Travel & Tourism: Hiring a car

Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich

Rowan: And welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: This podcast is one in a series of podcasts that focuses on travel and tourism. Last week we spoke about the language we need in hotels.

Jack: This week we want to help you with some of the language you need when you want to hire a car.

Rowan: When we fly abroad for business or pleasure we may rent a car at the airport.

Rich: I prefer using public transport but that’s not always possible.

Jack: In this week’s roleplay, Rich rents a car at the airport from probably the best hire company in the world: Jack’s rentals.

Rowan: I’m not too sure about that. I’ve heard they are just after your money.

Rich: You’ll find out who’s right in the roleplay. Your task this week is to tell us about something that you think is a rip-off - something that costs much more money than it should.

Rowan: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Jack: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find 
the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Rowan: Before we do the roleplays let’s look back at last week’s football phrase.

Last week’s Football Phrase 

Rich: OK, our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a language challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Rowan: When you know the answer, go to the Premier Skills English website and write the word or phrase in the comments section for this podcast. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Rich: We had lots of correct answers last week but a big congratulations to Daniel Baron from Colombia who was the first to get the correct answer. It’s been a few weeks since you were first, Daniel. Where have you been?

Jack: And a big well done to the following listeners who also got the correct answer: Liubomyr from Ukraine, Marco Zapien from Mexico, HSN and MoBeckham from Turkey, Elghoul from Algeria, Hayato from Japan, Mikolajspa from Poland, Stefano Mac from Italy, Max Alex from Vietnam, Emmanuel from France, Navid from Iran, Emmanuel Kwarteng from Ghana, Wsanta from Argentina, and Secanore1228 from Colombia.

Rich: I also wanted to say a big hello to Secanore1228 from Colombia who wrote to say that they’ve been listening for two years and has now listened to all our podcasts from the very beginning.

Jack: That really is fantastic and we are delighted to hear from you at last, Secanore!

Rowan: The new football phrase is at the end of this podcast but we’re going to give you one more chance to guess last week’s football phrase. Are you ready?

Rich: The phrase was ***** ***** ****. The phrase describes a cup match where one team wins following thirty minutes of additional time. I watched Everton beat Tottenham 5-4 ***** ***** **** last week.

Rowan: We’ll give you the answer and a new football phrase at the end of this podcast.

Jack: If you remember, our last podcast was all about hotels. We spoke about checking in, hotel facilities and complaining.

Rich: We asked you to imagine you were a guest at a hotel and to make a complaint.

Rowan: HSN from Turkey had a problem with the hairdryer in his room so complained about it.

Jack: MikolajSpa made a complaint about the sports equipment in the hotel.

Rich: And Nappog from Venezuela complained about the pillows in his room.

Rowan: Thanks for all your comments and for completing the tasks. It was good to see you using the words and phrases connected to making a complaint we introduced in the podcast.

Jack: If you haven’t heard this podcast it’s called Travel and Tourism: Hotels and you can find it on the Premier Skills English website or on Apple Podcasts.

Introduction to roleplay: 

Jack: We have one roleplay for you this week which you will hear in three parts. Rich and Rowan are at the car hire desk at the airport. They are renting a car.

Rich: In the first part we’ll focus on words we use to describe different types of cars and some extra equipment you might want to rent.

Rowan: In the second part we’ll talk about car insurance which is something you have to pay to cover possible damage to the car or an accident while you are driving.

Jack: And in the third part of the roleplay we will cover words and phrases connected to other things you might have to pay for when hiring a car.

Rich: We’re using a car hire company called Jack’s rentals and I’m not sure that it’s the best company out there.

Rowan: Before each part of the roleplay we want you to answer two questions. Here are your questions for the first part:

Jack: Question one: What kind of car have Rowan and Rich hired?

Rich: Question two: What does Jack try to sell us?

Roleplay 1

Rich: Well, that took ages. What’s the time now - nearly eleven?

Rowan: About that. The flight touched down about an hour late in the end and then an hour to get through passport control.

Rich: Let’s get the car and get to the hotel. We’ve got a busy day tomorrow with the coaching session at the football stadium.

Rowan: I’ve got a reference number here for the car rental. What’s the company name again? Here it is - Jack’s rentals.

Rich: Jack’s rentals? Sounds a bit dodgy to me. Couldn’t you have just gone with Hertz or Avis or something?

Rowan: It’ll be fine. It was a good deal. Look, the car hire desk is over there. I’m sure it won’t take too long.

…

Jack: Good evening. My name’s Jack. How can I help you?

Rich: Your name is Jack … of Jack’s rentals?

Jack: Just a coincidence actually.

