As liveaboards have you had problems hiring cars in the UK?

I have never had a problem hiring a car in the UK.
Even though I have a UK license and address. The Hire company was more interested in my Canadian Licence and address.

For some strange reason trying to use my canadian licence and address proved to be a problem when I bought a car. Problem gone as soon as I showed my UK licence and address.

Slight white lie required. When did I return to UK. No problem truth.
Why had I returned. Holiday, visit, sorry we don't offer insurance .
Returned to live for unknown length off time. No problem
(3 months)

If staying for longer period by a car if less than a month its more hassel than it saves just rent use your current marina as an address
 
Nostrodamus said:
We were told they would do a voters check on the address on the driving licence. Also asked for recent bills from the house which of course we could not provide. Some companies do an experian check on the address.
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How do they do that? Like most people, I guess, I tick the box on the electoral roll forms that is supposed to ensure I'm NOT on the commercially available list; anyone wanting my details has to consult the printed list at the council offices. Of course, I have a credit history so they can check with a credit reference agency (it's quite interesting to use one of those free offers to check your credit record!), but that's not the same as the electoral roll.
 
No problems hiring cars but huge difficulty getting a mortgage. The Britannia Building Society turned me down even though they held £70k of my savings and I only wanted a 40% mortgage (this was some years ago), which my income would pay off in 5 years. Reason: my postcode "didn't compute". I was living on a boat in Dover Marina and the postcode was specific to a post office box number. The manager told me, "just give me any valid UK address and I can work it". I refused, if my postcode address was good enough for Inland Revenue, I argued it should be good enough for them. Not only was I refused a mortgage but the formal letter cancelled my membership and told me to hand in my passbook and withdraw my savings forthwith. So I told them it would have to be in cash.

The irony that someone wanting to buy a house was being refused on the grounds that they didn't have one, was lost on them.
 
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Building Societies are a law unto themselves. We were told that because our outgoings were too high then we could not have the low rate mortgage but we could have the higher interest rate one where we had to pay back a lot more each month. Again they could not understand why I was laughing.
 
Tranona said:
The theoretical loss of access to NHS following lengthy absence has been the case for many years, but usually avoidable by maintaining a GP registration in the UK. Pensions much more complex. The new rules require minimum contributions to qualify for pensions so you need to keep up NI while you are working age. Payment of increases depends on which country you are resident in when you draw your pension. All points towards maintaining residence in UK if you want to benefit from all services.
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Which, of course, stands to reason.
As to the "six-month rule" much wasted fulmination about what is a Ministry guideline - often invoked by the more insignificant but self-important members of non-value-adding polloi. Trouble is it plays straight into the hands of UKIP when invoked with the emotive term "illegal immigrant".
 
I have some experiece of the car hire situation. The issue is particularly prevalent with the smaller companies, Hertz, Avis, Europcar etc; do not get as excited. The problem has been people renting cars using a fictitious UK address and then nicking them as by the time the rental ends the cars is long way from the UK so the UK companies are looking for proof the UK address is actually connected to the person renting. The larger companies are used to accepting bookings from people who are not in the UK (all the foreign visitors) so providing you explain your situation prior to booking and give your non UK address (I always use a marina I have stayed in recently) they are happy with your passport. The problem is when you give a UK address that you do not actually live at.

I use Europcar regularly on this basis and its not an issue.
 
Well we went back to the UK and managed to hire a car from Avis with no problem. They were very helpful and even kept the desk open as our flight was late getting in.
The only problem I had was with a partridge hell bent on being a suicide bomber. Going down a country road it ran in front of the car and then threw itself at us. I was doing about 60mph at the time with traffic coming the other way so his mission succeeded. It is surprising just how much of a dent a bird can leave in the bonnet. (£380 worth of dent).
The questionnaire at the end was funny. How did it happen and who's fault was it. Did you get pictures and did you admit responsibility to the other party.
Well here is the picture I am submitting.
View attachment 48287
 
As an update to this. The damage was £481. I had taken extra insurance as there was a £1,000 excess on the car.
The insurance company said I am not covered as I cannot provide a receipt for 2 nights pre booked accommodation as per their terms and conditions. I cannot understand how this relates to a car.
I have told them that prior to hiring the car I made arrangements with friends and family to stay with them in their houses. To me that means I have made a prior arrangement ie pre booked and are staying in their house ie accommodation. The insurance company do not want to accept this but the terms and conditions do not stipulate what pre booked and accommodation means.
I still await a reply but so far they have refused to pay for the damage.
 
Nostrodamus: write to the thieving eejits again, stating that in the event of their declining the claim you will refer it to the Insurance Ombudsman. This may cause them a change of heart. If it doesn't, contact the Ombudsman: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

Worth also checking this out: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/making-a-complaint-about-an-insurance-company

You can't make a formal complaint to the Ombudsman until you have been through the insurance company's official complaints procedure (if they don't have one they're breaking the law), although the Ombudsman can offer informal advice during this period.
 
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Thank you for that macd. I have explained my position as well asking them to clarify exactly where it states that the pre booked accommodation needs to be paid for and asked that they return the huge amount of documents they wanted from me (originals of course) so I can inform the Ombudsman/ small claims court.
I will make a complaint through the company first though so thanks.
Hopefully others will check small print because this seems to be one weird clause for hiring a car.
 
Nostrodamus: I've had no recent dealings with the ombudsman, but years ago did, both privately and professionally. They jumped very heavily on spurious conditions, such as vehicle accident claims declined because of, say, the addition of some wholly irrelevant cosmetic accessory to the vehicle. The "weird small print" you mention seems somewhat analogous.

Since then the Ombudsman has become part of the FSA. However, I had dealings with the FSA's financial ombudsman about three years ago. They were hugely helpful, although in the end the bank buckled, so no formal referral was made.

Good luck.
 
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