Practical Car & Van Rental

We rented a small/medium, automatic car for three days from their Ealing location in July 2017. Note: their current address needs to be updated on google maps - I've submitted a change request.

Overall, we had a positive experience - they seem to be taking the google reviews seriously. It was easy to rent a car as a driver from the US. I just needed my driver's license, passport, and credit card. They were very clear and helpful when I had questions on the phone prior to booking. We ended up reserving the car online for a trip to Cornwall, and I received a confirmation email within a few hours.

A pleasant young woman checked the car over for us when we picked it up. She seemed to be very thorough about noting small scratches, etc. We also took pictures, just in case. The car drove beautifully. The inside was a little bit dirty when we got the car, but for the excellent price, we didn't mind.

When we returned the car, a different person checked the car over. He immediately noticed that part of the front bumper was slightly warped near the left tire. (I couldn't tell what he was looking at initially.) We couldn't think of anything that would have caused this to happen when I was driving the car (I was extremely careful after reading previous reviews). Our pictures weren't taken from angles that would have revealed the slight bend in the bumper, so we didn't have any clear evidence as to whether we had or hadn't received the car in that condition. Honestly, we weren't sure. To our relief, when we asked if/what we would be charged for the bumper, we were told "no charge." The damage seemed to be simply cosmetic rather than a threat to the integrity of the front of the car. The person helping us explained that he just wanted to get a sense of what could have caused the damage. We felt treated fairly.

While their office looks rather haphazard (are they remodeling?), this company is seeking to run a fair, competitive business. Although the £500 deposit (reimbursed upon return of the car) was a bit unnerving, their fees and fine print are all reasonable. I would rent from them again.

Good value company. The vans are not pristine; they don't pretend that they will be. But it's a friendly efficient service from the team at a good price compared with their competitors.

Dont bother - their lack of communication and transparency is appalling and have a very hookey way of doing business. They also took payments directly from our account for extra charges without notifying or acknowledging these charges. Poor communication and laziness here. For a consumer that wishes to hire a van, taking all the hassle out of the usual van lark, they complicate the process even further.

I hired a car from the south Ealing branch for collection on Monday the 27th. I had to attend a funeral and was due to collect some of my relatives to take them to Mortlake crematorium. I had chosen Practical as a friend had hired from them and had a nice new car. When I got to see my car I was really disappointed, apart from the fact that it was clearly very old and nothing like the ad, it was also filthy inside and clearly hadn’t been cleaned. I asked Giovanni if this was normal and he offered to pass the hoover. I got to the point where I realised Giovanni would not be able to help me so I asked if I could cancel the booking as £85 for this was not on but he kept repeating his manager would never give me a refund.

This was clearly not the car that was advertised, had someone at least made an effort to clean the car it would have been different.

I only gave two stars becaude Giovanni made an efort to help clean the car. I wrote to Practical but got no answer so am posting this review as I believe people should be given the chance to rectify a problem but clearly this is not their priority. I'm figuring I will probably get the standard "We are so sorry to hear about your experience with Practical, this is not normal blah blah blah".

I guess I'll have to write the £85 off to experience but won't be going back to Practical after this.

Update: bog standard reply from them asking me to email feedback@practical you guys definitely need to check your emails as I had emailed you days ago rather than having to resort to writing you a bad review. Needless to say I won’t bother emailing them as I don’t need a discount off my next rental with them as I won’t be returning to Practical.

good prices, good vans, friendly service - hoping the pick up procedure next time is slicker. (not their fault, most manned vehicle rental places slow)

Hired a Luton van for home move. Very easy to deal with. the van was clean and all worked well. Nice people to deal with with. Would use again.

Very pleased with our experience hiring from Practical Ealing, Serena and Sonia were super helpful and friendly. We needed a car urgently on the day and they helped get everything sorted for us very quickly. We got our deposit back quick as well. Would definitely recommend and would use again. Dont be dettered by the negative comments.

Great customer service, everything was spot on. Would highly recommend if you need a van for the day or two.