More and more people prefer to abandon the package tours and travel independently – it’s nice to feel that you can travel in your own pace and go wherever you want. Another thing is that for complete independence you need a suitable way of movement: public transport is not always convenient, and daily taxi rides can hit the budget hard. If you drive a car, then the most comfortable way of exploring the country is to rent a car at rentalcars24. Today we will tell you a few secrets of how to save on car rental without compromising the quality of rest.
Book in advance
There are several obvious advantages when booking a car online. First, the pre-set price will save you from the typical situation in Asia, when the cost of the car on the spot can be overestimated several times. Car rental in Europe and America is even more interesting – you should periodically check prices and watch different dates, it may turn out that a cheaper car will be available from the second or third day of the vacation than from the first one. In addition, when filling out a booking form from your country, you will be aware of all the necessary documents: international driver’s license, passport, and credit card.
Vary the rental period
Many companies have discounts for long-term rentals, and the cost of a week of rental can be significantly lower than 6 days. True, it’s not always easy to deceive the major market players, thus you need to specify whether the contract provides fines for an early return. If there’s such an item, the costs can cut off the savings.
However, if you fly away after six days, you can try to agree with the hotel that the car will stand on their parking one extra day and then the distributor will return it. If the parking is paid, then you, of course, will have to count all expenses in advance.
Choose the right car
Full-size cars are not only more expensive, but they also feature higher fuel consumption. Therefore, if you don’t carry a lot of luggage with you, take a smaller car. Of course, you shouldn’t feel cramped – you are on vacation and need to get relaxation in any situation.
In addition, cars with a manual transmission are usually cheaper than with automatic one, so if you have no problems with this, then there’s an additional way to save. If necessary, find out in advance if the car has special attachments for oversized baggage, such as skis, snowboards or surfboards, since you may be asked to pay an extra fee for them on site.
Decide where to pick up a car
If you definitely decide to rent a car for the entire vacation, it doesn’t mean that you need to get behind the wheel directly at the airport. After an exhausting flight, it may be difficult to find your way around in a foreign country. Plus, if the rental company doesn’t have its own counter at the airport, you can be charged more than the transfer to the hotel for transporting the car there. It’s better to get to the city and relax. If you arrive in the evening, pick up the car the next morning, so you will also save on one rental day.
When you still need to pick up the car immediately upon arrival, send the flight details to the agency in advance so that in case of a delay the car will be reserved for you anyway.
Check out all the details of insurance
Car rental insurance is the widest field for fraud among car rental agents. In order to avoid an unpleasant surprise, specify in advance all the details of the insurance: deductible size, coverage, insurance and non-insurance claims. For example, in some companies, full insurance may suddenly not include mirrors and glass damages.
Also, it may be the situation, when you actually have insurance, but you just don’t know about it. In many banks, servicing your credit account already includes insurance, in case you pay with this particular card. In addition, check with the company where your own car is insured – if it is possible to extend the insurance for rental cars.
Don’t spend money on GPS
When concluding a contract, you may be offered a navigator as an additional paid service. Its price varies up to $10-15 per day, which, of course, is much more expensive than a local SIM card with the Internet and Google maps, which work perfectly around the world.
Ask for discounts
Nothing works better than a direct question. Find out what preferential categories of customers are provided for this rental. Very often companies give a discount to the participants of the airline’s bonus program or to the employees of a company that is a corporate client of the car hire agency. Sometimes a simple comparison with the prices of competitors helps – workers can give you a discount, not always even checking whether there really is a similar car somewhere at a lower price.