How hiring a car from Season works
Four steps between filling in a form and being handed a set of keys. Nothing is charged before the fourth one, nothing is confirmed by a machine, and there is no account to create at any point.
Step one — tell us about the hire
What the hire is for, the dates, where the car should go and how to reach you. That is the whole form. There is no account to create, no password to remember and no card asked for, and what you give us is used for this booking rather than added to a list.
It is short deliberately, because everything after it pre-fills from it. This is the only point at which you type any of it.
Step two — pick the car
The fleet filters itself to the occasion you chose, and you open whichever cars interest you: photographs, specification, seats and luggage as two separate numbers, and an honest account of what the car is actually like to live with for a week rather than for an afternoon.
No price appears yet, because a price before we know the dates is a guess dressed up as a figure. The same car can go out self-drive or with a chauffeur — that is chosen here, not by picking a different vehicle.
Step three — the price comes back
A person prices that car for those days. What comes back is one figure with VAT, the daily mileage allowance, comprehensive insurance and delivery anywhere in London already inside it. Not a daily rate with a list of extras underneath.
Every car you are looking at is priced against the same dates at the same time, so you are choosing between real figures rather than waiting on one quote at a time. The price is stored against your enquiry, so the number you were given is the number that stands.
Step four — reserve, or ask us to call
A deposit places a reservation request against that car and those dates. It is not an extra charge — it comes off the total — and it is returned in full if we cannot supply the vehicle you asked for. The balance is due at delivery, before the keys change hands.
A reservation request is confirmed by a person rather than by the website, which is the difference between being told a car is yours and it actually being yours. If you would rather talk before paying anything, ask for a callback and the quote sits where it is until you decide.
Card payments are handled by our payment provider on their own hosted page. Card details never reach our servers.
What moves the price
Four things, mostly. The car, because a Phantom and a Golf are not the same insurance, let alone the same asset. The length of the hire, because longer bookings move down the rate bands and a week is not seven times a day. The time of year and the day of the week, since a summer Saturday is the busiest thing we sell. And whether there is a driver in front, which is priced per day on top of the car, as its own line, so you can see both numbers.
Things that do not move it: where in London the car is delivered, VAT, and the mileage allowance that comes as standard. Those are the same wherever you are and whatever you take.
There are no prices published on this site because there is no honest way to publish one. A figure printed in advance would be a starting price with conditions underneath it, and the conditions are where that kind of quote goes wrong.
What is already inside the figure
- VAT — the rate card is VAT-inclusive, so it is never added at the end. A daily mileage allowance, which can be extended at booking if you expect to cover more. Comprehensive insurance. Delivery and collection anywhere in London.
- What sits outside it is short, and all of it is written on the rental agreement before you sign: the insurance excess for that vehicle, the fuel policy, and anything on the charges schedule that is genuinely incurred. The congestion charge and ULEZ are billed to us, because the car is registered to us, and how that is passed on is in the same document.
What happens at handover
The car arrives valeted, fuelled, taxed, insured and inside its service interval, at the address and the hour you gave us. For a chauffeured hire that is the whole of it — the driver has the itinerary, and the traffic, the waiting and the parking are theirs to solve.
For self-drive there are three documents: a full licence, a proof of address and a payment card, all three in the driver’s own name. They are checked at the door rather than assumed at booking, and the security hold — a hold against the card, not a payment — is sized to the vehicle and released once the car is back. Eligibility is tiered: 25 to 70 with a full licence held three years for most of the fleet, 30 to 70 with five years for supercars and premium luxury vehicles.
Or skip all of it and ring
0207 046 0048, Monday to Saturday, 06:00 to 23:00. Sunday is by appointment. Somebody who can see the fleet answers, which for anything happening today or tomorrow beats any form.
Season Car Rental has been hiring prestige cars in London since 2006, and the four steps above are what 20 years of it has settled into: a form for the things that are quicker typed, and a person for the things that are not.
Questions, answered
Do I need an account to hire a car?
No. There is no account, no password and nothing to log into. One form carries your details through to the quote and the reservation, and they are used for that booking rather than added to anything else.
Is a reservation the same as a confirmed booking?
No. Paying the deposit places a reservation request against a specific car and specific dates, and a person then confirms it. That order is deliberate: the alternative is a website confirming a vehicle nobody has checked, which is how people end up with a substitution they never agreed to.
Is the deposit refundable?
It is returned in full if we cannot supply the car you asked for. It is also not an extra charge — it comes off your total, and the balance is due at delivery. What applies if you change your mind is a separate question, set out in the Terms and Conditions you accept when you book.
Why can I not book instantly online?
Because a car has to be checked before it is promised. Instant confirmation on a prestige fleet means either holding vehicles empty against bookings that may never come, or confirming one you may not actually get. We would rather a person looked and told you either way.
Can I change the car after I have reserved it?
Ring us, and usually yes, provided the other car is free on your dates. The quote is rebuilt against the new vehicle and any difference is settled against the balance rather than appearing as a separate charge.
What if I want to talk to someone before paying anything?
Ask for a callback instead of reserving, or ring 0207 046 0048 directly — Monday to Saturday, 06:00 to 23:00, Sunday by appointment. The quote stays where it is until you decide, and nothing is charged for a conversation.
Tell us the dates. See every car and its price.
Free delivery anywhere in London. VAT, mileage and comprehensive insurance are inside the price.