer's perspective you have a moral duty to try and save the animal if possible, by contacting the police or a vet. You will need to get the police involved anyway if you are submitting a car insurance claim.

In the Scottish Highlands, Kate Macpherson has another view on the subject. She collects dead badgers, foxes and stoats from the sides of roads and, using her taxidermy skills, incorporates their heads into striking finished products.

The 46-year-old has faced criticism from animal rights campaigners because of her decision to leave the animals' faces on the sporrans.

But the mother-of-three has defended her one-woman business. "If I didn't pick up these animals they would be rotting in a ditch," she said. "I'm creating something useful from them rather than allowing their beauty to be wasted.


About the Author
Malcolm McNeill is CEO of Best Car Hire offering clients the ability to search and rent a vehicle of their choice - anytime and anywhere. Many of our clients visiting Scotland for the first time ask for people carrier hire at Glasgow Airport or people carrier hire at Edinburgh Airport to enjoy a comfortable view of the Scottish countryside.

Follow BestCarHire on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

Download the latest car rental iPad app here. 
Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com.

Travelling in Ireland - A Thirty Second Tour

As the summer approaches it is time to think about how we can ideally spend our treasured leisure time.
One of the most rewarding and romantic locations is Ireland, be it the rugged Northern Ireland coastline at Antrim to Skibbereen, the most southerly town in Ireland.
Wherever you go in Ireland, you will be guaranteed a warm and hospitable welcome.
For the gastronomic travellers amongst us, there are no tastier oysters than those tasted at the Galway Oyster Festival (27th to 29th September 2013). If you've never tasted Irish Stew swallowed down with a couple of pints of Guinness, then you've a lot to learn.
Talking of "the Black Stuff", you will need to find time to fit into your busy schedule, a visit to a local Irish pub. My favourites are just off Temple Bar in the centre of Dublin, where apart from the vast range of beers and whiskers, you have entertainment thrown in free from the young ladies doing traditional Irish dancing, to the impromptu guitar, fiddle and bodhran entertainers crooning away in a corner.
The best way to get to Ireland is by air to Dublin or Belfast, or by ferry to Larne or Dublin. There is a good road network throughout Ireland, the best being focussed around the major towns and cities on the east coast. If arriving by air, there are various major car hire companies available.

The currency is the Euro in the south (Eire) and the UK pound in Northern Ireland.
Please use Currency Converter on our site at www.BestCarHire.com for your local currency equivalent.

Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from Download.com- http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs


Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+
Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide

Don't Look Back - Look Ahead to Holiday Deals

With the spring and summer holidays approaching its time to put the dreary winter weather behind us an jet off to warmer climates.
BestCarHire.com can help you find the best deals going when it comes to car and van rental worldwide.
Here's an example of some of the deals currently on offer in Euros.

• Faro Airport, Portugal from €11 per day
• Orlando Airport, USA from €21 per day
• Alicante Airport, Spain from €13 per day
• Mallorca Airport, Spain from €14 per day
• Nice Airport, France from €19 per day
• Milan Airport, Italy from €24 per day
• Malaga Airport, Spain from €10 per day
• Lisbon Airport, Portugal from €11 per day
• Las Vegas Airport, USA from €11 per day
• London Heathrow Airport, UK from €16 per day

Please use Currency Converter on our site at www.BestCarHire.com for your local currency equivalent.

Please Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from Download.com- http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs

Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide

Get A Grip - The Dangers of Part Worn Tyres

In this age of austerity one type of business which appears to be on the up are the outlets that trade on part-worn tyres.

In the past these tended to be restricted to seedy locations, underneath railway arches, but nowadays they seem to be rolling out in more obvious areas sporting colours and bunting which would be the envy of the more famous, high street favourite like Kwik-Fit, ATS, Tyrewise and the rest.

Whilst we can understand, in these challenging times, that the pennies are tight and we sometimes have to shop around for bargains, what price is safety?

In 2012  a study was carried out by  Tyresafe, one of the UK’s leading tyre safety organisations, dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers associated with defective or illegal tyres. The study, which involved the purchase of 50 random part-worn tyres from retailers across the UK, found that 98% were being sold illegally as they did not meet current requirements.

Of the tyres examined it was discovered that 33% contained faults which could prove to be fatal.

In 2012 there were more than 1200 road casualties where illegal, defective or under-inflated tyres were a contributory factor.

In another study compiled by Birmingham City Council, among the failures were tyres which had nails embedded, illegal tread depth, exposed cords, inadequate markings and one tyre which was 17 years old.

In the USA according to Safety Research & Strategies,
This as you can imagine means for lots of surplus tyres as a whole country changes tyres at least once a year. Tyre fitters usually buy these by the container load and sell them on as part worns at a cheaper price”.

