Hire vs Rent

[micaelo]

Hello.
I am faced with the following fill-in-the-gap exercise "The young and the more adventurous probably ... a motorcycle and set off for the less frequented beaches." I've got the answer key and the only possible option seems to be "hire". Before this exercise in particular we are supposed to look at the differences between "rent" and "hire" and there is where my difficulty lies. If you can rent or hire a car, why aren't we supposed to be able to hire a motorcycle? Besides, I did a google search and found more examples of "rent a motorcycle" than of "hire a motorcycle". Btw, we are talking British usage here. Thank you.

[susiedqq]

In American English, we "rent", lease, or buy vehicles.
On vacation we would rent a car or bike.

"Hire" refers to an action where people are involved.
We hire employees to do a job.

In fact, we could hire a driver for the rented car.

[Ouisch]

I've noticed in BrE they use "hire" in situations where we'd use "rent" in AmE. For example, in BrE they'd "hire a car" while on holiday, in AmE we'd rent a car while on vacation.

[Anglika]

Indeed - we rent property and hire vehicles and equipment.

[micaelo]

Thank you all for your help

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Anglika

Indeed - we rent property and hire vehicles and equipment.

In BrE, is the hiring of vehicles and equipment with or without an operator/driver, Anglika?

[micaelo]

If in American English you can "hire" somebody to do a job, can you also do so in British or do you need a different verb, such as "contract" or "take on"?

[Niigatablue]

In B.English 'hire' is used to mean employ too. 'Take on' is used as the phrasal verb.

[Tdol]

Originally Posted by Ouisch

I've noticed in BrE they use "hire" in situations where we'd use "rent" in AmE. For example, in BrE they'd "hire a car" while on holiday, in AmE we'd rent a car while on vacation.

I'd use rent/hire a car interchangeably.