The British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA) is warning car and van hire customers to ‘look for the logo’ when hiring a car or van.

The BVRLA is the UK’s trade association for vehicle rental companies, and to help customers understand the benefits of hiring from a BVRLA member firm, the organisation has published a new leaflet entitled “Why use a BVRLA member?”

According to the new leaflet, which is available on the BVRLA’s website, BVRLA has more than 500 members operating more than 2.75m cars, vans and trucks all over the UK.

BVRLA members are required to follow a Code of Conduct which requires members to provide safe and roadworthy vehicles, provide clear and accurate information about their services and offer a complaint resolution service. You might think that all of these requirements are standard for any car or van hire company, but sadly, there are all too many tales out there of companies whose vehicles did not meet the required standards, some of whom are outright fraudsters.

Member companies rental vehicles are required to pass a 44-point checklist before being rented out, while even more stringent checks apply to goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes — and companies are subject to random inspections periodically, to ensure they are up to scratch.

Virtually all of the companies whose services we include on vanrental.co.uk are BVRLA members, and while there are reputable companies who aren’t members (mostly small, local independent firms), what I’d recommend is that if you are not familiar with the reputation of a firm, then make sure it’s a BVRLA member.