Read the car rental small print

Filed in archive car rental , Travel Tips on March 27, 2008

by leath

Many people rent a car for their holiday. It gives you more freedom and flexibility in your choice of accommodation and makes it easier explore further afield in your destination. If you travel on a package tour, where transfers from the airport to your accommodation are an additional cost, the price of car hire may not be much more than the transfers.

You can check prices by using a Price comparison site such as Travelsupermarket or Traveljungle. However beware of the small print in car rental agreements and don't choose your rental firm on the basis of price alone. Many so called inclusive car rental prices still leave you with an excess of several hundred pounds if you rental car is damaged or stolen. Check that there is no excess to pay or that the excess will be refunded by the car rental firm.

You also have to watch out for additional charges for a second driver which could be as much as £5 per day, whereas it's included free with some companies.

It's a good investment of time to read the terms and conditions before you book car rental. If you book a hotel room and you end up paying a few pounds because you didn't bother to shop around more this pales into insignificance compared to being faced with a bill for a few hundred pounds with so called inclusive car rental.

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Response from: Gemma (10/22/08 6:42pm)

You've made some very valid points Karen. Hiring a car can ideed be a really low-cost way of giving you lots more freedom on holiday, but it's always best to read the terms and conditions. I work for Auto Europe and we provide car hire with refundable excess insurance included, which I'd always recommend. It's also worth remembering that car hire is charged over 24 hour periods. If you drop the vehicle off at a later time of day than you collected it, you could be charged for another whole day. Also, if you collect the car with a full tank of petrol, make sure you return it with a full tank to avoid charges. Check out the Auto Europe blog for other tips: http://blog.auto-europe.co.uk/

Response from: Bad Credit Lender (11/06/09 8:20pm)

It is good option to hire the car on the rent when we will go to on holiday.