Rental Cars Who Rents Them
Gone are the days when car hire was strictly from airport locations. The population these days require cars from the suburbs for a multitude of reasons, i.e. the car has broken down and can't be repaired quickly, the family are visiting and you need more seats than the family car has, the kids are graduating and you have been elected to drive the mini bus for the formal. With the vast distances in Australia people are also using rent-a-cars for interstate travel - after all why put all those extra kilometres on the family car, not to mention the wear and tear on the vehicle. A hire car will be the size you want and the servicing is always up to date. They are covered by 24hour roadside assist should something happen on the road. You really have to work out the costs on your own vehicle, compared to hiring a car.
One benefit of a rented car is that it will be new and therefore most likely more fuel efficient than your car. For the younger drivers out there be sure you check the age restrictions before renting a car. You don't want to show up to collect a car only to find that you are not eligible. Most Rental Car Companies will have the age restrictions outlined in the Terms and Conditions available for you to read online. In most states of Australia the renting age is 21years, however there is a surcharge added for this age. After 25years the surcharge is no longer applied. Some local independent companies will hire to younger drivers but they will add surcharges, so watch the price and make sure you know what it is before you go to collect the car.
Longer rental periods are normally cheaper, so look into the pricing for adding one or two days more to your hire, it could well mean that the daily rate goes down and you pay less. Some companies also have special deals for 3 day weekends. Just remember that if you take a vehicle for whatever number of days and bring it back early, don't expect a refund for the days not used. The rental company may recalculate the hire at the higher/shorter daily rate.
Insurances are often confusing and expensive. Some people will tell you that taking the excess reduction options for car hire is not necessary. Well that may be true and it is entirely up to you and how you feel about insurance. It is a profit area that the car hire people work on and encourage their staff to sell to the public even offering them incentives to do so.
When you collect a hire car take note of the fuel level before you drive away as the rental companies mainly have a policy that you must return the vehicle with the same amount of fuel that it had on collection. If it doesn't, they will charge you to refuel the car at a higher rate than the current price, as they will need to have one of the staff take the car for refuelling. This can be a potential profit centre for the car rental companies, so make sure you know their policy.
