Renting a Vehicle for Holiday? To Rent or Not to Rent?

I’ve been asked what are the things to consider when want to rent a car for holiday. Well, actually there are numerous of things to look out for and I didn’t have a short answer for this question. Finally, I figure that there are few most fundamental elements to consider on before going into a car rental deal.

1. Can you drive in that country?
Yes. The most fundamental question is whether you can drive in that country (where you tend to rent the car). Check whether your driving license is valid for driving in that country. Different countries have different rules. Some countries need a valid international license before you can actually drive there. Some doesn’t, they will need the driver to have a translation done on their driving license to local language or English. So check this out with the car rental operator or authorities.

Once you pass through the driving license part, next you’ll need to look at your capabilities of driving in that country. First check on the driving direction of the country. Next are the road conditions. It is very important we know about the road conditions before we even decide to rent or not to rent. For example driving on snow, driving on deserted roads, driving long distant, etc. Whether it is safe for foreigner to drive? Can you drive safely? These are the question you should ask.

Driving age. Different country and car rental operator has different rules on the valid driving age. Check with the local authorities on the driving age limit (if any). And check with the car rental operator what’s their rules on driving age. Sometimes, their barred rental to young or senior driver, or sometimes, they required additional insurance or surcharges.

After you pass through all these and still stick to the decision to rent a car and drive on your own. Next you should look at your budget.

2. Budget. Budget. Budget.
Hiring a car can be very expensive you are not careful with it. I wouldn’t discuss very lengthy on the items to watch out when considering a car rental deal. I’ll cover more basic elements when come to car rental.

Ask yourself what is your budget in renting a car. This will help you in determine the model of car to rent. To choose the model of the car, look at your need (e.g group size, luggage space, what’s the purpose of the car- carrying goods/ going to off beaten track/ normal traveling) and then look at the models available and compare the rate of rental.

Don’t forget to calculate your fuel cost into your budget planning. The price of gasoline varies in different country. Some country have fixed rate, some fluctuates. It is better to find out these information before you decide to drive on your own.

The model of the car and the cc of the car would mean different fuel consumptions. Another thing to consider is the year made of the car and how well the car is maintain. Sometimes, a beat up car has very high fuel (gasoline and gear oil) consumption.

And when you drive a car, you’ll need to calculate the parking fees and toll fees into your budget.

3. Itinerary
Why I put itinerary as one of the fundamental elements in deciding whether to rent a vehicle? Firstly, many car rental operators have minimum rental days. For example, you only want to stay in the city for 2 days and flying to another destination, most probably you’ll be paying high rental charges (usually the longer you rent, the cheaper the rate) or unable to get any rental. Another case is that you need to travel from destination A to destination B, so you would like to pickup the rental vehicle in destination A and return it in destination B. This usually come with a surcharge called relocation fee or inter-state drop off fee. Normally, you’ll get waiver on the fee if your rental is long (at least more than 3 to 4 days).

One should also find out the travel time from one location to another. Plan you driving time well, this will ensure you’ll have a safe and comfortable travel. Take note on the weather, road conditions, break time, map / navigator (or to consider get a GPS system). If you are planning to travel long distant, best to time your travel, avoid over long driving hours or rushing. It is also good to have additional driver(s), so that you can switch among drivers.

For me, these 1-2-3 steps are the most fundamental elements to consider about when deciding to rent or not to rent. I hope that these information is helpful. And if you need any advice about car rental, I welcome you to write to me. Hope my few years experience in the car rental industry will able to assist you.

P/S: In my coming blog, I’ll write about the general terms that one should watch out when choosing a car rental deal. Stay tune.