As the winter weather finally starts to show signs of receding, I wanted to take a few minutes to remind you about some of the special deals and offers our van hire partners National and Europcar are currently providing.

National Van Rental

• Free Additional Driver on all van rentals
• GPS units for hire at selected branches

National’s ‘Free Additional Driver’ special offer is currently in full swing. It’s a great deal, allowing you to have a second driver on every van rental for no additional charge.

An additional driver usually costs £7.27 per day when hiring a van from National, so this really is a money saver on top of their already competitive rates.

National are also one of the first major car and van hire companies in the UK to introduce the option of hiring a GPS (satellite navigation) unit with your car or van. At present, GPS units are only available for hire from National’s Heathrow, Gatwick, Oxford, Kings Cross and Marble Arch branches.

Europcar

• Great rates on one-way van hire
• Discounted mid-week van hire
• Hourly van hire

Europcar is one of Europe’s largest car and van hire companies, with a fleet of 6,000 vans in the UK alone. It is also still the only major van hire company in the UK to offer van hire by the hour.

Hourly van hire can work out really well if you only need a van for an hour or two – to collect some furniture, for example – saving you the cost and hassle of having to do a daily rental.

Europcar also currently have a fantastic mid-week van hire deal – with daily rates starting from just £22.50 a day from selected locations

(Currently available at Aberdeen City, Aberdeen Airport, Carlise, Dundee City, Edinburgh City, Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow Gity, Glasgow Airport, Inverness City, Inverness Airport, Teeside Airport, Newcastle Airport).

To book hourly van hire or mid-week van hire, visit Europcar’s website now.

Any mention of Europcar wouldn’t be complete without discussing their superb one-way van hire deal. The truth is that although one-way van hire is extremely useful for renters, it’s an expensive pain in the neck for van rental companies – who end up with their hire vans in all the wrong places!

That’s why most companies charge a huge extra fee for one-way hire – often £200+.

Europcar, on the other hand, have managed to put together a special deal that lets you have one-way van hire for an extra charge of just £24.99.

There are some conditions – the rental must be between 8am Monday and 4pm Thursday, it only applies to panel vans (not Lutons) and I’m not sure whether it’s available between all rental branches.

However, it’s still a great offer – if you need one-way van hire, it’s well worth getting a quote from Europcar to see whether you are eligible for this deal.