[Rouvrou]

Hire a car and hire a motorbike both sound fine to me. You could even hire a deckchair and reasonably expect that it wouldn't have somebody already sitting in it!
regards
Lisa

[mesmark]

Quote Rouvrou

... You could even hire a deckchair and reasonably expect that it wouldn't have somebody already sitting in it! ...

Lisa, are you British?

[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"?

[Pernickety]

I think 'hire' and 'rent' are both fine (british english)

Recently we rented a car and son, who loves cars, insisted on discussing it at length. To differentiate bet it and another we called it the 'hire car' (you can't have a 'rent car' though ) and son would look up at the roof in awe. Of course he was understanding 'higher car'. He still can't figure why our own car is not a hire car' as it is actually 'higher'.

[Rouvrou]

Yes I am British. You can certainly hire a person to do something - if you know your Thomas Hardy, then you will know that there were "hiring fairs" in the nineteenth century. This may be an example of where American English has kept the old usage of hiring a person and British English has changed to mean hiring a person or an inanimate object. Interesting!
regards
Lisa