People are fond of completely different vacation styles: while some prefer to strategically limit the movements to the walkway from a beach to a hotel bar, others would be happy to ride thousands of miles in a week\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
Experienced travelers agree that renting a car is one of the best ways to get a true hands-on experience in a different\u00a0country. However, there are some pitfalls. Since the holiday season is upon us, we prepared a list of simple tips to help you minimize risks when renting a car abroad.<\/p>\n
Choosing a rental company can be as easy as it can be challenging. Renowned travel websites and aggregators offer the best tools to compare prices and, at the same time, see rental company\u2019s average score based on customer feedback.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s not enough to put trust solely in a high score and a renowned brand name. The majority of large rental companies operate based on the franchisee system. If you once were completely happy with the quality of service at the Best Cars Ever office in Germany, don\u2019t expect the same level of quality at a Sicilian branch of the same company. You\u2019re better off relying on feedback of the company\u2019s service in the\u00a0region you are traveling to.<\/p>\n
In their effort to have the most appealing price tags, cunning rental companies employ a lot of tricks, which at times can\u00a0result in a much higher price than previously announced.<\/p>\n
One of the most widely used approaches is playing with the gas. As a rule, in Western countries you rent a car with a full tank and have to return it with a full tank as well. If you don\u2019t\u00a0have a chance to drive to a gas station on the way back (which is quite often the case when you rent a car in the center of a large city), then you have to pay for that. Of course, this includes a huge surcharge only limited by the owner\u2019s good will.<\/p>\n
In Eastern countries, though, the opposite approach is applied: you get a car with a very modest amount of gas in the tank, enough for a short ride to the nearest gas station, and you have to return the car with a tank as empty as before. Quite understandably, it is hard to forethought your last refueling precisely, so you\u2019d most probably give away several liters of gas to the rental service. It\u2019s a small yet unpleasant situation.<\/p>\n
Some rental services have surcharges for mileage above the set limit, for returning a car at a different rental site, or for cross-border traveling (even in European Union, where there are no borders de-facto). All of these details have to be considered when calculating the total cost. It may well be that after all corrections are applied, even the most \u2018affordable\u2019 option would not be desirable.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., some car rentals do not include insurance (not to mention the taxes, which are always applied only after the subtotal is calculated). And it\u2019s a big deal: in some cases, insurance payments \u00a0surmount the rental costs themselves.<\/p>\n
By the way, let\u2019s talk about insurance. Choosing a right insurance plan is paramount. In the majority of cases, only basic liability insurance and straight deductible insurance of, for example, $1,000, are included into your plan.<\/p>\n
So, if due to damage the repair costs totaled $2,000, you\u2019d pay half of it and no more for sure. The last part is important, because you won\u2019t be able to influence the estimation of inflicted damage costs as you would\u00a0back home. The basic insurance does not cover the damage inflicted onto windshields, tires, roof and bottom, and has many exceptions which are, as usual, put in fine print at the bottom of the rental agreement.<\/p>\n
\n\"Five lessons I\u2019ve learned from having my credit card hacked\" https:\/\/t.co\/TQHBbK0Oqw<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Eugene Kaspersky (@e_kaspersky) November 13, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n