How to Make Sure You Don’t End Up Paying Double for Your Rental Car

[James Williams]

Renting a car for your vacation can be a stressful experience. Even if you get a good deal, you might worry about arriving past the company’s office hours or them running out of vehicles, giving your preferred car to another customer or aggressively trying to sell you upgrades. After your vacation, you might still be anxious about being charged for damages you were not responsible for or outright being ripped off with fake claims of damages or traffic violations.

Here are some tips to help you avoid paying extra when renting a car.

1. Stick to the basic package

Car rental companies profit by selling extras, especially costly excess insurance. The rental price typically covers a major crash or total wreck but not the excess. If the vehicle you rented gets damaged or stolen, you will be charged an excess or collision damage fee, whether or not the damage was your fault.

Because of this, the firm will usually up sell you their excess insurance. There are several types — there is theft waiver, collision damage waiver, windscreen and tire coverage, among others — and they can be quite expensive.

Most car hire companies offer collision damage waiver, which lowers or eliminates the amount you have to pay if the rental car gets damaged. This add-on, however, is not just pricey, but does not include all costs. You will still have to pay for damages to the tires, the under body, and the windows.

It is better to just buy an annual car hire excess insurance policy from a third party. Mine costs $79.90 for Europe.

If you don’t avail of the rental company’s insurance, you will still be charged for the excess but you can get a refund when you return. There is a downside, though: the firm might block a substantial amount on your card — as much as $1,500 or more — while you have the vehicle, so check to see that your card can handle the credit.

2. Stick to just one driver if possible

According to the survey, you usually pay an extra £48 per week for an additional driver.

3. Skip the satnav

Satnav adds £72 a week to your bill. A better alternative is to just use a free mobile app such as  Waze to have access to offline maps of more than a hundred countries.

4. Use your own car seats and booster seats

Most companies will charge you around £51, but you might end up paying even more. Hertz, for example, charged £110 in Milan and £82 in Barcelona.

5. Thoroughly inspect the rental car

Make a note of all the car’s existing scratches, dents, and other blemishes on your agreement. Take videos and pictures of the car as additional proof. Check the spare tire and list down the mileage. If the vehicle is supposed to have a full tank of fuel, make sure that it really does. After you have listed all the vehicle’s existing issues, have the rental company’s staff sign it and upon returning the car, ask the personnel to inspect the vehicle and sign to confirm that there are no damages incurred while the car was with you.

6. Don’t throw away the paperwork

Keep the paperwork on hand even if everything went smoothly during the rental period. Then check your credit card records in the next several weeks to make sure only the agreed upon amount is charged and that there are no unexpected charges.