Choice Vehicle Rentals Reviews 

My first time using Choice Van Rentals and frankly it will be my last. I asked for a tail lift Luton (as I have to carry a 200kg piece of equipment) and was allocated one for 2 days. When I got to the Hove branch the chap who dealt with me couldn’t be bothered to offer anything like customer service and didn’t even invite me to walk around and inspect the vehicle. As I was under time pressure I just jumped in and drove off to my factory in Lancing. When I got there I then realised I’d been given a low loader. So I had to drive back to Hove to swap, but this caused a real headache for the lady (who had taken over). But, she did it – and she’s the only reason I give 2 stars. So, I got in my vehicle, which was grubby on the outside and the same on the inside, but again I had no time to complain at the time as I was under severe time pressure now.
Off I went to Leeds then to find the vans have a limiter, capped at 67mph (according to my satnav – which is more accurate than the speedometer). So overtaking on the quiet motorways was a continual headache.
When I returned I was charged for the low loader – having driven it 30 miles! First off, that was their mistake and second, Hove to Lancing and back is 10 miles.
An argument ensued and it was noted my charge was rescinded. But I’m still out of pocket having paid extra money for the low loader I never ordered.
So I strongly advise if you want poor customer service with surly staff (but not that one lady who helped), dirty vans with a limiter on them, to be charged extra when you haven’t asked for it, to have to argue over matters that were NOT your fault then do use Choice.
If, however, you don’t want those things, look elsewhere.
I shall not be returning.

Great company, always remember that with this company price is the main focus, so you are not going to get the quality of Enterprise or Avis, but its a 1/3rd of the cost. Cheers Guys

An Amazing expirience even without taken the van but i get them crazy changing the booking once without any problem and then ened up canceling the booking because the moving was delayed
and they refund the payment even without asking for it.
In short amazing experience and when defently i go to move out 100% sure go to get back to them.
Van cheapest in the industry amazing custumer service what else do you need?

If i could give 0 stars I would.
Picked a transit van up to move some furniture to Plymouth. The van was filthy!! Loaded the van up through side door then used back door for last item only to find the door wouldn't shut and was completely broken.
I had a meeting with builder and kitchen fitters in Plymouth at 9am the following morning.
My partner had to take her car to meet builder while I took van back to Hove branch and wait for them to put a complete new lock on van. I arrived in Plymouth 6 hours late and didn't meet builder or kitchen fitter.
Avoid this company they are cowboys. Awaiting full refund for a van that wasn't fit for purpose!!!

Choice didn't even deserve one star. Had to wait standing up for over one hour in a queue outside Brighton office in mid-July, repeatedly with the exhaust tailpipe of vans belching fumes in the hapless customers' faces while the vans were photographed before being released to customers (despite requesting staff to turn the engine off while idling for long periods). My van's fuel gauge read quarter full when I checked out, and since I was traveling to Tamworth and back in a day I immediately filled the fuel tank to full. However, I soon realized when I paid the fuel bill for 71 L that the tank must have been near empty when I had collected it and not quarter full as stated on the release paper and fuel gauge. I had just over-filled by a quarter of a tank of fuel. The fuel gauge was not working and just kept reading random amounts during the trip. Choice refused to compensate for the unused fuel and to add insult to injury charged me £12 for excess mileage. How can you run a van hire firm with vehicles with faulty fuel gauges? The van was also governed to a maximum speed of 67 miles per hour which, in my view, can make overtaking on motorways dangerous in some circumstances.

I hired a transit van from Crawley. Staff were spot on, helpful, friendly, great attitude. No pain in the arxxx nit picking or arguments. Recommended, Thanks guys my company will be using you again.

Great all round value for money service.

Very disappointed. Regardless if you book ahead of time or a day before, they still come really late.very bad. You won't make it on time.. how much more if you got a plane to catch? Find somewhere else

Have hired off of Choice Vehicle Rentals five times now, 3 car rentals and a couple of transit vans.
Must say they have always been very polite and helpful whenever I have hired from them,

Each time I have hired they have taken the time to do a good walkaround of the vehicle pointing out any issues before driving off, the last time the lady that dealt with it made notes of every minor little mark as well as the big.

The vans can be abit untidy but then I would expect that as there work horses and probably get hired out to do tons of different jobs, but can't fault the cars.

One thing with Choice Vehicle Rentals is the cost, it's one the of cheapest around, paid £139 for a 7 day hire plus £100 deposit for a Kia Ceed estate car paid the deposit by card that was returned the day after returning the car.

I would recommend them if you're after a cheap rental, planning to hire again soon for a driving holiday.

Hired a car last week and was told if I needed it a little longer this would be added on as part of a longer term rental as long as I called 2 days prior to return date. I did this and the lady on the phone tried to charge me for a new rental ( much more expensive) so I drove all the way to the Hove office and was promptly quoted the discounted rate. Need to re train telephone staff!!!

Just had a 9 seats van rented for the weekend, the van seats were covered in dog hair, and smelling wet dog...!!! I had a family trip scheduled, and I couldn’t afford to refuse the van straight away. Thus, I had to clean it myself before I could get my 10 month son, and my other relatives in the van.!
I honestly don’t know how can a rental company possibly deliver a filthy car to a customer.!
I did complain to the employee responsible at the time I returned it, and he told me that if I’ve had booked if before the van would have been inspected. So, whatever happens, make sure you book a car in advance.!! Otherwise you can end up having to pay for a rental and cleaning the car yourself like I did.
Simply disgusting.

Have been using weekly for over 10 years now. Very helpful and friendly staff and always an excellent service. Would highly recommend !!!

The took £200 deposit off of us for a scratch that was there when we left, they are trying to charge us cleaning fees too, rude staff that are trying to rip you off! cowboys they are!

