Hertz has become the first car hire company to drop its minimum car rental age to 19 across various European countries.

In a further concession students can get 15% off when they hire a car and 20% off when they hire a van from Hertz.

Michel Taride, the president of Hertz Europe, said: "Hertz is the first car rental company to offer consistent pricing across Europe for younger drivers.

“We are pleased to extend our competitive prices and car rental convenience to a whole new market segment of leisure customers."
Hertz has made this important change just before the summer holidays when many students will be moving their things from one place to another.

The European countries which will have Hertz car hire for 19 year olds are Belgium, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
In other news several car hire customers have written into a magazine asking about the possibility of hiring cars in one location and dropping them off in another.

One family wrote to Smart Travel asking: “There are four people in our family and we want to rent a car in Lisbon, tour Portugal and Spain, and return from Madrid, but we have heard that cross-border rentals are excessive. Are they really?”

In response car rental expert Ed Perkins stated that it could be extremely expensive to use a drop off point in a different country with Hertz charging $900 for the privilege.
Another person with experience of the industry, Robert Bestor, the publisher of a German travel website, stated: "International one-ways are priced virtually on a case by case basis, depending on vehicle and cities involved.

“The cheapest international one-ways are city pairs like Frankfurt - Paris, Munich - Vienna, Zürich - Paris, Brussels -Amsterdam, and they range from about $140 to $300.
“Any one-way involving Italy is pricey—usually $350 to $600 and Italy is the most expensive country in Europe to rent.

"In general Europcar's fees are the lowest, followed by Hertz and Avis.  Enterprise rent a car, Thrifty car rental and Budget don’t often allow one-way car hire travel.”
Rhino car hire is proud to offer different pick up and drop off points in Various European and world wide destinations without charging a one way surcharge. Check out our latest offers as we search all the available options to come up with the most convenient car hire for our customers.

The first limousine was built in Fort Smith Arkansas in 1928, but like many aspects of American culture, limousines have now spread right across the world.

Limousines have developed a reputation for being a fun way to travel and are mainly used today for transportation to special events and parties with the sales and rentals of limos going up for proms especially.

 

Part of the reason why limousines have gained this reputation as party cars is because they were originally used by the big band musicians Benny Goodman and Glen Miller to carry the band members and their equipment from concert to concert. Accordingly limousines were first known as ‘big band buses’.

Today one of the top limousine operators in Europe has built his company around this cross Atlantic relationship.
Simon Ringham, founder of All Stretched Out, first started buying Lincoln and Cadillac model limousines from America and doing all the work on them himself. For Limo Hire in Bristol and Limo Hire Cardiff call 01633 282233 and mention Rhino Car Hire and you will get 10% discount.

Initially some American limousine providers did not make life easy for him, but with the help of his wife he built up the business.

Simon is very proud to say that he works on all his limousines himself, unlike many limo ‘salesmen’ who don’t know the first thing about the cars they are trying to flog.

The limos that Simon works on will have bars, champagne tables and varying sizes of axels as he customizes his All Stretched Out vehicles personally to make them as exciting yet functional as possible.
Simon has become such an authority on limos during the 14 years of All Stretched Out trading that many British companies call him up for advice on repairing limos and obtaining parts. His experience of repairing and refurbishing limousines sets him apart from the rest.

All Stretched Out is based in Newport, covering the cities of Cardiff, Bristol, Bath and other areas of the British west country.  The company has a great range of limos for sale and you can see the range on the website.

Currently they operate between 25-50 limos which are available for hire.
All Stretched Out used to have 80 limos but this was overextending the company, especially during the American prom season when limos are hard to source.

But reducing his fleet has allowed Simon to concentrate on what he does best, applying the personal touch. Many of Simon’s customers are his friends and they have got to know him because the quality of his service has made them come back time and time again.
 

“Right, let’s have a Geneva.”

