Car Rental – Avoid Paying Too Much !!

We do recommend  car rental in order to make the most of your stay at Villa Carpe Diem.

Please do ensure that you follow some essential tips to avoid coming back with a bigger bill than  you expected!

Car rental companies often employ all sorts of tactics to cause you to pay more than you expected.

Such things as :-

  • Fuel Policy Stealth Charges

This can cost you as much as £80+ per tank.

Always be aware of the fuel policy and whenever possible select a full-to-full fuel policy. Ensuring you remember to fill up before you drop off your rental car. Leave plenty of time and plan your route via a Fuel station you will use to fill-up before you drop your car off at the Car Rental lot.

  • Collison damage Waiver Excess

If you have a bump or even a slight scratch, a big charge can be levied. CDW excess can be several thousand Pounds/Euros/Dollars !!

Take Hertz for example :-

Hertz CDW Excess charges – Nice, France

to eliminate this excess you’ll need Hertz Supercover and this is expensive as much as £35 extra per day!!

And even with Supercover you could end up with a big bill as  damage to the tyres, wheels, glass (including chipped windscreens, lights and mirrors), the roof or underbody of the car are still NOT covered!!

Hence the need to authorize a deductible from a credit card (debit cards are usually not accepted!!) in case you have such damage.

We recommend you always pay for third party excess protection insurance, it will be much, much cheaper; but you will have to claim back later any excess charges, a small price to pay for such a big saving!

It pays to plan ahead, so do your homework thoroughly on Car Rental and save £££/$$$/€€€!!

  • Always take a video and/or pictures of you rental car when you drop it off.

It’s not uncommon for damage to be found even though there was no damage incurred during your rental, which results a big bill being incurred days or weeks later. If you collected your car with damage, it must be noted on your car rental agreement and you should also take photos. Without pictures it’s your word against the rental company. They already have your credit card which you authorised them to make a CDW excess charge against; So you will have no recourse for compliant or chance of a fee reversal without photographic evidence!

  • Here’s another top tip.

Booking the car from the “Big Brand” local country web site (such as http://www.hertz.fr or http://www.avis.fr) instead of using  the local home country website. Do check the quoted rate against your home country rate first though and ensure you pay using a card that doesn’t levy a large commissions for foreign transactions!!

These tips and more can be found on Moneysavingexpert, especially useful for our British guests.