Rowan: Hi, yes. We’re here to pick up a car.

Rich: I think he probably knows that.

Rowan: It’s under the name of Walkley, Rowan Walkley.

Jack: OK, let me see. Yes, here we are. I see you’ve gone for our economy option - a 3-door manual hatchback.

Rowan: Yes. That’s right.

Rich: Do you think there’ll be enough space for all the training equipment?

Jack: The economy vehicles do only have limited luggage space in the boot. I see you have a few bags there.

Rich: It might be a bit of a squeeze.

Jack: We do have a station wagon available if you wanted to upgrade for an extra twenty euros a day.

Rowan: No, we’ll be fine thanks.

Jack: What else could I help you with? Do you need a child seat or booster seat?

Rowan: No children with us and I’m not that short thank you.

Jack: What about a satnav? It’s easy to get lost in the city.

Rowan: I think we’ll be OK with Google maps on our phone.

Language focus 1: 

Jack: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: What kind of car have Rowan and Rich hired?

Rich: The answer is a 3-door manual hatchback. We’ll look at some of this language in a second but basically, Rowan chose the smallest and cheapest car available.

Rowan: Our second question was: What does Jack try to sell us?

Jack: First of all, I try to sell them a bigger car and then I try to sell them a child seat or a booster seat and then a satnav.

Rich: We said no to everything. Jack’s just trying to sell us extra things that we don’t need.

Rowan: OK, let’s look at some language we used in this part of the roleplay. I think we should start with two essential words: hire and rent.

Jack: We can rent a car or hire a car. They mean the same but we usually rent a car in American English and more often say hire a car in British English.

Rich: There is no difference in meaning. To rent or hire something means to pay to use something for a limited amount of time.

Rowan: We use rent and hire for other things as well. Some are rented and some are hired. We normally rent flats and houses but we hire people when we employ them.

Jack: I’d love to hire a gardener, a cleaner and a chauffeur. Maybe when I win the lottery!

Rich: Going back to cars. Hire can also be a noun. We can speak about car hire in general. We went to the car hire desk in the roleplay.

Rowan: We can’t use rent in this way. We have to use the word rental. We can talk about car rentals and the car rental desk.

Jack: Rowan reserved a 3-door manual hatchback in the roleplay. Listen to this section of the roleplay again. Can you hear any other types of car or car parts mentioned?

Jack: Ok, let me see. Yes, here we are. I see you’ve gone for our economy option - a 3-door manual hatchback.

Rowan: Yes. That’s right.

Rich: Do you think there’ll be enough space for all the training equipment?

Jack: The economy vehicles do only have limited luggage space in the boot. I see you have a few bags there.

Rich: It might be a bit of a squeeze.

Jack: We do have a station wagon available if you wanted to upgrade for an extra twenty euros a day.

Rich: We hired a 3-door manual hatchback. A hatchback is a type of car that has a sloping door at the back of the car. You open this door to get into the boot.

Jack: The boot is where you put your bags or your luggage. Luggage is a more formal word and what car hire and staff will use.

Rowan: You’ll also see the word luggage being used at airports and train stations and similar places.

Rich: Anyway, a hatchback is usually a small car. The one we rented was a 3-door hatchback. This idea of a 3-door car or a 5-door car always confuses me.

Jack: A 3-door car has doors next to the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat at the front, and a door to open the boot.

Rowan: A 5-door car also has doors next to seats in the back of the car.

Rich: I always forget they call the boot a door but I suppose it is - kind of. The car we hired was a manual. This means you need to use the gearstick.

Jack: In Europe, most cars you hire will be manual unless you request an automatic. Most cars in the United States are automatics.

Rowan: So we hired the cheapest car we could - the economy option. Car hire firms usually have different options - economy or compact are usually the cheapest then they might have standard options or premium options.

Rich: Jack wanted us to upgrade - he wanted us to hire a better car for more money. Jack wanted us to spend more money.

Jack: I offered them a station wagon. This type of car has a bigger boot and more space. In the UK, this type of car is usually called an estate.

Rowan: Rich thought we wouldn’t have enough space. He said it might be a bit of a squeeze.

Rich: This is a nice phrase - a bit of a squeeze. Something is a bit of a squeeze when it’s difficult to fit things - often people into a small space.

Jack: Do you think we can all jump in the taxi together?

Rowan: Three of us on the back seat? It’ll be a bit of a squeeze but I think it’ll be OK.

Rich: Remember you can check your understanding of all this vocabulary on the Premier Skills English website.

...

Jack: Let’s move on to the second part of our roleplay. Rich and Rowan said no to a bigger car but I’ve still got a few extra things to sell them.

Rich: Here are the two questions we want you to answer as you listen.

