In respect of car rental we heard about a lot of things, some of them are true, but some are false.
Look at the 10 most common car rental myths:
1. We have to pay the same amount of money, if we go there without a booking, as we have a reservation.
We should book a car before the journey. Not just because to save money, but if we do this, our car will be ready by the arrival time. In main season the prices are higher, especially, if we don’t book ahead. In this case there is little chance that the company still has free cars.
2. We should hire a car from big international companies (Avis, Hertz, Europcar).
We don’t blame anyone because they deem it the best idea. But many people don’t know that the brokerage firms usually combine the deals of big companies with small rental firms’ offer. So we directly reach the good offer of the smaller companies, while we give the same service than the bigger. Many companies have low awareness, but the service, that we offer, is the same as international companies’ services.
3. We have to pay for every little damage
This is a very common myths. There are many stories about a friend’s friend who had to pay so much for any damage caused to the rental car. In reality, of course depending of the car rental company, for small damages, like smaller pebbles, we don’t have to pay.
4. A full day will be charged for the remaining 1 hour, if we pick up the car at 23:00
This is fully false. The rental fee doesn’t start ticking at midnight, but when we pick up the car. We have to pay the rental costs for 24-hour intervals, which means, if we drop off the car 3 day later at 23:00, then we will have to pay 3 days, not 4.
5. The car rental companies’ offices are open 0-24.
Because airports are still open, why rental companies close their offices? This is a common misconception. Many people think, that they can pick up and drop off their rental car at any time without any costs. But this isn’t true. We should check ahead the business hours of the car rental companies, as well how much should we pay, if we pick up and drop off the car after business hours.
6. There is no difference between of the car rental companies.
Many costumers think, that the car rental service takes under the same conditions for all company. But this is not true. Every car rental company has an own GTC (general terms and conditions), in them there are similar sections, but we can find significant differences in them.
7. All right if we miss our flight and without any indication we appear to pick u pour car in the following day.
The car rental companies usually give a 4-hour interval compared with the time of the booking to pick up the rental car. If we give ahead our flights number to the company, they will monitored the events, is expected any delay.
However we don’t give our flight number or we travel with another flight, don’t assume that the car rental company (over a 4-hour interval) maintain the car for us. We must communicate ever changes to the company in time.
8. There is no difference between credit and debit card
Those car rental companies, where we can book and pay through the website, usually give a credit card. The credit bank helps the pre-authorization, and the block. When we return the rental car, the blocked amount almost immediately return to our card. This authorization isn’t a real transaction, they haven’t got transaction costs.
There are some type of debit cards, which don’t permit pre-authorization, so the companies take off the money (this has transaction fees). In the case of these types of debits card we usually have to wait 5-10 days for a refund.
9. We get the same model we booked.
Although the car size will be the same, there is no guarantee, that we will get the same model like we look for. The number of the doors and the seats will be the same, but other features will be different, but maybe this doesn’t mean any difference to the client. The car rental companies never give a promise for color or model. However we don’t get smaller, than we booked.
10. Car rental companies use rental contracts in foreign languages.
The rental contracts usually are in English, and there aren’t opportunity to translation. The staff of rental companies are fluent in English, so we can communicate easily with them.
Source: enjoycarhire.com
