Faff-free school coach hire

Whether it’s taking the year 6’s on an educational trip to the seaside, getting the football team to their nerve-wracking semi-final, or making sure the school choir arrives at their performance on time, school coach hire can be a right kerfuffle. And as if teachers don’t have enough on their plates, it’s often down to them to organise coach hire for school trips, events and activities.

A better way to book school trip coach hire

That’s where Coach Hire Comparison comes in. We understand how your school coach hire arrangements can become an additional stress. From time consumed by calling local operators to check availability and price, to figuring out the best coach or minibus size for the trip in question, it can be hard to keep track.

But we get it. Which is why we’ve taken the kerfuffle out of coach hire for schools, with a simple three-step process. Suitable for both one-off and repeated bookings, Coach Hire Comparison will help you with the whole process. From planning your journey and choosing the right size of transport, to finding quotes from trusted operators, and getting you on your way with no fuss.

The best bit? You’ll save more time, more money, and with online payments, instant invoices and your own account manager, you’ll save yourself all the unwanted faff too.

Ready to go? Let's book your next trip!

Booking your coach or minibus for your next trip is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Let us guide you through the process with a helping hand from Coco, our mascot! From selecting the right coach for your group to customising your itinerary, we'll guide you through every step of the way!

Three Simple Steps to Sort your Next School Trip or Event

Coach Hire comparison is a quick three-step process, designed to make coach hire for schools as easy and as stress-free as possible.

Let us know where you're going

To kick the process off, all you need to do is fill in a quick form with your journey information, including the date and time of departure, destination and group size. This allows us to share your request with our plethora of trusted coach and minibus operators so they can prepare their best quote for your school coach hire.

Sit back and wait for your quotes

Sit back, relax, and wait. Though you won’t be waiting too long! You’ll receive a selection of quotes from a minimum of three of our independent coach partners, usually within 24 hours. You’ll be able to view their vehicles, so you can choose your chariot of choice. Just bear in mind that all of our independent suppliers will send their quotes separately, so some will come back quicker than others.

Time to make your choice of coach or minibus

Grab a cuppa and login to your personalised dashboard to review your quotes. This is your opportunity to choose your preferred coach or minibus depending on price and amenities. Just need four wheels and an engine to get the swimming team to the pool? Sorted. On the lookout for fancy leather seats and mood lighting to keep your giddy group of girls composed? No problem.

Place your booking through Coach Hire Comparison, and you’re good to go!

Get your quote now

Stress-free coach hire for schools, colleges and universities

As education providers, there is a lot to remember. And at Coach Hire Comparison, we understand how hard it is to juggle the never-ending list of tasks. Never mind the stress of having to remember a plethora of dates, invoices, and team schedules.

Repeat bookings for sports teams

Football training, netball finals, lacrosse championships, chess tournaments, the list goes on. And having to remember an entire year’s schedule on top of everything else is impossible. Which is where repeat bookings for school coach hire come into play to save the day. If the hockey team needs to go to the same training ground each week, or swimming lessons require a block booking, you can sort it all in one go.

Personalised dashboard for ease

As if remembering to book isn’t hard enough in the first place, it’s even harder to remember what’s been booked, and where. Coach Hire Comparison offers a personalised, secure online dashboard for every user, which shows every single booking and the contact details of each coach operator. What’s more, if you provide your login details to school administrators and teachers, everyone will have full visibility of what’s in place. So Mr Harrison won’t come knocking on your door to check if his school trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park has a coach booking or not. He can do it himself!

Invoicing all in one place

The days of having the school finance office on your back are long gone. Invoices are all stored in the dashboard, giving you full visibility of costs, and any outstanding payments due. Quick, simple, and no fear of losing receipts ever again. School coach hire? Completed it.

Like a lot of schools, arranging the coach hire for school trips, events or sports fixtures is usually a very time consuming and frustrating part of the job. So much precious time is wasted chasing companies for quotes and availability, not getting a response or going to the ‘same old’ despite increasing costs and a lack of availability because we are not aware of who else we could use.

