Our friends at Transfercar share their top tips on getting the most out of your next car rental.
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Car rental is undergoing something of a resurgence. During the so-called ‘boom years’ of the mid-2000s, the market was almost wholly reliant on business customers keeping it afloat, and even then it found itself struggling.
However, since the end of the last decade, car rental has started to become popular again. Not just because more business customers are using hire cars, but because they are becoming widely used as a tourism solution and people who have given up their cars in recent years due to high fuel costs and other reasons are also using them to a greater extent.
Using tourism as a foundation, we set out to explore what is making car rental so convenient, and why people around the world are starting to love it once more.
Booking the Car
Booking a rental is easier than it has ever been before. In domestic markets, there are even mobile applications you can use so that you never have to speak to anyone. You open an account, the car is parked on the street, and you can use your phone to open it with the keys already secured inside.
Wherever you book your hire it is as easy as that. Say you are going on holiday and looking to organise a car rental in Australia, you can go on the website, secure your booking, and when you get there, everything is already organized – easy!
Booking ahead of time means you can build up an idea of what you will do on your holiday. You can usually take care of discounts and special offers, too. Try booking a car online, then try again via telephone or in person, it will cost up to 25 per cent more with some companies.
Choosing a Suitable Car
Finding a suitable car is paramount to ensuring you have a good rental experience. If you are going to a hot destination such as Australia, then you will want to ensure you have a spacious car with air conditioning, climate control, and many other features, such as 4×4 functionality if you are looking to explore the outback, for example.
If you are heading to an unfamiliar location, you can always contact the rental company and ask what they recommend. Driving in the city is going to be better in a different car to the one you’d drive thousands of miles in, for example.
As well as where you are going, think about who is going with you. Your choice may be different if you are alone against what it might be if you have friends or young children with you.
Rental Benefits
The flexibility a rental car gives to you is undoubtedly the biggest and best benefit of using such a service. You can drive wherever you wish to, whenever you wish to, which can be a bonus on holidays when you don’t want to head out on tour operator organized excursions, or the public transport only services the popular tourist destinations.
Using rental cars is the most convenient, flexible, and fun way to see the best of any holiday destination, or get from one location to another on business, and you should look to take advantage of the opportunities available.
Main Image by VinothChandar
