Yesterday's Sun (9 June 2013) used our research on the hidden extras for families when they're hiring a car this summer. Read the article below iu full...

Hidden Costs of Rentals

Be prepared for some eye-watering extras when you up your hire car abroad this summer.

Research has found a family hiring a standard family car in Malaga for a week in June could hand over an additional £346 at the rental desk when picking their car up, when the original hire charge was just £173.

Buying car hire excess insurance (at £159), extra driver's cover (at £43), a child's seat (at £63) and a Sat Nav (at £81) from the rental desk will cost almost double the original price of renting the car.

iCarhireinsurance.com compared the prices of four rental companies at seven popular destinations for the June week of 10-17 June 2013 to reveal the hidden costs at the rental desk.

Looking at Barcelona, Faro, Malaga, Nice, Tenerife and Corfu, they found great variations in the costs.

Child's Car Seat - This could set you back up to £83 in Milan for instance. The average price was around £50 across the destinations, apart from Corfu and Tenerife where it was around the £30.

Extra Driver - Putting an extra driver on a policy ranges from up to £76 with Hertz in Barcelona, to £31 with Avis in Corfu, to £12 with Sixt in Tenerife. If the driver is under 25 expect a steep hike again with an average of £100.

Sat Nav - Buying a map might seem worth it compared with paying an eye-watering £90 to hire a Sat Nav in Milan from Avis. This dropped to £37 with Sixt in Corfu.

Car Hire Excess Insurance - If you don't buy excess waiver insurance you could be liable for up to £1900 if the car gets damaged or even stolen. Travellers could be looking at a week's excess insurance costing them around £150 if bought from the rental desk - seven times the cost of an iCarhireinsurance.com policy.