@Mari-LouA In the US, employ is also used, but it is more often used to indicate an ongoing retentio

In the UK, when I was a child and before credit cards became the norm; families who couldn't afford to pay the full price of household furniture, electrical appliances; including arthur frommer budget travel colour TVs, and even alarm clock radios were "bought" on HP (hire and purchase) – once popularly called the "never-never". arthur frommer budget travel Recently, I discovered that in the US a similar system for purchasing goods exists but is known as Rent-to-Own . link
It sounds as though this is a difference between American and British English. arthur frommer budget travel Or, more precisely, someone should confirm that this is a difference in American and British English, because if it is so, then that is likely the answer to this question. For reference, I, an American English Speaker, have never heard of anyone hiring a car before. You either rent it (own it for a fixed time at a fixed rate), or buy it (purchase it in whole), and only hire individuals or organizations, but never objects.
@Zibbobz really? You ve never heard of hiring a car, that is something I didn t expect. telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-advice/9349256/ Italians will only know about renting cars, very rarely have they heard of the expression, hiring.
You are actually hiring a driver when you hire a limousine but you are renting a car when you re the driver. Though rent-a-date is cute, you re actually hiring an escort. I believe the rule-of-thumb that hiring is for people, renting arthur frommer budget travel is for inanimate objects.
In the US the word rent is for objects (cars, tv's, house, tool) and the word hire is for people/service arthur frommer budget travel . I cannot think of an example when this is not the case (I am sure a few odd examples exist though).
I wonder if, at least in some instances, arthur frommer budget travel rent a pilot, arthur frommer budget travel rent a tutor, rent a cook, etc is marketing at work. As @Zibbobz states, there s the connotation of a stronger degree of obligation on the person being rented. In other words, the marketing behind arthur frommer budget travel such phrases would emphasize that it s like having your own pilot, cook, etc for a time... owning the service rather than merely borrowing it.
I think rent a pilot sounds decidedly informal. Sure, it exists, but I get the nagging feeling that it is supposed to convey some hidden meaning, as if to assure potential customers: This will be easy! It s just like renting a car. I believe RyeBread s original answer was on-the-mark from a strictly formal English perspective, but that rent a tutor makes for an irresistably nifty marketing gimmick, much like the homey (but grammatically awful) Something R Us .
Rent means to pay for the utility of an object, property, or service provided by another individual. You could rent a boat, you could rent a house, you could even rent a date in some illicit websites, though I wouldn't recommend it.
Hire means to pay for a service provided by another individual or organization, BUT, as seen in the definition, it can also mean 'to engage in temporary use for a fee', and "hire out a car" is acceptable, with the understanding that an organization is providing the car for use. "Hire" is, however, used mostly to say "pay for temporary service of an individual or organization", and while hiring a car does sometimes arthur frommer budget travel appear, more commonly it is used to indicate the hiring of a professional, such as a lawyer or baker. It can also mean hiring a company, such as hiring a catering service, hiring a law firm, or hiring a construction crew, in each case the organization provides the service. It can ALSO mean to add someone to a work force, as in 'hiring on an employee'.
The difference here is that "rent" is usually used for objects, and even though it technically arthur frommer budget travel can be used for 'renting out' a person, the connotation of renting someone is a stronger degree of obligation on the person arthur frommer budget travel being 'rented out'. You have jurisdiction to do whatever you desire to your 'rented' property (beyond arthur frommer budget travel irrepairable damage), but when you hire someone or something, it is under the connotation that the organization or individual holds control over their own actions or property (though I would not recommend damaging rented property, as the renter will likely make you pay for the damages!)
@Mari-LouA In the US, employ is also used, but it is more often used to indicate an ongoing retention in a job rather arthur frommer budget travel than the initial engagement: Company A employs 340 people [on an ongoing basis] but Company B hires 340 new people every year .
As noted by RyeBread, Zibbobz and tehDorf, in the USA only goods and accommodation are rented ; in extremely rare cases are they said to be hired. The contract to rent an item or property can be either short or long term, for example: rent a car; rent a Halloween costume ; rent an apartment; rent a movie; etc.
The consumer (or lessee) also has the opportunity to purchase the rented arthur frommer budget travel good(s) by paying the rental fee for a length of time or by paying arthur frommer budget travel a lump sum payment. This form of purchasing is known as rent-to-own or installment plan .
Houses, flats ( apartments AmEng) etc. which are rented are usually let in the UK. A home displaying a sign in the window might have the words: Rooms to let . A British home owner might say: "We live in the downstairs flat and let the upstairs one to tenants." Let and rent are nevertheless, both common terms used in the UK.
As previously mentioned in the question; goods in the UK can be hired or bought on HP (Hire and Purchase). Regardless of its size, any object can be hired in the UK be it a bicycle, a DVD, a room to host a conference or even a castle . But the arrangement is usually a temporary one. E.g; Windsurfing and water skiing equipment on hire ; "prices include arthur frommer budget travel return flights and car hire " ; "they hired a marquee for the wedding". And clothes are hired, usually for single occasions, not rented.
In both the UK and in the US the expressions hire and employ are used for employing people on part-time or on permanent contracts. The small difference being that the expressions take on , and employ are used more frequently in the UK compared to the US.