A  family wearing sunglasses driving an Enterprise Rent-A-Car vehicle.

Car Hire Glossary

Let's make hiring a car or van easier.

View our list explaining the common words and phrases that you may find when renting a car or van.

Damage Waiver:

Protects you in the event of damage to, or theft of, the hire vehicle. This can include a Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) or a Loss Damage Waiver (LDW).

Electric Vehicles (EVs):

Vehicles powered by an electric battery. View our EV jargon buster.

Free pick-up:

Rent a car or van from your local Enterprise branch and we'll pick you up for free and drive you to the vehicle. Return the vehicle to your local branch and we’ll drop you off for free. Excludes airport locations. Rules apply.

Fuel policy:

The level of fuel to in the hire vehicle’s tank upon its return. Fuel charges include ‘pay for what you use’ and ‘pre-pay’ options.

Fuel type:

The fuel source that powers the vehicles. Options include petrol, diesel, electric and hybrid electric.

ICE vehicles:

Vehicles with traditional Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) that are fuelled by burning petrol or diesel fuels.

Long Wheelbase (LWB):

Vans with a longer distance between the front and rear wheels. This provides more space for storing cargo. Examples include Extra Large Vans and Luton Vans.

Mileage allowance:

The distance a hired car or van is allowed to travel. All rentals in the UK include unlimited mileage.

Multi-Purpose Vehicle (MPV):

Also referred to as people carriers or minivans. These vehicles have plenty of seats and storage space.

One-way:

You can pick up your hired car or van from your local Enterprise Rent-A-Car branch and drop it back at a different branch.

Optional extras:

These are additional products that can be purchase when hiring a vehicle such as a sat nav or adding an additional driver to your rental contract.

Pre-pay:

Hire your car or van online in advance to save 10% off the base hire rate.

Rental day:

Exactly 24 hours. For example, if you pick up your hire car at 11am and return it the following day at 10am, you will be charged for one day. If you returned the car at 2pm the following day, you will have gone into another rental day and be charged for two days.

Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs):

SUVs are powerful vehicles that are typically large and include more seating and storage capacity.

Standard Interline Passenger Procedures (SIPP) code:

An industry-standard method of classifying rental vehicles. The SIPP code is four digits that describe the vehicle’s size, number of doors, transmission type, fuel type and whether it has Air-Conditioning (AC).

Tail lift:

A hydraulic platform for easier loading and unloading available on the Luton Van with Tail-Lift.

Total price:

The price shown when booking online based on the information supplied. The total price includes all mandatory charges and excludes optional extras or additional drivers.

Vehicle class:

Vehicles grouped into categories including size and features. For example cars, SUVs and vans.

Transmission:

The method of controlling a vehicle’s gears. For example cars and vans could have either manual or automatic transmission.

More from Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Car Hire Locations

Find your nearest Enterprise Rent-A-Car branch.

Our Fleet

Browse our range of cars and vans to hire.

Latest Deals

View our latest car and van hire deals.

Car & Van Hire Costs Explained

Understand the cost of car and van hire with Enterprise.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Visit our FAQs for more answers to car and van hire questions.