Car Hire With Winter Tires
Its rapidly heading towards that time of year again, the snow coats the ground, the temperature dips and it’s time to turn the fire on in the house. It’s also the time of year that motoring becomes significantly more dangerous for everyone, we have all heard the warnings of the effects of frost and snowfall on motor vehicle collisions and injuries and for the most part we listen. Car Hire With Winter Tyres is also popular in this time of the year, particularly in skiing locations such as Sweden, Germany, France and Italy but this poses even more of a danger to the drivers.
In the effort of staying safe it is important that in such locations you have winter tyres as an extra safety precaution. A lot of our suppliers do equip winter tyres in such locations in order to combat the weather however not all of them, please if you are travelling to these locations make sure that you request the use of winter tyres for your own safety as Indigo will happily arrange this for you and we will go out of our way to ensure that winter tyres are available on your hired vehicle.
Is Car Hire With Winter Tyres Important?
Winter tyres are an extremely important feature on rental cars and any cars over the harsh conditions of frost, ice and snow. Here are some common questions we get involving the importance of winter tyres.
- Is it not enough just to drive slowly instead?
- Are winter tyres really meant for when it snows?
- How do winter tyres work?
- Are winter tyres a legal requirement anywhere?
- Do winter tyres on rental cars cost more?
When you have winter tyres equipped you will stop 11m sooner at a 20mph speed on an icy road than if you had summer tyres. This includes compact snow as well as this often has the same effect as ice, so in that respect it is very important as that is a significant stopping distance.
They aren’t designed for specific weather conditions such as frost/ice/snow but they are designed to be used for temperatures below 7 degrees whereas summer tyres aren’t, the design means they have optimal safety in the cold weather conditions.
The treads on a winter tyre are designed to be deeper than that of on a summer one meaning they are more suited to combatting problems such as snow. They also include a design which are called sipes, small incisions in the tyres surface which create extra traction on slippery surfaces.
In the UK winter tyres aren’t a legal requirement however there are countries where they are during certain period of the year. Winter tyres are a requirement at certain times of year in Germany. It’s similar to snow chains as these are compulsory in winter for France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, Austria and Andorra, generally the more mountainous areas.
When there is a legal requirement for them it is completely free of charge so be safe and ask for them. if there is no legal requirement then there maybe a cost involved.
Popular Winter Car Hire Locations
Top Winter Car Hire Services
- Christmas Car Hire
- Ski Car Hire
- Debit Card Car Hire
- Senior Driver Car Hire
- Cross Border Car Hire
- No Deposit Car Hire
Hiring a car this winter? Make sure you give us a call and stay safe when booking by getting winter tyres on your vehicle. You can call us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or email us at [email protected] for more information on this topic.
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Matt from Indigo responded to my query very promptly and, unknowingly, helped me out of a very difficult situation whilst I was abroad (I had forgotten my credit card and no one would accept debit card to hire a car). Matt put me at ease and found me a car, at a reasonable price, within 10 minutes.
The only negative is that I was unnecessarily charged for snow chains (they’re not compulsory until mid-November), but i was refunded when Matt got involved.
I would definitely recommend Indigo and use them again in the future.