What should I look for when I’m choosing a rental car?

Do you find yourself asking, “What should I look for when I’m choosing a rental car?” This is all dependent on your budget as well as your needs.

• Are you using this rental car for yourself?
• Are you renting it for someone else to drive as a favor to them?
• Are you on a business trip?
• Are you on a vacation?
• Is your primary car being repaired and you need a replacement for a short time?

These are all questions you need to first consider when trying to find the answer to the probing question of what you should look for when choosing a rental car.
There are a few tips for finding the right rental car to suit your needs. After you have answered the previous questions and considered what your situation is, it will help you to determine what rental car you need.

Renting a car can offer flexibility and freedom when traveling but sometimes a rental car adds complications to the trip, if you don’t search in the right place (=online). There are ways to save money when renting a car, understanding the agreement terms on your rental car and ways to avoid problems.

There are a few different things you can research yourself too…

While there are numerous rental car companies all across the country and all across the world that provide easy access depending on the location they are at, you do not want to spend your time visiting them all or calling each company. That is a waste of time and sometimes they might just be trying to tell you what you want to hear in order to make an instant deal all without you reading any fine print. Sure their great deals may sound appealing but if it is too good to be true, it likely is.

Your best bet for determining “What should I look for when I’m choosing a rental car?” is to determine your needs and wants along with your budget and then go comparison pricing online in order to find the best deal. Again, why visit numerous websites of rental car companies? There might be rental car companies you do not even think about that are right near the location you need it to be in order to pick it up.

The best thing to do is to go to one website such as RentalCars.com in order to do a little comparison pricing. By looking at the various specs of each car along with the details that each rental car company requires, you may find that locating all of this information on website not only saves you time and money, but can also eliminate the stress of this tedious and mundane task that is necessary but can also be a hassle.

Take the hassle out of answering “What you need to know choosing a rental car” with some of these tips that will help guide you in the right direction.

7 tips for booking a rental car

1.If you are traveling with a family, you most likely need a much larger sedan or even an SUV (read how to choose rental car larger options here /7-seater-rental-car-choosing-larger-rental-car-options/ and here /a-9-seater-rental-car-opting-for-larger-cars-hire/). The same is true if you will have a lot of other passengers going with you too. However, if you want to save money on the initial rates of renting a car as well as the price of gasoline, it is best to opt for the smallest rental car there is available.
Size, however, is not the only thing to consider when you are thinking ‘What should I look for when I’m choosing a rental car?’ Depending on where you are, there might also be vehicles available which are environmentally family. Various rental car companies have eco-friendly rental cars.

2. Also note that if you cannot drive a car that is a stick shift manual transmission, you need to be sure that your rental car is an automatic transmission. Depending on the country where you are looking to choose a rental car, manual transmission rental cars are normal so you need to definitely check the fine print about the model you are renting to be sure that you get an automatic too. You should really consider this on international car rentals.

3. One other consideration when thinking ‘What should I look for when I’m choosing a rental car?’ when choosing a rental car for use in another country is to note that sometimes you need to know that you have to drive on the other side of the road (are you going to go to UK?). Also, international drivers’ licenses and liability insurance differences can make renting a car in a different country a little bit more complicated than when choosing a rental car in your home country.

4. For international car rentals, make sure you always book in advance because they will be much higher at a rental company counter than they even will be over the phone or especially online. The websites such as RentalCars.com allow you to search for similar cars that you need on the specific dates that you need them and compare the prices and rental agreements of different rental agencies right in front of you. Making a reservation online is definitely favorable because you do not have to worry when you go to pick up your car about the shifting of exchange rates and any language or communication barriers you might have.

5. Also make sure, no matter where you are using your rent-a-car vehicle, that if you need any other extras such as a luggage rack, a bike or ski rack, a car seat for a small child, or even a GPS system are available on the car that you are looking at when you consider which rental car you will need. Some of these are essential but might not be something that you are considering when you think about the must haves of a rental car. Take note to look for those extras and see if there are additional charges for them.

6. Another tip is to look for special coupon or promotional codes that can help you to get better deals on car rental prices. You could save as much as 20 percent off of the original cost of your rental car. Also consider all loyalty reward programs that you might be a member of because some organizations offer discounts just for simply being a preferred customer. Many of these organizations offer all types of travel discounts including those for rental cars.

7. When you make your rental car reservation online, be sure you read all of the terms and conditions thoroughly before you go ahead and confirm. If there are any restrictions or questions that you might have before confirming your car rental, make sure you understand them before going ahead and confirming the reservation for your rental car. Any fine print may be pertinent and necessary for you to pay attention to. You might need to know if you are stuck with a fee in case you miss the reservation time. You may want to know if additional drivers can be added to drive the car and if there is an added fee in the case of liability reasons. You also need to know what to do in the case of an accident in a rental car and what the policies of the company are. Always get a confirmation number too when you book your rental car reservation.

With some of these tips in mind, you might find it a much easier time to know what you should look when searching for a rental car.