Practical Car and Van Rental Ltd Reviews 

The hire van was all as described, and gave us no problems. The company was easy to find, and easy to deal with. I would recommend Practical car and van hire at Plympton and would definitely use this firm again if I need to hire a van.

I've used Practical in Chippenham on a few occasions when needing a car short notice. They've were always responsive and very quick to get the paperwork done and and very new, clean, Kia was delivered to my door. I'd definitely use them in future.

Our van had a catastrophic engine failure on a busy highway where the flow of traffic was 65 mph. We are lucky we didn't have a massive accident. The reply of this company to our incident report was outrageous. They are profoundly irresponsible. Avoid!

Durham Practical - Thank you Lesley

We have hired vans from here on a few occasions now, and the service has been great. I appreciate Lesley very much dealing with my repetitive questions and last minute requests.

No complaints at all!

I had to arrange the hire of a van today 20/2/26. found the branch at Folkestone were so helpful and quick and great communication ,and the price was excellent.. more to the pint I was in the office and out with in 5 mins and on return.. thanks to Charlie and Louis.

Very poor customer support

I visited Practical Car & Van Hire and paid a holding deposit after confirming that I would return in three days to collect the van. When I returned, I was unexpectedly asked to pay an additional £250 which had not been clearly explained at the time of booking.

I requested to speak with a senior member of staff, however this was refused. The customer support representative, Harrie, was inexperienced, unhelpful, and communicated in a very rude manner. Despite my repeated requests for clarification and assistance, no proper support was provided.

During my visit, I also witnessed another customer being charged an additional fee that they had not been informed about beforehand, which was concerning.

When I requested a refund, I was told it would be processed on Monday, despite attending the branch on Thursday. The overall experience was disappointing due to the lack of transparency, professionalism, and customer support.

Based on my experience, I would not recommend using this service.

This is the 3rd time using Practical and I should have learnt from my other 2 experiences not to use them again. This is a review for practical in Halifax.

The first time was a couple of years ago when I had booked a van for a house move well in advance and they phoned me the day before to say there wasn’t any vans available despite there being no issues at the time of booking, massive inconvenience as house move dates are pretty set.

On the second occasion I booked a van for a house move again and all went smooth as the van was available but as other reviews have mentioned, it was a death trap, wouldn’t drive in a straight line, bumps and scrapes all over it, it bleeped at me all day long saying my seatbelt wasn’t on when it was and changing gear was a struggle.

This time, and the reason for my review is because last night I booked a van to move a couch tomorrow and today received an email out of the blue to tell me my booking had been cancelled with no explanation, had a phone call afterwards to say they didn’t have any vans available. I asked why did it let me book it if it isn’t online, he spouted some BS about it being an online booking at 8pm and that the system wasn’t updated, I said, so if I went online now and tried to book it again it wouldn’t let me? He couldn’t answer that question but it did let me book it again so the booking system is terrible as this has happened to me 2 out of 3 times. In future I’ll just pay a bit extra and go to enterprise who have always had to bail me out when practical let me down anyway. Terrible, I would avoid.

Be very mindful about the terms and conditions, overall a good service but the length of time you have to wait for your deposit back in my case looks like 31x days even though I was promised it would be done manually after the weekend, You need to be clearer in your terms and conditions as there is no mention of this at time of booking online.Wakefield

I made a reservation request for a van in Harrogate, on the Harrogate website, where it lists opening times, pick up times and vehicle options. Got an email confirmation of request, which does say it needs to be confirmed, but with a Harrogate email and Harrogate phone number to call if I hadn’t had a confirmation in 36hrs. I didn’t hear anything so I called, to be told they don’t operate in Harrogate anymore, only Thirsk (30ml away). No message to this effect when I tried to book, no message on the webpages of the Harrogate franchise. There is no way a prospective client could know that no local vehicles are available, that could have been stated at the top of the reservation request email - just misrepresentation of their services, I guess they are hoping you will make the trip to Thirsk.

UPDATE: Despite the assurance from Practical Van Hire below this franchise is still advertising services for a Harrogate centre that it has closed

When moving house back in November we couldnt use our regular company due to them closing down. We found these and started as a very good company. Easy to use and friendly staff. But once the van was handed back and we were owed our deposit back things became very different. We are now on 4 weeks since giving the van back with no deposit returned. When challenging them on this was told it was my bank I had used. I contacted the bank whom confirmed it was not them and the van hire company needed to release the funds. I have continued to call and email the company and have now been ignored and no response. So close to Christmas and having a newborn the company have not tried to help and still blame the bank. We will never be using this company again very disappointed. Still no money back.

Great customer service @ MAN airport. Friendly service out from Victor and in with 2 lovely ladies. Van drove well. Thank you

Hired a van at very short notice from the Streatham branch. When I arrived at the facility the paperwork was completed quickly and efficiently, during which time the van was prepped and ready to use. All the staff there were welcoming, friendly and very helpful. Before taking the van I was given a thorough orientation of the controls, access points, petrol tank location etc. The van was just a few months old and had a high spec. When I returned the van, the process of handing it back was completed quickly and professionally. Will definitely use them again.

Rachel from Stockton branch was brilliant. Totally helped me when I was having the worst day. She was so efficient and kind. Car was great and exactly what I needed.

We needed to hire a Luton van for our house move. The solicitors gave us a date and Carol helped to arrange everything. Then they changed the date, not even giving us a firm date. Carol was so sympathetic, understanding and helpful. A real friend. When our date finally did come through she worked hard to get us the van. Because of Carol, our move went smoothly

Practical Hartlepool with Carol running it, are just the best!

Excellent service provided by Sunny at the Slough branch for our house move!

— they refund the deposit but suddently took a damage fee

I hired a van a large low base van from this company and while I was honest and immediately reported a low-speed incident involving minor damage (a dent and scrap from a height restriction while working), the aftermath has been an outright nightmare and demonstrates a complete lack of professionalism in their claims process.

The Problem:
Excessive and Unjustified Charges: The company has issued a claim for over £4,000 for a single dent. The invoice provided is highly questionable, listing approximately £3,000 for labour and including line items (e.g., checking sound pads, windscreen) that are completely irrelevant to the damage incurred. It appears to be an attempt at unjust enrichment.

Failure to Provide Evidence: Despite multiple requests, the company has failed to provide the core documentation required to validate this claim:

Original signed contract and Terms & Conditions.

Dated, original photographs of the damage.

A verified, independent, itemised repair quote.

Non-existent Communication: My questions regarding the excessive charges and requests for supporting evidence in previous emails have been completely ignored. They have simply issued threats of payment deadlines without attempting to offer a constructive resolution.

Conclusion:
This is a case of poor claims handling, opaque invoicing, and aggressive, non-responsive customer service. A £4,000+ demand for two dents, backed by zero documentation, is unacceptable. I formally reject the charges as unsubstantiated and urge others to be extremely cautious when hiring from a company with such a dishonest and non-compliant claims procedure.

I am disputing this claim and seeking independent quotes, as the current charges appear grossly inflated.

We hired a van from the Gloucester branch. The guy behind the desk has always been polite helpful and done his best to supply what we need.
I've used them multiple times and will again.

Very helpful and so clean van..price it was responsible …. Will rent again…

The pricing was good, the van was spotlessly clean, and lesley was really friendly and explained everything perfectly. Would definitely recommend.