Aspect Car Rental BlogNews and views about car hire and rental world wide.

So Spanish workers are going to strike and disrupt airlines and passengers. Are you protected that’s the question isn’t it?

If you booked a flight the airlines themselves should offer you alternatives but what happens if you also booked a Spanish rental car? Unless you have made sure your travel insurance covers you, you could be in trouble!

After the ‘volcanic ash’ problem travelers suffered earlier in the year, I would hope that everyone who travels learned the lesson and took out good travel insurance.

The problem still seems to be that so many people get travel insurance as part of their bank account options or credit card ‘extras’ and don’t bother to check the terms of the policy.

It’s so much easier to think ‘I’m covered’ than it is to actually read through the fine print, but just as you should read the fine print on your car hire contract before you sign, so you should read your travel insurance policy before you rely on it.

If you have booked a rental car in Spain and are one of the unlucky people hit by the strike disruption then the best thing you can do is call the company that issued the car hire voucher. If you booked through a broker don’t call them first, call the company that issued the voucher because they’re the ones who have contact with the end supplier.

If for whatever reason you can’t do that call the company supplying the car direct! they should be able to reassure you that your car will be available of you have to turn up a day late, you probably won’t get any refund if you now only need the car for four days instead of five but that’s better than having no car or paying a premium because cars will now be in short supply.

If you’re unlucky enough to be due to finish your hire on the day of the strike and so can’t get home, you need to talk to the rental company that owns the cars and try and work out a deal. Always talk to them first as they’re the ones with the cars and yes, you’ll probably have to pay an extra days rental but if you have good travel insurance you’ll be covered.

So remember, always check the small print!

Well now that a University Professor has tested it, it’s become official, driving in congested traffic is stressful! Did you need an academic to tell you that? No neither did I but here’s the kicker and something I for one would not have believed, using buses is far less stressful and may improve your health and lengthen your life! Well unless you’re driving the bus I guess.

It seems that because we can relax on a bus and read, talk on the phone, watch a movie on an iPod or Smart Phone we are more relaxed and therefore less stressed. There is also another factor that Dr Lewis thinks helps and that is handing over control to someone else which means we don’t feel the responsibility to keep everyone safe either.

It seems that traffic jams and congestion really do damage our health but in ways we may not realise, after all we tend not to think that raised blood pressure (when we don’t have a blood pressure problem) is a health risk but it is.

The raise in blood pressure is linked to higher degrees of cortisol in the blood and cortisol is a ’stress’ hormone. One that silently damages the adrenal glands and causes a cascade of other harmful chemicals.

So maybe it’s time to start catching the bus and if that’s not possible why not try carpooling, if you can get four of you to car pool, you know that for three weeks out of four, you’re increasing you health not detracting from it!

Ash cloud continues to cause problems

It seems  that whilst Iceland’s problematic volcano continues to throw out ash and smoke, airlines are feeling the pinch whilst car hire companies are picking up extra bookings. Euromonitor a market research company has warned that some low cost airlines and even some flag carriers are likely to be hit badly, some failing altogether. As a consequence other forms of travel are picking up extra business and car hire is one of them.

What with people being stranded and unable to get home they’re looking at alternatives, trains and coaches as well as ferries are also seeing an upsurge in business.

What does this mean for the car renting public? It means more than ever you’ll need to book early, car hire companies are not expanding their fleets so cars will be in short supply and if more people decide to rent a car to avoid using an airline, then shortages will occur and prices will rise.

If you are going to Europe from the UK you can hire a car to drive but, it will cost a lot in surcharges and extra insurances, so the best way is to go by train or ferry (as a foot passenger) and pick up your hire car at your destination. If you’re in Europe of course there’s no problem as most car rental companies allow you to cross borders as long as you return the car to the original pick up location.

So don’t get caught out by this boost to the car rental industry and remember to book early!

The cloud I refer to is not however left over ash from the volcano, rather it’s the ‘cloud’ hanging over travelers who are not being compensated properly! AA Insurance has now done an about face on it’s promise to compensate passengers who bought their travel insurance through them. Blaming their underwriters AA Insurance says that as passengers were not covered for such things as volcanic eruptions they have no obligation to pay compensation.

How about that, insured but not insured  it seems, people who trusted the AA to provide their travel insurance must feel doubly betrayed, especially if they were one of the many who found their airline less than helpful!

We always recommend that people buy good travel insurance, now it seems we have to qualify that further and say, check out the ‘Act of God’ clause and check that volcanic eruptions are also covered!!

Flybe are now offering a stand alone insurance to cover volcanic ash, available on bookings made between April 28 and May 10 for travel up to October 30. The cost of the insurance is 6.99 Sterling per return flights and will cover expenses like hotels and car hire if you have to cancel these due to volcanic ash. Perhaps customers should start to vote with their wallets and try and affect what cover is given by insurance companies?

One thing is certain, this event has shown precisely why you need GOOD Travel Insurance, check all details and take with you any telephone numbers or contact details that you may need in order to make a claim. In the UK if you can’t get any satisfaction it’s always worth reporting insurance companies to the Ombudsman and/or local Trading Standards offices.

If you still get nowhere, try organizing other customers into a pressure group, persistence is usually the best policy because in the end insurance companies don’t want the bad publicity!

I’ve just been speaking to a couple who were holidaying in Florida and due to fly back when the UK airports were closed. They were some of the lucky ones as they were staying with friends in Fort Myers so didn’t have to find a hotel room. They’re also retired and so able to afford to shop around for flights to fit their requirements, rather than take what the airlines may offer when they decide to offer it.

If you want to read how people are doing who were flying with BA then you may be interested in these posts at BoingBoing.net a cross section of opinions as well as stories from people actually starnded by this ‘Act of God’.

So is there anything you can do? Not it would seem after the fact, even though the airways are required (by EU  law) to provide food and accommodation in these circumstances. Before the fact though is a different matter, get yourself good travel insurance, check out what would happen in similar situations and make it a priority to get the best insurance you can.

People often skimp on this, believing that they only need health cover but this event shows just how wrong you can be! If you ever lose anything (I lost an 18th century gold Lorgnette on a trip and was covered for their cost) you’ll be glad to get the cost back, even if you can’t replace the items. If you get something stolen, you’ll also be glad you got good insurance and if another volcano errupts, then hopefully you won’t be one of the people losing money hand over fist!