Renting a car is a much better option than using public transport to travel in a foreign country. When you are exploring the various new cities and towns in a new country, the only way to fully enjoy their beauty and adventure is by traveling in a car of your own. That is why car rentals are one of the most popular traveling options for tourists when they visit a foreign country.
According to https://adremlimburg.nl/, one of the most reliable car rental providers in Europe, hiring a car rental gives you the freedom to travel that public transport can’t. However, many people aren’t used to hiring car rentals and consequently make several mistakes when renting one.
No tourist would want that to happen, not especially if these mistakes have the potential of costing them hundreds and thousands of dollars and a lot of time. To ensure that doesn’t happen, in this article we are going to list several mistakes that you should avoid at all costs when you are renting a car in a foreign country. Read the article till the end so that you don’t miss out on crucial details.
1. Not taking insurance on your foreign car rental
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One of the most common rookie mistakes that most people are guilty of is not having adequate car rental insurance on their vehicles before renting them out. This can have serious consequences as many foreign car rental companies often use a “you did this” tactic to fake car damage and extort money from you.
If you fall for this scam, it could mean paying up a serious amount of cash in fines and unnecessary charges. However, with a car rental insurance backing you, not only do you have the ability to cover most damage costs that you incur on your rental car but also speak against any damage accusations that a car rental company may do.
Car rental insurance is also extremely easy to avail. All you need to do is get a travel credit card that has insurance options and use it for your car rental. However, please ensure that the travel credit card has insurance that is applicable for the country you are going in as many credit cards don’t support international insurance.
2. Not checking the type of transmission in your car rental
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People who are used to driving with manual transmissions would probably be okay if they go to a foreign country, rent a car, and get one that has automatic transmission in it. While it takes a bit of time, going from manual to automatic doesn’t take too much practice or skill.
The problem arises when tourists from developed countries who are used to driving cars with automatic transmissions, arrive in a developing country and rent a car and find out that the car actually has manual transmission in it. It is extremely hard for automatic transmission users to learn manual transmission control – not to mention that you are on limited time and funds when you go out to a foreign country.
To ensure you don’t get unexpected surprises like this, check out what kind of cars you can get in the average car rental company of the country you are going to visit. This will help you get ready for manual transmissions beforehand if the foreign country uses manual cars regularly. Alternatively, you can also try booking the car rental way advance to ensure that you get a rare automatic car for your car rental.
3. Booking only when you arrive in the country
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To build upon what we said in our last point, you should never book your car late. The last thing you want is to be stuck with a broken rundown car that has poor mileage and an unknown transmission control – all because you rented the car after you arrived in the country.
Most people book car rentals after they arrive in a country and not before, just to be on the safer side of things. The problem is, doing this can land you in the worst car rental deals. As with flights and hotel tickets, the earlier you book the better prices you will get with your car rental.
This way you can save a lot of money that could have otherwise been easily wasted on a more expensive option.
4. Booking the car rental in a small town
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Many tourists don’t know about this but the smaller a town is, the more it is going to charge you for car rentals. Since cars and vehicles are often rare in the rural parts of a foreign country, rentals in these parts are often priced much higher than what you would get if you booked it in a well-developed or urban area.
We strongly suggest that you don’t book a car in a small town and instead do so at the nearest rental agency from the airport you are arriving through. Booking in developed parts of a foreign country can land you much better and affordable deals than what you would get if you had booked in the more rural parts instead.
5. Not checking the age restriction of car rentals of the country
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Another grave mistake that many tourists are guilty of, especially the younger ones, is not checking the age restrictions and laws of the country they are visiting to and hiring a car rental anyway. In many cases, actions such as these can land you in straight jail because the minimum age limit to drive vehicles ranges from country to country.
Not every country has the same age limit to drive a car and even if you are sufficiently old to drive cars in your country, it doesn’t mean you’d get to do the same in any other foreign country around the world. Most people whose age falls between the range of 25 to 60 are allowed to drive rental cars without any problem.
However, you should still check about the foreign country and see what policies they have for car rentals and car rental companies.
Conclusion
There are several mistakes out there that you should avoid at all costs when you are renting a car in a foreign country. We hope this article was very insightful for you and if it was, please consider following our website for regular updates as it will help us out immensely.
