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What's The Cheapest Isle of Wight Car Hire Company?
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Here’s our guide to the cheapest place to hire a car on an Isle of Wight holiday. This guide also covers whether it’s cheaper to hire a car or to bring your own car to the Isle of Wight.
Car hire prices fluctuate somewhat, so our price comparison is only really a snapshot. For our price comparison we looked in October 2021 at the cost of hiring a small car for a week in August 2022. Keep in mind that some car hire places only open for half days on weekends. We looked for the price of the cheapest car available, for a driver aged 30+. That tends to be a very small car which may result in you driving with your knees up against your shoulders. We didn’t include the cost of deposits or the cost of the ferry as a foot passenger. However, we did include the cost of a Collision Damage Waiver or similar. We've also given a rough cost of one person getting to the car hire pickup point, but this will vary depending on which ferry you catch. We didn't include this in the total cost. Review scores and prices are correct at the time of writing. From cheapest to most expensive: |
A nice photo of Tennyson Down to jazz up a boring guide to Isle of Wight car hire prices
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1. Enterprise, Newport
Price: £137.62*
Enterprise in Newport is the only big-name car hire company with a presence on the Isle of Wight. It was also the cheapest by some way in our price comparison.
The cheapest option was actually a two-seater van at £120, but I imagine some people wouldn’t want to drive around looking like Postman Pat all week.
The cheaper car was a ‘Toyota Aygo’ or similar at £137.62. That included ‘unlimited mileage’ and a ‘damage waiver’.
The hire pickup point is in Newport, so you’ll need to pay about £9 return for the bus fare from the ferry ports and then walk for 5 minutes.
However, the website does say that they can ‘arrange a free pick-up from one of the island’s many points of interest if you require assistance collecting your rental car’. I haven’t tested this out myself.
Enterprise Isle of Wight scores 4.4/5 on Google reviews.
The cheapest option was actually a two-seater van at £120, but I imagine some people wouldn’t want to drive around looking like Postman Pat all week.
The cheaper car was a ‘Toyota Aygo’ or similar at £137.62. That included ‘unlimited mileage’ and a ‘damage waiver’.
The hire pickup point is in Newport, so you’ll need to pay about £9 return for the bus fare from the ferry ports and then walk for 5 minutes.
However, the website does say that they can ‘arrange a free pick-up from one of the island’s many points of interest if you require assistance collecting your rental car’. I haven’t tested this out myself.
Enterprise Isle of Wight scores 4.4/5 on Google reviews.
*It's worth mentioning that prices at Enterprise fluctuate a lot. We searched again in April 2022 for a small car for a week in August 2022 and found that the price had quadrupled to £548. Thanks to Paul for getting in touch to point that out.
2. Leslie’s Kia Rental, Cowes
Price: £190.34
The Leslie’s Kia garage has the advantage of being within walking distance of the foot passenger ferry from Southampton. Well, it’s walking distance if you are pretty determined and don’t mind a 40 minute walk on a pavement alongside a main road. If you get the bus it will cost you about £5 return.
The cheapest car we found was a Kia Picanto at £190.34 which included a collision damage waiver.
Leslie's Kia scores 4.7/5 on Google reviews, but that includes the sales side of the company as well.
The cheapest car we found was a Kia Picanto at £190.34 which included a collision damage waiver.
Leslie's Kia scores 4.7/5 on Google reviews, but that includes the sales side of the company as well.
3. 1st Call, Sandown
Total: £210
1st Call is a car hire company which can be accessed by the trainline which connects the east side of the Isle of Wight. The train will cost you about £6 return from the ferry at Ryde Pierhead/Esplanade and it’ll take about 15-20 minutes to reach Sandown. It’s then a 20 minute walk to 1st Call.
When we checked, the cost of a ‘small car’ such as a Fiat Panda was £210 for a week. That includes a collision damage waiver. It is limited to driving on the Isle of Wight, but I don't imagine that you’ll want to leave the Isle of Wight just after you've arrived.
1st Call scores 4.1/5 on Google reviews.
When we checked, the cost of a ‘small car’ such as a Fiat Panda was £210 for a week. That includes a collision damage waiver. It is limited to driving on the Isle of Wight, but I don't imagine that you’ll want to leave the Isle of Wight just after you've arrived.