Those days are gone. Now everything is consolidated through Coach Hire Comparison, we know we’re getting the most competitive quotes, we know we’re getting operators that are compliant, we know availability won’t be an issue, and we know their customer care is second-to-none. It makes the procurement process a lot simpler too, which just makes life easier in so many ways.”

Kim Mitchell

Deputy Head, Silverhill Primary School

About Coach Hire Comparison

Coach Hire Comparison was created by James and Laura Stokes - proud founders, and even prouder parents of two children, two dogs, and the cheeky orange mascot for CHC; our beloved Coco.

“It all started back in 2010, when we spotted an opportunity. To help other like-minded business owners. To champion independent coach travel. And to make coach hire the country’s simplest, cheapest, happiest choice of travel. For every consumer, college, school and business in the country.

Although our foundations in family values will never change, we aren’t on our own any more. In 2023, the team at CMAC joined our journey, bringing industry-leading ground transport expertise, new investment, new innovation, and new talent to help Coach Hire Comparison enter (another) exciting new era.

Together, our belief in the power of our platform grows stronger every day. We’re welcoming new schools, colleges and nurseries as partners every single week. And our platform is being improved to make life easier for everyone in education – including the countless children connected to life enriching experiences, every day of the year.”

Your questions answered

Three independent quotations is the least you can expect when using Coach Hire Comparison. It’s not unusual to gain five or more quotes, meaning you can choose from the best value and highest rated operators for your school coach hire.

YES! We aim to lead the way in both quality of service and in regulatory compliance. School groups can be safe in the knowledge that all of our operators take compliance and safety seriously. Any operators that don’t comply with our high standards of compliance will have their memberships paused until they’ve met our operator standards.

NO! You’re never on your own with Coach Hire Comparison. Every school, college or university has their own dedicated account manager, so you always know where to turn if anything ever goes wrong with any of your bookings.

NO! In fact, many schools, colleges and universities use Coach Hire Comparison because of the ease of billing and payment. It’s all online. It’s all consolidated. And it all happens in an instant, with instant invoicing available.

NO! With a membership community of hundreds of fully compliant coach operators around the country, each with their own fleets of coaches and minibuses, you’ll very rarely find a quote request or travel requirement can’t be fulfilled comfortably.

Yes of course! We can provide accessible coaches and minibuses for wheelchair users and those with mobility devices. Please tell us at the quote stage if you require an accessible coach.

Get a free quote now

How do we work?

Gone are the days of spending hours on the phone to coach companies to find the best price and the right coach for your school trip or event. Coach Hire Comparison exists to take out all of the additional work and admin, to give you fair, honest and quick quotes without the kerfuffle. Simply input your pick-up location, where it is you’re heading to, the size of the group, team or trip, and at which times you need to arrive and depart, and our handy tool and operators will do the rest for you.

And if your school trip has multiple stop offs - whether it’s a trip to the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, followed by an exhilarating performance at The Lowry in Salford, or taking the team to the gym followed by a protein-filled lunch stop, you can add in additional pick up and drop off locations when you book. So your coach operator will know exactly where you need to be, and when. We’re confident that almost all of our bookings will run smoothly, thanks to our trusted coach and minibus operators. But if your coach doesn’t arrive, we’ll happily refund your payment in full - and that’s a promise!

Making coach bookings a breeeeze since 2010

Coach Hire Comparison has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 from 1452 reviews.

Arlene Bautista, Buckinghamshire

Thu 25 Jul 2024

It was easy. The operators were very helpful. The receptionists who took my call were very friendly and kind.

Evon, Middlesex

Sat 20 Jul 2024

The site was very easy to use. I started to receive quotes within 30 minutes and over a 48 hr period.

Irena Paskevicova, Czech Republic

Wed 10 Jul 2024

Hi, your website is quite easy to navigate. It helped me a lot. Quotes were received fast.

GET A FREE QUOTE…

The fastest (free) coach and minibus quotes. And the warmest, fuzziest feeling of supporting the UK’s local independent coach companies. What could be better?