Rowan: Question one: What do we buy?

Rich: Question two: What don’t we buy?

Roleplay 2:

Jack: And are both of you going to be driving? I notice you’ve only designated one driver on the reservation.

Rich: I’d like to drive as well if that’s not a problem.

Jack: OK, I can add an additional driver for an extra ten euros a day. No problem at all.

Rich: Thanks.

Jack: And what about insurance?

Rowan: I added insurance online.

Jack: Yes, but you may want to think about excess cover. I would highly recommend it.

Rowan: I think we’ll be OK with the standard cover.

Jack: Our standard cover doesn’t include tyres or windscreens and your liability is a thousand euros.

Rich: A thousand euros? That seems a bit steep.

Jack: Yes, taking out this extra policy will reduce the excess to just 100 euros. This will be your only liability in the event of any damage to or theft of the vehicle.

Rowan: But it is optional, right?

Jack: Yes, and we also include roadside assistance and recovery in this policy.

Rowan: I already have excess insurance cover so we’re fine thanks.

Language Focus 2

Jack: Before you heard this part of the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: What do Rich and Rowan buy from me?

Rich: We paid for an additional driver. We only paid for one main driver when we booked online and if you want more than one driver you have to pay extra.

Rowan: Our second question was: What didn’t we pay for?

Jack: Car hire firms will often try to sell additional insurance to what you already have. I tried to sell some insurance but they chose not to buy it.

Rich: OK, let’s look at some language we used in this part of the roleplay. I think we should start with that word: insurance.

Rowan: Insurance is an agreement with a company for you to pay a specific amount of money and the company will pay all or most of the costs if you have an accident or an injury of some kind.

Jack: There all types of insurance: life insurance, house insurance, health insurance, travel insurance and car insurance.

Rich: In the roleplay, we were talking about car insurance. Have a listen to this part of the roleplay again. Are there any tricky formal words you notice?

Rowan: I think we’ll be OK with the standard cover.

Jack: Our standard cover doesn’t include tyres or windscreens and your liability is a thousand euros.

Rich: A thousand euros? That seems a bit steep.

Jack: Yes, taking out this extra policy will cut/reduce the excess to just 100 euros. This will be your only liability in the event of any damage to or theft of the vehicle.

Rowan: But it is optional, right?

Jack: Yes, and we also include roadside assistance and recovery in this policy.

Rowan: Jack tried to sell us some extra insurance. He told us that this extra insurance would reduce or cut the excess we would have to pay.

Rich: The excess is what you have to pay and not the insurance company if you have an accident.

Jack: For example, if you crash the car and it costs 3000 euros to repair you have to pay the excess and the insurance company pays the rest.

Rowan: In the roleplay, the excess was 1000 euros so if the repairs were 3000 euros the company would pay 2000 euros and we would need to pay 1000 - the excess.

Rich: Jack wanted us to pay for some extra cover. This is another important word when we speak about insurance - cover. What cover do you have?

Jack: Cover is the financial protection you have if you have an accident. Rowan and Rich had the standard insurance cover.

Rowan: When it comes to car insurance you can have cover for all kinds of things. Do you have cover for fire and theft? Do you have third party cover? Do you have cover for accidental damage?

Rich: Jack used some quite formal language when he was trying to sell us some additional cover. He spoke about liability.

Jack: Liability is used to describe who is legally responsible for something. This use of formal legal language can be quite scary at a car hire desk.

Rowan: When someone says you might be liable if there is an accident it might make you buy the extra insurance but we said no.

Rich: We thought it was a bit of a rip-off - something that is not worth what you pay for.

Jack: They didn’t say I was ripping them off but they said the extra insurance was a bit steep.

Rowan: To say something is a bit steep is an informal way of saying something is expensive.

Rich: Remember you can check your understanding of all this vocabulary on the Premier Skills English website.

...

Jack: Let’s move on to the final part of our roleplay. Rich and Rowan said no to a bigger car and the extra insurance but I still think I can charge them a bit extra.

Rich: Here are the two questions we want you to answer as you listen.

Rowan: Question one: Does Rich think we should get petrol when we return the car?

Jack: Question two: What extra charges do I make Rowan and Rich pay?

Roleplay 3:

Rich: Are we nearly done? It’s taking a while.

Rowan: I think so. Let’s see what he tries to charge us for next.

Jack: OK, that’s nearly everything. You’re free to bring back the tank empty or full.

Rich: I think we might be charged more if we bring it back empty. It’s a bit of a scam.

Jack: Sorry?

Rowan: Nothing. Is there a charge for bringing the tank empty?

Jack: Our current petrol charges are here on the desk and yes there would be an additional fee to fill up the tank.

