THIS is the third rental company site to fall under the Web Watch critical eye in four weeks and the triumvirate concludes with Sixt’s site at www.sixt.co.uk.

Initially it offers a fresh take on portals in this sector with a homepage that is welcoming in its clarity and simplicity, a world away from the hurly-burly of the competitors’ sites from Budget and Avis.

The homepage’s cool look is complemented by an excellent function, the Quickfinder that allows instant access to UK and international rental pages, location finder and corporate customers’ login page. Choose any of these options and the simplicity of the homepage gives way to an experience similar to Sixt’s competitors, with a design that fights against the requirements to promote a wide range of services.

Unlike its competitors, Sixt does leave the paint pallet alone and the orange branding is allowed to dominate on a white background.

The lefthand menu offers fairly simple navigation throughout the site thankfully, most of the time to pages that are easy on the eye and easy to make use of. A new addition to the site which should make the clutter culture more bearable. Sixt has launched a price comparator, accessed via the ‘Cars!’ homepage link and publicised through a Flash graphic.

The aim to allow customers to compare Sixt prices with competitors National, Hertz and Avis. It’s a selective demonstration of how Sixt believes it can win customers – you can’t specify the criteria on which the comparisons are made.

But it is updated daily and there is a selection of cars, hire periods and locations to compare. It is an excellent time saver and promotes a feel good factor around the brand considering it’s a first for the market.

The lowdown

The site: www.sixt.co.uk

We like: Simply aims to offer every rental option available using latest technology

We don’t like:

Change from calm to chaos as you move from the homepage