I WAS in England the other week. A relative works on the administrative side of a group that also has a car-hire arm. I had used the firm before but this way I was able to obtain “family discount”.

The firm does not have a desk or base at Stansted Airport but they provide you with a telephone number which you call on landing. Their office is only “five minutes away and no problem”, they assure you and so they ferry you to your car. It is an inconvenience but if the rates are truly competitive… I duly made the call upon arrival and was collected and taken to their office only to be told my card would be debited by a larger sum than I had been quoted by my niece. Luckily I had her email which included the company name and telephone number. I asked the lady behind the counter to telephone and check.

The lady made a call and ran through the figures but I heard her say: “I have knocked off the airport surcharge.”

So, in other words, although they save money by not renting space for a desk at the airport, inconvenience you and then charge you for the collection and transport to their office nearby.

Of course we know that the hire price they quote is only the tip of the iceberg. They whack on extra charges for insurance cover.

If you burst a tyre, crack the windscreen or someone scrapes your car’s bodywork while you are parked, you have to face paying an excess. But if you pay the extra insurance, then you are covered for all such setbacks.

Now I accept people do not look after hire cars in the manner they nurture their own vehicle but I was in for a surprise. After agreeing to pay eighty three pounds for hiring a basic car from Thursday afternoon until 9.0am on Tuesday (six days but almost five in real 24-hour terms) I was shocked to be asked to pay a further seventy-two pounds for the insurance.

That works out at twelve pounds per day, so if the car is active for, say 300 days per year, that will cost a succession of hirers an aggregate total of three thousand six hundred pounds per annum.

Oh yes, I know there are small administration costs but that is one hell of an insurance premium.

And doubtless it all goes on insurance and none of it is earmarked for profit.