Rich: Best to bring it back full.

Jack: OK. If I could have a credit card in your name madam so I can take a deposit.

Rowan: A deposit?

Jack: Yes, we have to pre-authorise a charge to your credit card to cover the fuel in the tank. If I could make a copy of both of your driving licenses so I can make a copy and we’ll be able to get you on the road in no time.

Rowan: It seems to be costing a bit more than I originally thought.

Jack: OK, that’s everything. Here’s the rental agreement which you need to sign here and here. Five days rental and surcharges for the additional driver, airport pick up and late pick up. Drop off is at ten o’clock on Friday.

Rowan: OK, there you go.

Jack: And here are the keys. If you go through the doors in front of you and follow the signs to the car hire car park, you’ll find your vehicle in bay 236.

Language Focus 3

Jack: Before you heard this part of the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Does Rich think they should get petrol when they return the car?

Rich: The answer is yes.

Rowan: Our second question was: What extra charges do we get charged for?

Jack: I make them pay extra for an additional driver and for renting the car from the airport.

Rich: In this part of the roleplay, we talked a lot about petrol costs. Listen to this part of the roleplay again. What language do you hear connected to petrol?

Jack: OK, that’s nearly everything. You’re free to bring back the tank empty or full.

Rich: I think we might be charged more if we bring it back empty. It’s a bit of a scam.

Jack: Sorry?

Rowan: Nothing. Is there a charge for bringing the tank empty?

Jack: Our current petrol charges are here on the desk and yes there would be an additional fee to fill up the tank.

Rich: Best to bring it back full.

Rowan: Let’s start with the word tank. This refers to the petrol tank - the container in your car that holds the petrol.

Rich: When you go to a petrol station you fill up the tank with petrol.

Jack: To fill up is a phrasal verb and means to make something completely full. It is often used to talk about liquids. I’m really thirsty. Can you fill up my glass?

Rowan: You fill something up when it’s empty and stop filling something up when it’s full.

Rich: I said the idea of bringing the tank back empty is a bit of scam because it costs so much.

Jack: A scam is a dishonest plan for making money.

Rowan: It might not be a scam but it’s certainly a rip-off and Jack did make some extra money in the end. Listen to this part of the roleplay again:

Jack: Ok, that’s everything. Here’s the rental agreement which you need to sign here and here. Five days rental and surcharges for the additional driver, airport pick up and late pick up. Drop off is at ten o’clock on Friday.

Rich: There were some extra surcharges that we were not expecting.

Jack: A surcharge is an extra payment on top of something that you have already paid.

Rich: Two of these surcharges were for picking up and dropping off the car at the airport.

Rowan: These are two very useful items when we hire a car: pick up and drop off.

Jack: To pick up is a phrasal verb which when we’re talking about cars means to collect someone or something from somewhere.

Rich: I’ll pick you up at 6, OK.

Rowan: To drop off means to leave someone or something in a specific place.

Rowan: I’ll drop you off outside the sports centre, OK.

Jack: Rowan and Rich picked up the car at the airport and they were going to drop it off again five days later.

Rich: You might need to go to the pick up and drop off points to do this.

Rowan: Remember that we’ve got vocabulary activities for you to check your understanding of everything we’ve looked at today on the Premier Skills English website.

TASK

Rich: In this week’s task, we want you to tell us about a rip-off - something that you think costs much more money than it should.

Jack: In the roleplay, Rowan and Rich thought I was ripping them off. They thought I was charging far too much money for extra little things.

Rowan: We want you to tell us about something that you think is a rip-off. Something that costs more money than it’s worth.

Rich: It could be some kind of equipment, clothes or technology or maybe a service of some kind.

Jack: Or you might want to tell us about a time when you or someone you know was ripped off. What did they buy? Were they tricked or was it just something they could have paid less money for elsewhere?

Rowan: We want you to write your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Football Phrase

Rich: It’s time for this week’s football phrase. Have you got one Jack?

Jack: I have. This week’s football phrase is * *********'* ****. The phrase generally describes an object that is very rare or unusual and is very valuable to some people. In football, the phrase is usually used to describe a goal scored by a player who hardly ever scores.

Rowan: When I was a kid I used to save coins from different countries and I had some really rare ones that were definitely *********'* *****, in fact, I sold some of them and made quite a bit of money.

Jack: Let’s see if anyone gets it right and who is first this week. If you are still wondering what the answer was to last week’s football phrase it was after extra time.

Rowan: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Rich: If you have a question for us about football or English you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Jack: or you can leave your questions and comments on the website in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

Rowan: or you could give us a rating and a fantastic review on Apple Podcasts.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!