How We Research Our Guides

Every guide on this site follows the same research process. This page sets it out, so you can judge how far to trust what we publish.

Where our facts come from

We start with the people who make or enforce the rules, then work outwards. These are the four kinds of source our guides rely on.

• Governments and road authorities. Rules on licences and child seats come from bodies such as GOV.UK and Spain’s DGT.
• The airports themselves. Where the hire desks are and how the shuttles run come from each airport’s own website.
• Park and tourism authorities. Entry fees and wildlife rules come from bodies such as the US National Park Service and SANParks.
• Independent motoring reviews. Boot space and seat layouts come from published tests, such as Auto Express and Carbuyer.

Car classes are checked against the ACRISS codes the hire industry uses. Travel figures, such as where UK families fly most, come from the ONS and the CAA.

What we do not use as a source

We do not take rules or facts from hire firms’ sales pages or other comparison sites. They have a reason to make things look simpler or cheaper than they are.

Forum posts and news reports can tell us something has changed. We then confirm it with an official source before it goes into a guide.

How we handle numbers

Fees and fines abroad are shown in GBP first, with the local currency in brackets. We convert at the market rate when the page is written and round the result, so treat the GBP figure as a guide.

Boot space is quoted in litres with all seven seats in use, because that is the number that matters for a full car. Suitcase sizes come from published luggage volumes, not guesses.

We never quote a hire price as fact. Rates change with demand, so live prices come only from our search.

How we handle uncertainty

Where a rule has a start date, we give it, so you can see how current it is. Where sources disagree or practice varies by hire firm, we say so, and use words like “usually” or “some firms”.

If we cannot confirm something with a reliable source, it does not go in.

How a guide is built

1. Choose the airport. We pick airports by how many UK travellers use them, using ONS and CAA figures.
2. Research the local rules. Child seats, tolls, low emission zones and licence rules, each from the authority that sets them.
3. Plan the first drive. The pickup and the roads out of the airport, checked against official sources.
4. Link and check. Every claim links to its source, and each fact is checked against that source before the page goes live.

Keeping guides current

Pages are rechecked when rules change, and the date at the top of each guide shows when it last changed.

If you spot something out of date, please tell us through our contact page. Each guide is written and checked by Paul Holloway, and you can read more about the site.