What should you look out for when renting a car abroad? Rental companies operate like mafia bosses: take whatever they can get.
Renting a car abroad is very simple these days – there is a website called rentalcars.com, set up by the people at Booking.com. Just like with Booking, you can compare providers and choose from various options. The prices are listed, so what could go wrong?
In our experience, a lot. To see how things work, we rented a family car via Rentalcars for a city trip to Milan. We picked up the car and returned it. A lot went wrong during this seemingly simple transaction. Because we only rented from one company, we are not mentioning the name of this company – but we are incorporating this into a number of tips.
– Rental car prices vary enormously. For our three-day trips, we could choose from prices between 400 and 1200 euros. 400 for a small family car, 1200 for a BMW. But even within the same car type, there are huge differences. We chose the Citroën C3 Aircross and selected the cheapest provider (490 euros), but if you choose the wrong provider, you can end up spending two to three times as much.
– Upon arrival at the airport, it can happen that the reserved model is not available. You have already paid, so you are entitled to that type of car. Pay close attention to how the rental company handles this. In our case, for the amount paid, we were offered a smaller car, but we could upgrade to the model we needed—and for which we had already paid—for a fee. So, basically, it is theft. How should you deal with this? In any case, make sure you have a copy of your contract with you in which everything is clearly described: duration, amount, car model.
– Preferably do not return the car to a different branch of the rental company, as they will charge you a lot of extra fees.
– Return the car with a (nearly) full tank so that you do not incur high fuel costs afterwards.
– You must pay a deposit when picking up the car. The rental company takes advantage of this by charging extra costs afterwards and deducting them from the amount you are supposed to receive back. Under no circumstances agree to anything you disagree with. If you are unable to resolve the issue at the time of return, you can file a complaint with the company afterwards. However, this is a laborious process. To get our overpaid money back, we had to track down the address of the rental company’s management, and they threatened to publish their actions. Within two days, we received notification that we would still receive the overpaid amount.
– Ensure that you can prove later what time you returned the car. Timekeeping can help with this, or for example, boarding passes if you are departing from an airport. If the returned car is checked in too late, too many hours or days will be charged.
– If you receive the invoice afterwards, carefully check whether all costs are justified. File a complaint if this is not the case. Send a copy of the complaint to a director or a public relations manager at the company; this will put pressure on them to treat you well.
That concludes our tips. We could go on for a while longer. The most important thing: trust no one; if they can, they will rip you off. Good luck and have a safe journey.
