With Edinburgh on the cards for New Year, the first thing I did was look at train prices from Sheffield. To say they were extortionate would be putting it mildly. After a bit of comparison, I came to the conclusion that hiring a car would actually work out cheaper, and with the added flexibility over the holiday period, it made far more sense.
As I had never hired a car before, I started where most of us do and searched for “cheap car hire Sheffield”. A few of the main companies came up straight away, so I checked prices across Enterprise, Sixt, Hertz and Avis. All of them were fairly reasonable, but Sixt came out best on price and had the added advantage of being only a few minutes’ walk from where I lived in Sheffield, which made collection and return much easier.
I was originally planning to hire the car for four days. While testing different dates and durations on the booking site, I noticed something useful: extending the hire to nine days only increased the total by around £20. Over Christmas and New Year, that felt like excellent value and gave me far more freedom with the trip. It is well worth playing around with dates before booking, as the pricing structure is not always obvious from the website and small changes can make a surprising difference.
As this was my first time hiring a car, and because I did not have a credit card, I had a few questions about how the booking would work. I ended up calling the Sixt call centre several times, and each time the staff were helpful, clear, and quick to answer. That was especially appreciated given the 0844 number. They talked me through the process and made it feel much less uncertain.
Booking online itself was straightforward. The website was easy to navigate, the steps were clear, and the whole process was quick. I chose the Vauxhall Crossland or similar, which seemed like a sensible option for a longer road trip with luggage and motorway miles ahead. What stood out was the courtesy call the following day to confirm the booking details and let me know exactly what paperwork I would need to bring. That small step made collection day feel much more straightforward.
On the morning of collection, I arrived at the Sixt office at the agreed time and was greeted by an extremely cheerful member of staff, perhaps a little too cheerful for that time of day, although in fairness it was appreciated. The office itself was bright, almost aggressively so, and the colour scheme felt a bit garish, though that may well have been my early morning mood talking. Either way, I was only inside for around ten minutes while the paperwork and payment were processed, so it was all fairly painless.
Once everything was complete, I was handed the keys and told the car was on the fifth floor. It took me a moment to realise this meant the multi-storey car park next door rather than the office building itself. This was probably the only point where the service felt a little less polished. After such a smooth check-in, being left to locate the car on my own was slightly disorientating, and I do think it would have helped to be shown where it was, particularly for first-time renters.
Once I found the car, I gave it a careful inspection. I checked all the marks that had been pointed out during handover and, following advice I had read online, took photographs of the bodywork before setting off. It is a simple step, but one that gives a bit of peace of mind when returning the vehicle later.
Inside, the car had been well valeted and felt clean and ready to go. The outside was fairly dirty, but given that it was January and the weather was typical British winter weather, it was hardly surprising and easy enough to overlook.
Over the course of the trip, the car performed exactly as it needed to. I covered more than 1,200 miles without any issues at all, including the run north to Edinburgh and the local driving over the holiday period. For a winter journey at one of the busiest times of year, that reliability mattered.
For the return, I had originally booked the Monday morning off work so I could take it back in person. In the end, I made use of the out-of-hours return facility on the Sunday evening instead. This turned out to be very straightforward: park in the allocated bay and drop the keys into the secure safe. In practical terms, it saved me using a day’s holiday allowance, which made the whole hire even better value.
Overall, the experience was very positive. The pricing was competitive, the booking process was easy, and the car itself was reliable over a long-distance trip. I am already looking at places to visit later in the year, and I would happily use Sixt again for future journeys.
Sixt is located at 7 Broad Street West, Sheffield, S1 2BQ, which is a convenient central location, particularly if you are collecting on foot from the city centre or nearby residential areas. For anyone planning a similar trip from Sheffield, especially when rail fares become unreasonable over holiday periods, car hire is well worth considering.