“A tyre that can appear new on the outside can be compromised internally as the material and chemical properties of the tyre have changed significantly, increasing the risk of catastrophic tread / belt separation.  Think of those old rubber bands in your desk—when new and fresh they are very elastic, as they age the rubber properties change.  Stretching will result in cracking and they break much easier and more quickly then when they were new.  Yet, age does not automatically disqualify a tyre from the used tire market. Often—but not always—used tyres are older than new tires and stored, before sale, in conditions that may contribute to rapid deterioration”.

So where do the part-worn tyres originate?

According to one source on the web – “Certain countries (namely Germany) require by law for drivers to use winter tyres.  

Other areas include tyres removed from car wrecks or have had a puncture too close to the tyre wall for a reputable tyre trader to fix the puncture.

Why risk your own life along with fellow passengers and not forgetting other possible road travellers

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So you have to ask yourself – is it worth it?

At BestCarHire.com we deal with 550 vehicle suppliers in 30,000 locations worldwide.

Please Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from   Download.com- http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs

Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide

Purchasing Managers - How BestCarHire Can Cut Your Costs.

According to the dictionary, procurement means the acquiring of goods or services. These goods and services must be relevant and they should be procured at the best price to ensure that they meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location. Large organisations and public bodies often develop processes to ensure that they are accountable and indeed auditable, and promote a competitive purchasing environment for their business while minimizing exposure to fraud and collusion.

So take an organisation which depends on finding transportation for its employees at home and abroad. To leave the responsibility of hiring a car to a travelling employee is both inconvenient for the employee as well as being potentially not cost effective. The employee is likely to go for the first rental company he or she comes across and request the most inefficient vehicle for the most inappropriate price. 

You can change that by switching your corporate car rental procurement to using www.BestCarHire.com.

By downloading the iPad app, the iPhone app or indeed by using the BestCarHire website you will be in control of all your car rental purchasing at a more manageable price.

Here's an example - a London based utilities company is sending Jim a water quality expert to discuss a potential water cleansing project with a partner organisation in Dubai.

Using the BestCarHire iPad app from the offices in London, Sheila, the company's procurement assistant is able to key in the vehicle pickup location (Dubai Airport) the rental duration (7 days) the drop off location (Dubai Airport). 
She is then returned a variety of vehicles and costs, ranging from a Citroen C1 @ £13.79 per day to a Mercedes E280 @ £128 per day. So before Jim leaves London his car is already chosen for him, paid for and ready for his arrival in busy Dubai airport. One less thing for Jim to worry about and more importantly, one more thing that Sheila has done help to manage the company's costs. 

And to show how nice we are we've even thrown in a useful Currency Converter - handy for any cross- border transactions.

So let's see if BestCarHire can help you in a similar fashion!

Please Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from   Download.com- http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs

Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide

Get Your Band On The Road - Great Van Prices!

One of the most annoying things about gigging around the country is the cost of transport.
You know the feeling - you are all excited about getting that gig 100 miles away only yo to find that your well earned pennies disappears by the time you pay for transport to get you to and from the gig. Let's face it, it's not worth buying your own van unless you're full time and even that means leaving it lying on some driveway for a good part of the year. You could always pay some removal guy to get you there and back but that tends to be for local gigs.
At BestCarHire.com we can provide you with the ability to compare the market of local car and van suppliers thus giving you to get the best deals going.

Here's some examples:-

To hire a Ford Transit 350 LWB or similar
 
on a Friday lunchtime in Glasgow, Scotland and returning on a
 Sunday afternoon would cost you £125.16
That's not bad is it?


Or how about accross the pond in Chicago?

A Ford Clubwagon 12 passenger or similarBooked for the same time slot this will cost you USD 505.21 for 2 days

Please Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from www.Download.com - http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs

Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide

Malcolm is also a member of a band www.passionatefriends.com and is well aware of all the issues with van hiring!

Also try our new Motorhome rental site HolidayCampervan.com

And in the Beginning.......

Welcome to the first blog from BestCarHire.com!

We at BestCarHire.com aim to bring you the best deals going wherever you're going - worldwide.

Need a rental car in a hurry? 
Going on holiday and you want a car or van waiting for you at your destination. Now you can compare the market of of 550 vehicle suppliers in 30,000 locations around the world from your iPhone or iPad!

Booking a car could not be more easy - just 3 simple steps will instantly provide you with a very competitive quote. Your payments are secure and great news - No credit card fees and no hidden charges! We've also included a handy currency converter to help you manage your finances while you travel from country to country! 
The app is free, so download now and make your next vehicle rental as streamlined and stress-free as possible.


Please Visit our website at www.BestCarHire.com for more details or download the iPhone and iPad apps from   Download.com- http://tinyurl.com/brfcphs

Malcolm McNeill
www.BestCarHire.com

Follow us on Twitter, FaceBook and Google+

About the author
Malcolm McNeill is a well established IT consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. His brainchild website www.BestCarHire.com was only launched in late 2012 but can now boast of many satisfied customers worldwide