Renting a car for the first time can cause a lot of anxiety. There are so many questions and details to understand. You also don’t want to get ripped off, but you don’t want to make any mistakes that will cost you money later. Here are the things you need to know.
Airport Surcharges
This is one of the best tips for renting a car. If possible, avoid renting a car from the airport. It is super convenient to do so, but you will be paying a premium for that convenience. Sometimes the convenience is worth the extra money, especially if you’re in a hurry, but sometimes, you have the time to save a little money. So, hire a cab, or use public transportation to a rental agency that’s not on airport grounds. If it’s away from the airport, you’re likely to get significantly lower rates from that agency. Look for places just inside the city. Remember to factor in the price of the cab ride into your total rent as well. You don’t want the slight inconvenience also to cost you extra.
Insurance
Car rental agencies love selling insurance plans. They start it while you’re booking the car and will continue it when you’re in their office to pick up the vehicle. You can decline at that time, and maybe they won’t press the issue. But sometimes, pushy agents will start scaring you and will make you paranoid enough to crumble and buy their overpriced policy. What you should do instead is check if your existing auto insurance policy provides rental car coverage. Several credit cards also offer a secondary insurance cover when you rent a car. So check these details, and if you can, skip the agency’s insurance.
Credit Card
You may have read that the best way to rent a car is with a credit card. But there’s an even better option. And that would be using a credit card with primary rental insurance. Do your research about which cards provide this facility. If you often travel and rent a car regularly, certain credit cards offer worldwide coverage up to a significant amount. This will give you a lot of freedom every time you need to rent a car.
