How You Can Avoid Getting Ripped Off When Hiring a Car Abroad
When you travel, whether that is at home or abroad, it can be a bit of a hassle. With different insurances and terms and conditions of hire, it can make the whole process a little tricky. There are lots of different places to hire from with all different excesses and insurance policies. So ultimately, you do have to do your homework. If you just turn up to any rental desk at the airport, you are much more likely to get ripped off or a bad deal.
You won’t have any comparison if you just turn up to a random desk. They will also see that you need to hire one that day, so will say it will cost a lot when it might not have if you had planned ahead and booked something ahead of time. The chances are that you won’t have the time or inclination to read through the terms and conditions of the hire before you grab the keys either. So planning ahead is key to getting a good deal.
Second of all, when you are planning ahead, you have the time to look for the best deal possible. It allows you time to look for money off codes and coupons too. There are always some deals that you’ll find online, as the rental car market can be pretty competitive. So have a look, perhaps somewhere like the Mehrgutschein site, for instance. Then you can get the best deal possible. Check the terms and conditions about insurance before you buy too. Is the price that you are being quoted the price that you will pay? Or is that the price minus the insurance? It isn’t the end of the world if it is. You just need to know what you expect the overall amount to be. So then when you are at the rental desk, you can tell them what the quote should have been if they try to overcharge.
But once you’ve got the best price possible, there are some more things that you could do. Here is a bit of a checklist to run through.
- Car Damage – some renters will take you to the car and check the state of the car with you. This doesn’t always happen, though. So before you drive off, check the car quite thoroughly for any existing damage. One of the best things to do is to take a photo on your phone. Then they can see the time and date that it was taken, so it proves that you didn’t do the damage.
- Fuel – make sure you check if they expect the fuel tank to come back empty or to come back full. Some brands like you to show fuel receipts too and even fill up close by to where you are dropping the car back off. So hanging onto your receipts is a good idea, to save any dispute later on.
Check the excess – how much is the excess for the vehicle, if there does happen to be an accident? You can more than likely increase or decrease it if you’d like, but it would affect the cost of the insurance.