At Great Escape Classic Car Hire we've just spent several thousand pounds renewing our AA nationwide breakdown cover. This covers every one of our 50 classic cars for hire and every hirer. It means that wherever you go - and with our unlimited mileage package, it can be virtually anywhere - you're guaranteed of full breakdown support, whatever happens.When you're hiring a classic car for the day or weekend we're pretty sure you want complete peace of mind After all, it's a big day - our cars are often hired for weddings, anniversaries and birthdays - so you want everything to go as smoothly as possible. So while the level of breakdown cover offered by your hire company is often easy to overlook - or you naturally assume it is in place - it remains a very important consideration when choosing a classic car hire company.
The reliability of our classic car fleet is vital to our business. So at Great Escape Classic Car Hire we spend at least 35% of all hire income on maintaining our cars. In 2011 we're even setting up our own in-house servicing department to further improve the levels of reliability. Our cars cover very high mileages for classic cars and our breakdown rate is very low. But no matter what we do and how much we spend we can never guarantee 100% reliability. That's why we invest thousands of pounds every year in providing full nationwide AA breakdown cover with our cars.
Unfortunately not every classic car hire company offers full nationwide breakdown support. While every member of the Historic & Classic Car Hirers Guild (including Great Escape) offers full breakdown cover, hidden in the small print of some companies' terms and conditions are clauses that make the customer responsible for recovering a broken down car. Some companies offer no cover at all while others only offer limited cover within a certain distance from their sites. If you venture outside a given distance from the collection site you may be liable for the recovery cost. You may also be liable for the breakdown company's call-out charge.
"Classic car hire is a real treat for those lucky enough to experience it," explains Graham Eason of Great Escape Classic Car Hire. "We want everything to go as smoothly as possible. But, along with every classic car hire company, we can't guarantee the reliability of old cars.
"That's why we provide full nationwide AA breakdown cover with every car. So if there is a problem, wherever our customer is they'll get full support. We believe it is wrong to expect the customer to be inconvenienced or financially penalised if the car breaks down.
"It is our responsibility to look after the customer."
The Great Escape Classic Car Hire AA recovery package is also supported by the company's own local recovery system. If a customer experiences a problem with a Great Escape car near to base, Great Escape is committed to attending quickly and where possible bringing an alternative car to the customer, so that they can then continue their journey.
"If we can we'll take a car out as quickly as possible to local customers," explains Graham Eason. "We then wait for the AA so that the customer doesn't have to Or we'll recover the car using our own trailers."
Great Escape is the UK's largest classic car hire company and has been named as one of the Heart of England's best tourism experiences. The company operates 50 cars from 6 UK locations. For more details visit http://www.greatescapecars.co.uk/ or call 01527 893733.