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Best car hire companies 2026
One in eight holidaymakers told us they were stung by surprise car hire fees – use our expert ratings to make sure you aren’t one of them with
Guy is an award-winning travel writer with 20+ years' experience. He runs a crack team of researchers, unearthing everything from the best beaches to the worst car hire companies.
Admin fees, cleaning costs, age-related surcharges; the laundry list of hidden car hire extras you were stung for on your last holiday goes on and on.
One in eight of you said that your last holiday car rental cost you more than you’d bargained for, and that figure rose to one in five with some companies.
Some big-name providers think nothing of charging you hundreds of pounds for insurance you don’t need or fining you for damage to the car you didn’t cause. Misleading headline prices make it virtually impossible to shop around and understand who has the best deal.
That’s why we ask thousands of car hire customers to tell us about their experiences, and in this year’s ratings of car rental companies, we’ve introduced expert checks and extra star ratings for pricing and rental condition clarity.
Not all companies operate in every territory. That’s why, if you’re hiring here in the UK, we recommend Arnold Clark Rental; in the Canary Islands, we recommend Auto Reisen; and for rentals in the USA, Alamo is streets ahead of the competition.
For everywhere else, the broker Zest Car Rental is also a Which? Recommended Provider and remains our first port of call for car rental minus the nasty surprises. See our ratings of the Best and worst car hire brokers 2026.
Whatever you do, avoid Goldcar, a regular at the bottom of our table.
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Best and worst car hire companies rated
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 93% | £16 | |||||||||||
| 85% | £26 | ||||||||||||
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 82% | £67 | |||||||||||
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER | 76% | £60 | |||||||||||
| 75% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | |||||||||
| 74% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | |||||||||
| 74% | £60 | ||||||||||||
| 68% | £57 | ||||||||||||
| 67% | NA | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ||||||||
| 67% | £60 | ||||||||||||
| 66% | n/a | n/a | |||||||||||
| 65% | £56 | ||||||||||||
| 65% | £56 | ||||||||||||
| 64% | £55 | ||||||||||||
| 62% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | |||||||||
| 48% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Using the table: Overall score is based on customer score and Which? expert assessment. Customer score based on a statistical analysis applied to the customer's satisfaction with the brand and likelihood to recommend it. Star ratings are based on the survey or a combination of the survey and expert assessment. Online survey conducted in Feb-March 2026 with 3,637 Which? Connect panel members and members of the public based on their car hire experiences in the UK or abroad in the last two years (i.e. since February 2024). Sample size in brackets. N/A means we got too few responses for a rating. Average price Price given is the median price recalled by survey respondents.
What is the best company to rent a car from in 2026?
Guy Hobbs, car hire expert says: 'It all depends where you are going on holiday. We’ve awarded Which? Recommended Provider status to three companies: AutoReisen, which only operates in the Canary Islands, Arnold Clark Rental which is UK only, and Alamo, which is worldwide, but is best-known for rentals in North America.
'For everywhere else, I always use the Which? recommended car rental broker, Zest Car Rental. It was the highest-scoring broker in our new pricing transparency checks, it only works with local providers that have been vetted for quality and it continuously monitors standards.
And if a problem does crop up, Zest's customer service agents will help you resolve it, in English. Its prices are excellent too.'
Read our full review of Zest Car Rental.
Avoid overpriced insurance at the rental desk
Pressure selling is illegal. But when we asked everyone who bought additional insurance at the rental desk whether they had felt under pressure to do so, a staggering 61% said they did.
Why are car hire companies so keen to push their insurance? Because it makes them money.
When we looked at the price of a week’s damage waiver in Malaga with eight major car hire companies, the average cost was £191. Yet, the top-rated equivalent policy (Excess Reimbursement Insurance – ERI) from an insurance specialist was just £12.
And what exactly do you get for the extra £179? According to our extensive policy analysis, you get far worse cover.
We recommend you find a decent excess policy before you travel and stand your ground against pushy sales agents.
Read our reviews of the best car hire excess insurance.
How we research car hire companies
In February/March 2026 we asked 3,637 members of Which? Connect and the general public to complete an online survey about their experience of using a car hire company in the past two years.
We then conducted an expert assessment that looked at pricing clarity, the transparency of rental conditions, and the fairness of those conditions. The survey score and expert score were combined to create an overall score.
Only those car hire companies that were top of the table and met our consumer-focused criteria are eligible for Which? Recommended Provider status.
Planning a road trip further afield? Find out the best car hire insurance for USA and Canada.