Summer Holidays 2025 – An Unexpected Car Rental Experience 暑期活動 2025 – 難以想像的租車體驗

In early June, I reserved a Ford Galaxy 7-seater —through my favourite travel platform. Compared to our little Peugeot at home, it was definitely a size upgrade, but having driven a Ford S-Max back in Hong Kong, I figured it’d be only slightly bigger and shouldn’t be too difficult to handle.

The day before our trip, I headed to the Kingston branch of the car rental company to pick up the car. The moment I didn’t spot a Galaxy or anything close to a 7-seater in the car park, I already had a bad feeling. After finishing the paperwork, the staff led me outside and broke the news: they couldn’t give me the Galaxy I’d reserved. Instead, they “upgraded” me—for free, to a 2025 Ford Tourneo Custom L2, a full-on 9-seater van. He even added with a smile that it came with “luxury features” and would be more comfortable for long drives.

I was thinking… mate, I’m not cruising down highways all day. I’m heading into the Peak District, full of narrow mountain roads and probably will do roadside parking. This beast is going to be an absolute nightmare. It might not just be inconvenient—it could genuinely block the road!

So I pushed back hard and eventually got a promise: I could swap it at their Heathrow Airport branch the next day. I even rang Heathrow branch that night and got verbal confirmation. Phew—or so I thought.

Back home, I tried parking the 5.5-metre-long giant in our visitor bay. Nope—no way to fit it in without blocking other cars. In the end, I had to leave it in a friend’s outdoor parking space!

The next day, I called Heathrow again, only to be told there were no 7-seaters available. Worse still, they flat-out refused to exchange the vehicle, saying I had already “accepted” I mean, seriously? Was I supposed to not accept and just cancel the entire trip?

That whole episode completely shattered my trust in what I thought was a reputable rental company. Apparently, even confirmed bookings are not worth much.

And about that so-called “free upgrade”? If it doesn’t suit the customer’s needs, it’s not an upgrade at all—it’s just a mismatch in disguise.

六月初經均慣常使用的旅遊平台安排了一輛 Ford Galaxy 或相若的七人車，相比家中的 Peugeot ，車身當然大了不少，但與在香港駕駛的 Ford S-Max 則只是稍大一點，理應不難駕馭。出發前一天特別到 Kingston 的服務站取車，在停車場見不到 Ford Galaxy 或其他七人，已心感不妙。辦妥手續後，服務員引領我到停車場，通知我他們未能提供預訂的 Galaxy，特意為我「免費升級」至另一輛 2025 年 Ford Tourneo Custom L2 9-seater。更說車內設備豪華，長途乘座會更舒適。心想我今次目的地是 Peak District 內的小鎭及行山景點，預計大部份時間需要在較窄的山路行駛及停泊於路傍，這部龐然大物一定極之不便更可能構成道路阻塞，我即時要求換車。幾經爭取後，Kingston 的服務員承諾第二天可在 Heathrow 機場換車。當晚我亦有聯絡 Heathrow branch 及取得確認。

回家後嘗試把車泊在家中訪客車位，竟發覺無法停放這部長達 5.5m 的 9-seater 而不阻礙其他車輛，最後只能把車泊於朋友的戶外車位！

第二天再致電 Heathrow branch ，接線同事竟說他們再沒有任何 7-seater 可提供，更就我已簽收車輛為由而拒絕換車！坦白講，我可以堅持不簽收車輛嗎？難道我要取消一切安排好的行程嗎？

經此一役，我對這間甚具規模的租車公司已完全失去信心，對於已確認的租車安排，他們亦可不履行承諾！

至於他們所謂的免費升級安排，如果未能滿足到租車的要求，其實對使用者來說是完全不能成立。

Frustrations aside, the trip had to go on. After a bit of mental reset, we officially kicked off our Peak District adventure.

Despite living in the UK for over four years, this was actually my first time driving on the M1! Maybe it was the summer holiday rush, the motorway was unusually packed—with a constant stream of heavy lorries weaving in and out of traffic too.

After more than four hours on the road, we finally arrived safely at our hotel near Sheffield Park.

不過怎樣不愉快都好，大家的旅程仍然要繼續，稍為調整一下心情便正式開啟這個 Peak District 之旅。在英國生活了四年多，今天還是第一次使用 M1。不如是否暑假的原因，沿途異常多車，更有大量重型貨車穿插於高速公路上。四個多小時後，終於平安到達位於 Sheffield Park 的酒店。

Once we settled in, we took a short stroll around the nearby High Street and Graves Park. After a simple dinner back at the hotel, it was time to rest up and recharge—ready to dive into our Peak District adventure the next day!

安頓好後便到附近的 High Street 及 Graves Park 走了一轉，於酒店吃過簡單晚餐便休息，好好迎接第二天的 Peak District 之旅。

Although the car rental experience was far from ideal, I’ve got to give credit where it’s due—the Ford Tourneo Custom actually handled really smoothly on the motorway. Thanks to its extended body, every passenger had plenty of space to stretch out and relax. The ride was comfortable and fatigue-free, which definitely helped make up for the earlier rental hiccup!

雖然今次的租車體驗可說是強差人意，但仍需讚讚這輛 Ford Tourneo Customer，在高速公路上行駛的確表現𣈱順；而受惠於加長車身，每位乘客亦有寬敞的空間，乘坐舒適，不覺疲累，總算可釐補租車的不愉快！