re: 'hire' as in hire car...is this used for other situations in the UK where one gains temporary use of something in exchange for cash? Are apartments ummm.. flats hired? In the USA hire refers to accepting a person for employment, while a car is 'rented'....Is rent used at all in the UK?

and is the term 'cab' used when wishing a taxi? We in the US use taxi, cab, or taxicab almost interchangably, with 'cab' sort of being common street usage in many big cities.(We seem to like the shortest possible word or slang for many terms...we seem to even choose shorter spelling versions..'color', 'colour'..)