German-based vehicle hire company Sixt is one of Europe’s largest van, minibus and car hire companies.

They usually have a good range of special offers - and at present right are offering some cracking deals on van hire:

• Day Hire Specials - £10 off if you hire a van for one day (Mon-Thur) and return it within 12 hours
• Weekend Specials - 3 days for the price of 2
• Weekly Hire Special - hire a van for one week (7 days) and get 10% off

All of the above offers are valid until the 15th June, 2008 - so visit Sixt’s website to quote or book right now.

New Locations

In addition to the great van hire deals above, Sixt are hard at work expanding their UK network of rental branches.

They’ve already opened van hire branches in Croydon and Walthamstow this year - and are set to open a new branch in Epsom early in May.

To top it off, 2008 saw Sixt open a new, specialist van hire centre at London’s Heathrow Airport. As Beverley Oliver, Sixt’s UK Head of Sales, explains, the company felt it was necessary to provide a specialist commercial vehicle hire centre to meet demand at the airport:

“The commercial vehicle sector is extremely specialised, so we have ensured that our new van centre boasts not only an accessible location, but also knowledgeable and experienced staff who can offer a first class service to our commercial customers.”

Sixt’s Heathrow van hire centre is staffed with experienced specialists who are familiar with all aspects of van rental and operation - meaning that whatever you requirements, you will be able to get expert, friendly help.

Van hire company Sixt now has a new booking website designed for access by mobile phone.

The website is at www.sixt.mobile.de and displays in German by default, but can easily be changed to English using the ‘Sprachauswahl’ option near the bottom of the page. Just click on ‘Sprachauswahl’ and then select English.

Happily, the site offers both car and van hire - all you need is a reasonably modern mobile phone and you’re good to go! A full range of choices is available - just like booking through Sixt’s main website.

Sixt have just been chosen by the readers of Business Traveller magazine as the “Best Car Rental Company in Europe” - for the second year running.

This accolade is certain to apply to their van hire operation, too. Some of the criteria for the award were vehicle quality, hire process simplicity and price/performance ratio. The award winners were chosen solely by the readers of the influential Business Traveller magazine - meaning that this verdict came straight from the horse’s mouth.

Sixt are one of the leading van hire companies in the UK - and their regularly updated, user-friendly website is definitely one of the reasons for this.

I’ve just received an email from the good people at Sixt Van & Truck hire telling me about some cheap van hire offers they have running at the moment. These deals change regularly but are always competitive - so it’s well worth having a look.

To see the latest deals, visit: Sixt UK Van Hire

Then, click on the Best Deals link on the left-hand side to see today’s offers.

Right now, for example, you can hire a Ford Transit for just £36 per day (Mon-Thurs).

Alternatively, VW Caddies are available on 7 day hire for just £25 per day.

You can see the latest offers here (just click on the Best Deals link on the left).

If you decide to hire a large panel van from Sixt in the next few months, you could be in for an eye-catching surprise.

In an effort to raise the profile of their van rental business, Sixt have introduced a range of specially liveried VW Crafters. These popular large vans are based on the Mercedes Sprinter and offer the same class-leading performance and quality - and form part of Sixt’s VW-dominated rental van fleet.

You can see a picture of one of these fire-breathing VWs here on the aptly-named Big Lorry Blog.

I’ve just seen that van hire specialists Sixt have several special offers on van hire at present - offering quite good value if your needs match up with the terms of the offer:

- Hire a Ford Transit 280 for one day (Mon-Thurs) for £36 - this gives you a 12 hour hire
- Hire a Ford Transit Connect LWB for three days over the weekend for £84

- Hire a VW Caddy for a week and get a 10% discount - making it just £25 per day

To see full details of these offers and other deals from Sixt, click here for Sixt’s van hire website and then click on the “Best Deals” link in the left-hand sidebar.

It looks like Sixt and Europcar have been competing to see who can produce the most impressive-looking hire booth. Unfortunately for UK van renters these pictures were taken at Hamburg airport - but here’s hoping that these designs make their way to our shores in the future.

See here for a full set of images.

Original story here.