For years these were the words with which all of my family meetings were convened.
Having a Geneva was a call to table to decide what the plan of action for the day was; where we were going and what we were eating, among other particulars. 
On summer holidays in France a Geneva might precede a drive to a vineyard for wine tasting followed by a meal in a small but excellent village bistro.  Of course we would always use Rhino Car Hire Geneva for our holiday rental needs.

When we stayed at Lake Annecy, near to the city of Geneva itself, there were daily ‘Geneva’s’ to decide whether the day might be taken up with a country walk, some sailing or by just swimming and lounging.
The origins of this lexicon are simple - The Swiss city of Geneva has long had a history of being the place where people came together to meet over important issues.
None were more important that the sorting out of World War One.



Geneva is known as the Peace Capital because it was where the League of Nations was set up in 1919. The purpose of the League of Nations was to make sure that another great war did not take place after WW1 by encouraging countries to disarm through collective security.

It is safe to assume that the League of Nations was a complete disaster considering that it took place only twenty years before the (even more) brutal Second World War swung into action.
However, as Harry Lime (played by Orson Welles in the film adaptation of Graham Greene’s Third man novel) says:

“In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance.
“In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Geneva was also the origin of another favourite of my family’s sayings, albeit tongue in cheek.
“If you want to get to heaven, you got to work.”
So said a young Calvin (in essence) when he arrived in Geneva in 1536. Calvin had been chased out of France by the Catholics and went on to form Protestantism.
Protestants valued the work ethic and their effect can be seen on Geneva today which is considered a somewhat stuffy city.

Some people use a car to get from A to B, some people have a car as a status symbol and some people just use their car for down right weird purposes.

For instance the car below – was this guy thinking that he’d try and be environmentally friendly and go green by covering his car in grass?



Or what about this weird thing? I guess the creator of this car is a cat lover, though he probably should have kept it to himself rather than turning his car into a giant cat.



Then, my personal favourite, the divorce car, or at least the half of the car which is left after the divorce!

Another weird car is the Thermosmobile, shaped like a thermos, which is currently sitting in Middlebury Connecticut in the Golden Age of Trucking Museum. This one is sure to keep you warm on a cold day. Why not rent car hire Connecticut through Rhino and go check it out?

In terms of sheer ingenuity nothing would beat the school bus which is designed to land safely if it flips over. This is particularly useful if you have a bus driver like Otto in the Simpsons who is constantly high on some sort of hallucinogenic drugs. With a mirror image bus on the roof on the bus itself, you’re protected against any mishaps.

So why would you want to drive around a normal car when you could build a custom car which is heaps more fun?

Having a car in Cyprus is the ultimate means of expression.

Teenagers and young people who live on this Mediterranean island often spend long meals and days with their large families.

Finally they get free of the shackles of their parents, aunts, uncles and cousins and go out late at night at honking their car horns incessantly as a sign of independence.
Unfortunately their behaviour is antisocial to say the least. Picture the scene. It’s Sunday night – the day and been blissfully and uniquely quiet.

You’ve watched a movie with a cup of hot chocolate and you’re in your pyjamas ready to hit the hay.
Once you get to bed it’s hard getting to sleep at first because you had a lie in that morning so your sleeping routine is out. By about 11pm you’re finally getting drowsy.
But just as your eyes start to feel heavier……..it begins.
Beeeep. Beeeeeeeep. BeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeP. BEEeeeep. BEEEEEEEeeeppppp. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.



And so on. You get the idea. Only it goes on for about four hours.
You lie there, wishing you had a rocket launcher and wondering how anyone old enough to drive a car can find honking their horn repeatedly for four hours amusing.
Most of the culprits are usually 18 year olds (who look about 12) and drive around latest model Mercedes Benz or BMW sports cars.

It is of course illegal to honk your horn in Cyprus between the hours of 10pm and 4am and they do so right outside the local police station but the police never do anything.
And when you are living by choice in another person’s country you don’t really feel you can complain that much.

So, I’ve decided if you can’t beat them, join them. From now on I’m going to drive around dementedly honking my horn on Sunday night (and most other nights). Maybe the Cypriots have the right idea.