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English not my native language. I'm trying to understand what would be correct in British English.

If I want to use a car for some time. I can say, "I want to rent a car". But from my knowledge there may be a misunderstanding. I can say the same words if I want to give a car to someone to use for some time and I want to receive payment.

So what would be correct and not misunderstanding?

  • 1) I want to use a car for some time = "I want to hire a car"

  • 2) I want to give a car to someone to use for some time = "rent out a car"

Is my understanding correct?

Andris
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    This should probably be migrated to [ell.se], a perfect place for a question like this one. You might want to create a Stack Exchange account there, too. – J.R. Dec 25 '14 at 09:43
  • Related (possible dupe): The correct way to say something is hired on an hourly basis –  Dec 25 '14 at 14:13
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    Do you really mean to use rent which implies a payment for temporary use? OR do you simply mean to borrow a car or lend a car which is something that might occur between family or friends? – Jim Dec 25 '14 at 21:18
  • Yes, I mean temporary to use a car and person that uses a car, pays for the usage. Regarding hire. I searched google hire a car in uk and there are many pages with title like hire a car in uk... – Andris Dec 26 '14 at 02:12

1 Answers1

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EDIT: As Jason points out, this is only correct for American English.

Hiring is normally something you do to a person. If you say that you're hiring a car, it sounds like you're hiring a driver who has a car.

Your use of "rent out" is correct if the person who borrows the car is paying you. You can use "loan out" if there's no payment.

Adam Haun
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    In American English this is the case, but in British English, hiring a car is the idiomatically correct way to express this, if I'm not mistaken. Google finds both phrases, but the car you pick up is called a "hire car" almost exclusively, rather than a rental car, so I'm wondering if renting a car is an introduced Americanism in the UK. Hopefully a native BrE speaker can weigh in. – Jason Patterson Dec 25 '14 at 22:25
  • Even more clear is "rent out my car" or "rent out one of my cars", because there is no way you can borrow a car that already belongs to you. – Stew C Mar 29 '17 at 21:24