1st Call scores 4.1/5 on Google reviews.
4. Prime Drive Car and Van Rental, Shalfleet
Price: £215.93
Prime Drive is in Shalfleet in the West Wight, which is the quieter side of the Isle of Wight. If you’re travelling on the Lymington to Yarmouth ferry then this might be a good option for you. It’s a 10 minute bus ride from Yarmouth to Shalfleet, which is a return fare of about £7 on the bus.
Prime Drive’s price including a Collision Damage Waiver was £215.93. The CDW was optional but we included it to make it comparable to the others in our car hire guide. For the price you got a ‘small three door car’.
Shalfleet Garage (which includes Prime Drive) scores 4.4/5 on Google reviews.
Prime Drive’s price including a Collision Damage Waiver was £215.93. The CDW was optional but we included it to make it comparable to the others in our car hire guide. For the price you got a ‘small three door car’.
Shalfleet Garage (which includes Prime Drive) scores 4.4/5 on Google reviews.
5. South Wight Rentals, Lake
Price: £236.50
South Wight Rentals isn’t walking distance from a ferry but you can access it from the Isle of Wight’s only modern trainline. You can get the Hovercraft or Wightlink foot passenger ferry from Ryde Pierhead or Ryde Esplanade to Lake. It’s then a 20 minute train and a 15 minute walk. The train will cost you about £6.
When we checked, the cheapest car was a ‘group one’ car such as a Citroen C1 for £184 for the week.
It includes ‘Fully Comprehensive Insurance (subject to an excess)’ and unlimited mileage. However, you pay extra for a ‘Collision Damage Liability Fee’ which worked out as £52.50 for our price comparison. My understanding is that a Collision Damage Liability Fee is similar to a Collision Damage Waiver, but perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
South Wight Rentals scores 4.2/5 on Google reviews.
When we checked, the cheapest car was a ‘group one’ car such as a Citroen C1 for £184 for the week.
It includes ‘Fully Comprehensive Insurance (subject to an excess)’ and unlimited mileage. However, you pay extra for a ‘Collision Damage Liability Fee’ which worked out as £52.50 for our price comparison. My understanding is that a Collision Damage Liability Fee is similar to a Collision Damage Waiver, but perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
South Wight Rentals scores 4.2/5 on Google reviews.
6. Premier Ford, Newport
Price: £257
This big garage in Newport will hire you a ‘Supermini’ which is a Ford Ka.
The garage is on a trading estate in Newport so you’ll have to pay about £9 return to get to the main bus station – and then walk for 15 minutes.
It was one of the more expensive options we found with a weekly price of £257.00.
Premier Ford review scores are 4.2/5 on Google, although some of that refers to the sales and servicing side of the business.
The garage is on a trading estate in Newport so you’ll have to pay about £9 return to get to the main bus station – and then walk for 15 minutes.
It was one of the more expensive options we found with a weekly price of £257.00.
Premier Ford review scores are 4.2/5 on Google, although some of that refers to the sales and servicing side of the business.
Is it cheaper to hire a car or bring your own car to the Isle of Wight?
Generally, I’d say it is cheaper to bring your own car to the Isle of Wight but there will be exceptions. Here’s why:
- The price of bringing a car including passengers varies between £50 and £250. A day return travelling at 3am will be cheap, whilst a full week’s holiday travelling on lunchtime in August will be expensive. Also, the price is the same regardless of how many passengers you have in the car. See our ferry discount guide for the latest offers.
- The price of travelling as a foot passenger is fixed at about £20-£30 per person.
- So, a single person travelling at a peak time may save some money by hiring a car.
- A family of five travelling off peak will not save money by hiring a car. You’d pay a lot for ferry tickets and then need to upgrade to a larger car which would wipe out your saving.
- There are other factors too – if you’re paying to park in Portsmouth or Southampton then that will gobble up a lot of your saving (try Just Park or Your Parking Space)
- Of course, the length of time you're staying for is a factor. Longer stays cost more on the ferry but hiring a car for longer also costs more. I'm still working on a complicated graph to demonstrate this...
Last updated October 2021.
