At Easter many families head off on holidays by car and this year award-winning car hire comparison site Carrentals.co.uk has issued a list of handy tips to help parents make car rides more tolerable.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, commented: “We all know that taking kids on long car journeys can be a bit of a hassle if they get bored. With the new tips we have issued parents can give themselves the best chance of enjoying a fun journey on which the kids will enjoy themselves too.”

Top Tips from Carrentals.co.uk

Plan Ahead – Writing down all the things you need to do and take makes life easier. Prepare well and make sure you have things like kids’ car seats, in car entertainment and first aid kits all ready to go and don’t leave them all until the last minute.

Timing is Everything – The time you set out can have a big impact on the enjoyment of your journey. Hitting the road very early in the morning means that the kids can sleep a couple of hours on the way and you can then get them changed into fresh clothes at a breakfast stop.

Pit-stops – Another fun way to keep the kids entertained is to plan your toilet and leg-stretching breaks at places of interest along your route.

Entertainment – The best way to keep kids quiet in the car. Portable DVD players, games consoles, mp3 players, e-book readers and other items are invaluable while traditional in-car games like I Spy and the Licence Plate Game can also be fun.

Snacks – Make sure you have stocked up on plenty of snacks and drinks ahead of hitting the road.

Think Outside of the Box – Another handy hint for keeping the kids busy is to kit them out with a disposable camera which they can use to make a picture scrapbook of the holiday.

Follow the route – For slightly older children, one fun way to stay entertained on a journey is to follow the route on a map with a highlighter pen.

Carrentals.co.uk compares hire car deals from up to 50 rental companies, including Alamo, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt in over 15,000 locations worldwide. Popular destinations include Spain, Portugal and France, with car hire Lanzarote deals available and car hire Lanzarote airport collections also on show.

To compare the latest car hire deals visit www.carrentals.co.uk.

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