Dreadful service. Rude staff. Tatty, dirty vehicles. Had problem with van door not staying shut. Drove less than a mile before having to return it as not safe to drive. Then had to be driven to another branch to pick up another van making me 1.5 hours late. No compensstion or good will gestures. Avoid them. Pay extra and go to a reputable hire company. These people are cowboys.

I used to use this company fairly regularly - they were cheap & cheerful, but were always helpful and polite, and gave a good service. After a few years of not needing them, I've recently used them a couple of times in the past year. Oh. My. God. I don't know what's happened while I've been gone, but they've become unrecognisably poor.
First, their website is something from the 90s, so it doesn't work on anything other than a desktop PC (want to book from your phone or tablet? Yeah, dream on!) As for their customer "service" - it doesn't exist. The day after I booked, I got a phone call from them saying they were going to cancel my booking unless I paid the deposit straight away by credit card: previously, they accepted the deposit on the day, along with the hire fee. I refused to do this as they wanted to hold onto my money for over a week after I returned the vehicle (they claimed it was their bank doing this, not them - I used to work in banking and this is total bunkum). In the end, the guy became agitated, told me they didn't want my custom and abruptly terminated the call.
It looks as though their business model is to hold onto your money for as long as possible to help with their cash-flow: I'd be very wary about using Choice unless you're in the mood to give a bunch of cowboys an indefinite, interest-free loan.

Good and Bad.
Bad. Went to all the trouble of getting an International Driving Permit at Choices request only to be told when checking in that my old paper type UK license would suffice. Shame this wasn't explained when booking. It would have saved me a lot of hassle.
The initial car hired to me had 116,000 miles on the clock, crash damage to off-side wing and drivers door and stank of cigarette smoke. If the confirmation email described the car accurately I would not have booked it.
The good. On taking the initial car back it was changed with no problems. The replacement car had 70,000 miles less on the clock and most important for me didn't reek of cigarettes. I did wonder if the word "tozzer" scratched on the rear door was directed at me? (joking).
Happy with the price I paid. I wasn't expecting a new car. You get what you pay for.
At all times the staff were polite and curtious.
Summery. For a long term rental the price savings make it worthwhile, despite the age of the vehicles. For short term hire I'll probably go back to using the car hire firms at the airports.

We were not told about additional mileage charges when we booked the vehicle, only when we picked it up at 17:00 on Friday when it was too late to do anything about it. When we asked to speak to a manager about it, he was incredibly rude, smug, and dismissive, He even started laughing at me over it.
The van was also in an appalling state. A wheel bearing was clearly on it's way out, and there was a horrendous vibration above 40. It also had bulbs out, and no reverse lights. There were crumbs and crisps all over the cockpit, and car park tickets that were over a month old were left on the dashboard.

They give the impression of being a bunch of cowboys.

We hired a minibus from Choice Vehicle Rentals in Brighton for our wedding, to ferry people from the train station to the venue. On the first run to the station the power steering went and we were unable to use it, meaning our guests all had to use taxis at exactly the time when everyone was arriving. They did bring a replacement but refused to refund any part of the rental cost, even to cover the taxis that had had to be paid for while the minibus was out of action for an hour. They were rude to our friend who was driving the minibus when she asked about a partial refund - she was really upset because she felt the breakdown had let us down. Then they failed to even respond to my first email complaining, and finally replied to my second (saying I would leave a stinking review) with an unsatisfactory reply, completely failing to acknowledge that they had caused expense and inconvenience on our wedding day by hiring out a substandard vehicle.

I have been using Choice vans and car hire since I moved down to Brighton in 2006.

Recently when I rented a car from from them late 2016, I had to print out my driving licence counterpart from .gov.uk using a print function within that website. This morning, as I was again going to rent a car from them, I tried to print out the same document from gov.uk but found their website has altered and there is no print function anymore. Therefore the only way I could print my driving licence information is via print screen captures.

As the print function within a website compose the various screen pages into one entire document and prints it out securely whereas print screen captures of several screen shot and prints them out individually allows the possibility of fraud, therefore I thought it best to ring Choice office to clarify if print screen captures are acceptable or is there another work around they may advise.

I called their head office number 01323 520 353, a female person answered and I explained my query. She advised me to go to their website, click on licence information link and follow the instructions. I repeated that I have done that and their website link simply says print-out my licence information. I know what information I need to print out, my query is, how to print out, as there is no print function on the gov.uk site and will they accept print screen captures?

She again repeated to ask me to follow the instructions on their website and print out the information required or bring the code and pay the £5 charge for them to make the search on my behalf. I again tried to explain that I have already printed out all my driving licence information (Your details, Vehicles you can drive, Penalties and disqualifications) in print screen captures and before I could finish speaking, she quite rudely interrupted me halfway by again regurgitating, follow the instructions and print the information required or pay the £5 charge!

I then said, perhaps it's best I come into their Beaconsfield office with my print screen capture printouts later today to see if that is acceptable and I asked for her name, in case I am asked at the Brighton office. She muttered something and the phone line went dead.

I was rather surprised, so I called the Brighton office number 01273 819 303 and after a few rings and a click, the same female person answered (I think, though obviously not sure). I again politely explained my query, this time trying to be as clear as I can, simply asking if they will accept print screen print outs of my driving licence. Even before I finished talking, the phone went dead again.

Obviously I am rather annoyed, but more sad really because I have used Choice vehicle hire company for a while and have always found their business and service to be straight forward and friendly however this person's approach is definitely not conducive to the service I have received from this company over the years.

I have reluctantly hired a car from another hire company and it will certainly be a while before I contemplate using Choice again. It's always a great shame for small successful businesses to blatantly rely on their brief successes and ignore good customer service.