Avis Saved Our Camping Trip

3 days before setting off on a camping trip to north Wales with my son my engine management light decided to pop up on the dashboard. As the car was still in warranty I wasnt too concerned until the garage told me they didnt have any courtesy cars available.

Working for Indigo car hire I knew exactly what to do, I got on the phone with Avis and booked a medium size hatchback for the week at a very reasonable cost of £115. I could have got it marginally cheaper elsewhere but I only hold a debit card and didnt want to leave a huge deposit. So all was well…

Until I got a call from my sister advising me that she and my niece and nephew would be joining us. The problem we had was space, the car I had booked would just about squeeze me, my son and all of our gear in. So we decided to take 2 cars. Yes the fuel cost would double but we would all be able to get there comfortably.

I arrived to collect my car on Saturday morning at around 7.45am, the branch wasnt due to open until 8am but the guys were there bright and early and didnt hesitate to open the doors and get me on the road earlier than expected. They said they had a choice of cars for me in that range, a VW Golf, Ford Focus or a Hyunadai I30. I asked if I could take a look at them to see which had the most space and explained why I was hiring a car. He said, tell you what, why dont you take this Citroen C4 Picasso thats just been cancelled. I was astounded by how helpful they were and the fact that he understood my situation and offered me a solution that would not only allow us all to travel together but would save us money.

He arranged the upgrade free of charge, showed me around the car, asked me to sign 1 piece of paper and sent me on my way. I was straight on the phone to my sister to tell her to unpack her car.

The next problem I encountered (sorry ladies) was probably something a lot of men have come across before, when I arrived to collect my sister it seems she had packed for 6 weeks not 5 nights, 8 pairs of shoes, hair straighteners and a make up bag the size of my bag of clothes for a camping trip…..

This is where the Citroen came into its own, I just kept finiding more space when it seemed the car was full to brimming, little cubby holes and hidey spots all over the place. Eventually we found a place for everything and 2 adults, 3 kids and the whole of my sisters wardrobe set off for north Wales.

The car was lovely to drive and the 2 hour journey seemed effortless.

While we were there we had a few day trips out to Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and Prestatyn and the car didnt skip a beat, the kids were comfortable the air con worked a treat and it was easy to park in the busy seaside towns.

Thanks to Avis for making our trip a lot easier that it may have been, here is a big thumbs up from a future Indigo Car Hire expert…

Having worked in the car rental industry for over 15 years, he really knows his stuff. Rob heads up our marketing department and as a keen traveller, always has a new location to talk about. Particularly if there is a golf course nearby.