Hiring a car on holiday

[Redbus66]

How big a car do we need?

We are going away to Portugal and there will be 5 adults and 1 baby. With 5 suitcases and 1 buggy in the boot.

I dont know much about big cars but would a Ford Galaxy be big enough to include our luggage? It will only be two journeys - to and from airport. All other time will just be day trips

Or do we need to go for a big mercedes

Any advice welcome!

[tomk]

Galaxy is a big car but with that much luggage and a sixth seat, you would be pushing it. I would say no though with a squeeze you may just manage it. If you didn't need a sixth seat up then yes. Also depends how big the suitcases are. I am assuming they are adult-sized and proper suitcases rather than soft holdalls. You may need a roofbox or even a minibus (not joking). Not many cars are significantly bigger than a galaxy. Alternatively you could make people v uncomfortable by putting luggage on feet/laps? Or not use the sixth seat which would save a lot of luggage space but prob illegal with the baby.

[jonbateson]

No idea on car sizes, but I would recommend you take your own car seat for bub. We have hired a number of cars but never liked the look of the car seats we were offered, we took two carseats with us to NZ (they charge a lot for them at car hire places too). Sorry if you already know this.

[RobMiller]

We rented a car in Portugal last year (a smaller car as there were just four of us), and got stung by insurance fees which nearly doubled the quoted price. I hadn't realised that 'collision damage waiver' didn't mean the same as it had when I last rented a car ten years ago!

If you haven't already, I'd recommend checking out the insurance info here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-car-hire as they have some good tips which will be significantly cheaper.

Enjoy your holiday!