Internet car hire goes too easy on the frills.

Byline: FRANK BARRETT

USA THANK the Yanks for some of the most important innovations in the travel business. As this week we celebrate the glories of the Land of the Free for holidays, it's worth reflecting on how America has made our travel easier.

Sir Freddie Laker may have championed the bargain fare, but we have to be grateful to American carriers like Southwest and People Express for coming up with the concept of the no-frills airline.

It was Uncle Sam that also gave us the good-value motel room, fast food, the theme park and other diverse delights such as suitcases on wheels and 'rip & sip' plastic coffee cups. It is interesting to note, however, that while America devised the no-frills budget airline, it felt no need to come up with a nofrills budget car hire company.

Operators like Hertz and Avis instead concentrated on cutting the hassles for holders of its special cards. One of my greatest treasures is my Hertz Number One Gold Card, which allows me on arrival at my destination airport simply to climb into my car and drive off without queueing. Anyone can apply for a card - and it's well worth getting one, even if you only plan to use it sparingly.

Earlier this month, however, easyJet boss Stelios Haji-Ioannou launched the car hire offshoot of his airline: the no-frills Internet- based business easyRentacar.com, with outlets initially in London, Glasgow and Barcelona and others to follow. You can book only on the Internet, there is only one type of car available - the Mercedes A Class - and rates look cheap, from [pounds sterling]9 to [pounds sterling]27 a day, depending on demand.

The London base is in an inelegant (and fairly hard to locate) multi-storey car park at the back of Guy's Hospital near London Bridge station. But finding the car park is simple stuff compared to the process of actually booking and then printing out the 18-page rental agreement (you are asked to do this before arriving - although you can actually do this after you've arrived).

Compared with the simple click and go process of booking an easyJet air ticket, the car hire process is amazingly bureaucratic and protracted (though, in fairness, this has more to do with the legal requirements of the Road Traffic Act).

The welcome process at the easyRentacar.com office manages to be both perfunctory and wearyingly convoluted (interpersonal skills were clearly not high on the job description list of the reception staff). The solitary trek to the 10th floor of the multi-storey to locate the car is rather depressing.

The car itself, however, is fine (as it was the first day, mine was brand new, so it should have been). What wasn't fine was that on the side (and rear window) wasblazed:'easyRentacar.com'.

All over the world, car hire companies have been doing their level best to disguise rental cars in order to discourage theft.

CU R I O U S LY, easyRentacar.com has chosen to row against this stream of thinking. In Barcelona, capital of the sneak thief, instead of putting 'easyRentacar.com' they may as well write on the side of their cars: 'Please rob me, I'm a rental car!' I hired my car for six-and-a-half days at a total price of [pounds sterling]61.

On top of this was a cleaning fee (!) of [pounds sterling]5 and a charge of [pounds sterling]20 to reduce the loss damage waiver amount from [pounds sterling]500 to [pounds sterling]100: a total charge of [pounds sterling]86.

This allowed me, however, only 75 'free' miles a day - if I exceeded this allowance I would be required to pay 20p for each additional mile.

I didn't exceed the mileage, but I did return the car two days early (no refund for this).

There was no one on hand at the return area to check the mileage or to confirm that I'd refuelled the car and that I'd left no dents or scratches. I foresee nasty disputes arising because of this absence of checking.

In fact, I'm forced to conclude that easyRentacar.com is a nice idea but turns out to be less impressive in practice.

The fact is that car hire is one of those areas of endeavour - along with, say, sex, health care and education - where frills are very much appreciated.

* Write to Frank Barrett, The Mail on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TS; fax: 020 7938 2894; email: frank.barrett@mailonsunday.

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