The Car rentals smart checklist you need to have.

Hiring a rental car can be either great fun or an enormous expense and waste of time. Which outcome you experience is highly dependent on how you manage your side of the deal. It doesn’t mean things can’t go wrong but you will be greatly increasing your odds of success.

I have never been a fan of checklists. I used to think that outside of specialized fields like airplane maintenance engineers, checklists were for the anal retentive obsessive compulsive people that need a list and an order for everything. It turns out my assessment was true but it is also true that having a checklist of important steps and procedures can help you to make sense out of chaos and save yourself a lot of trouble in the bargain.

Hiring a rental car falls into the important stuff category. Why? You may ask. It is not like you actually buy the car. The truth is that in many ways you do. If you have an accident that is your fault and you total your vehicle and you don’t have the right insurance you could end up having to pay a large percentage of a brand new car. Even if you simply have a small accident, or someone does a hit and run on you, you could be responsible for the repairs or for a hefty deductible fee.

This is especially the case in developing nations. In these countries the insurance market is not as competitive and even large car rental companies have difficulties getting the insurance deals they get in more developed countries.

However even in developed countries hiring a vehicle does entail risks and it is well worth spending a few minutes checking you have everything you need and are doing everything you should.

Car rental checklist.

1) Do you have a current driver’s license? You might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the car rental representative with an out of date driver license or one that doesn’t apply to the country your are in, but if you have an accident it will be much harder to pull it over the cops that attend the scene.

2) Check what insurance your credit cards and umbrella insurance provides. This is very important because insurance is often the main expense when you hire a rental car. There is no point in doubling up your insurance, if your personal insurance covers it why buy it again. However it is important to know because these personal insurances often act as secondary insurance and only work if you have no other insurance cover.

3) Check the vehicle and take pictures. This is very important. Your little holiday, business trip or house removal could cost you much more than you bargained for if miss an existing scratch or bump and the car rental company charge you for it. Check for everything, one car rental company charged me for a missing number plate once.

Checking these three basic points, Insurance, condition of the vehicle and legal documents, could save you a lot of time, stress and money.

What to check and consider before you rent a car?

Have you ever rented or hired a vehicle? Hiring a rental car can be both useful and fun. In fact there are circumstances and settings where hiring a rental car is the most practical and sensible way to go. For example if you are planning to move and your friends don’t have a truck or large van, or you don’t want to trouble them, the best alternative is to hire a rental truck that is designed for the job at hand. In fact I have often hired large removal vans and done my whole move in one sweep as opposed to endless trips.

Renting a car also makes great sense when you need a specialized vehicle for a short period of time. When I worked as a manager in a construction company we hired all kinds of vehicles for short periods of times of for specific jobs. It wasn’t practical to always buy a digger, forklift or bulldozer when there was no assurance of a constant demand of jobs for them. Much better to simply hire the vehicle you need when you need it and let a specialized company maintain them.

However, as useful as car rentals are there are things we must consider before we hire one. Important points to keep in mind that could affect us and our company. Depending what choices we make with car rentals we could benefit from their use or  it might end up costing us a pretty penny.

The factors you must keep in mind before hiring a rental car that we will look at today are: 1) Do you really need to hire a rental vehicle? 2) Do you have the right type of insurance? 3) Are you getting a competitive price?

Do you really need to hire a rental vehicle?

Hiring a rental car as useful and practical as it might be can be very expensive. When going on business trips it is surprising how the costs add up with car rental fees, insurance, airport tax, gas, parking and the list goes on and on. If you feel you need to hire a vehicle take a few minutes to work out the real cost of hiring the car. Not only the base rental fee, but all the add-on expenses you can’t really avoid. Then compare this price with alternative transport methods. If you are on business, getting a taxi might save you time and money. Airports and other transport hubs often have excellent connection with other popular places. Trying an alternative route might save you money and time. When I have travelled I actually look into means of transport that allow me to rest or sleep to make up for lost sleep or to charge up batteries for the work or fun ahead.

Do you have the right insurance?

Knowing if you have the right insurance is not easy with so many insurance types on offer and the uncertainty of what actually might happen.

Are you getting  a competitive price?

In order o make sure you are getting a good price compare with other companies online by asking for as many auto car rental quotes as possible.