Holiday car rentals, the risks you might forget.
Hiring a rental car can be both great fun and a time saver when you are travelling away from home. I know of friends that also hire a rental car when they are travelling long distances to save on maintenance on their own car and share the expense with all the friends that are going on holiday. This makes special sense when the car rental is big enough for everyone to fit in one car and share with the gas. Another great advantage with car rentals is the time you save. Having a rental car waiting for you at the airport allows you to get on with your holiday straight away. However when you are going backpacking style and you are looking for bus combinations the shortest trip can take all day. Of course there is also beauty in the backpacking style. I enjoy both, and both have their place in holiday transportation styles. These are the good points of car rentals, the problem is that there are also risks that you might be forgetting. This article aims to spell out some dangers with car rentals you can avoid and might not have thought about.
The insurance danger.
With car rentals you can easily spend too much or too little on your insurance. It is quite a nightmare when you find yourself in a foreign land where you don’t understand the language or the custom in an accident where you seem to be at fault. Not having the right insurance can be a real pain in the posterior or a financial disaster for your holidays and family economy.
A little research is required to know how much insurance you need. Car rentals will get you to feel you need to insurance for everything from your luggage to migraines. A balance is required. Make sure you are insured for damage to the car in case of an accident. Check for deductibles, in many countries the deductibles are so large you risk paying out some serious cash before the insurance kicks in.
The theft danger.
In many countries car theft has become an art form and thieves specialize on naive tourists driving their spanking new SUV straight from the airport. Using all kind of tricks they will get you to stop, they will then proceed to take control of you and your rental car. With some luck they will only want to play around with the car rental.
Follow advice from your embassy and locals. Beware of driving at night, in some countries it really isn’t advisable.
Finally make sure you take a good look at the state of your car before you drive away from the car rental office. It is easy to be so excited with getting on with your trip that you forget to check the bodywork dents and scratches report. Taking pictures is a great idea to prove damage was not caused by you during the time you hired the car rental.