How do I hire a car abroad without being stung?

The headline hire price is rarely what you pay. The money is made at the desk, on excess waivers sold under time pressure, on fuel policies designed to be lost, and on damage charged against a deposit you have already handed over. All of it is preventable, and almost all of the prevention happens before you arrive.

Safety

What you'll need

• Driving licence for every driver
• A credit card in the main driver's name
• Standalone excess insurance policy (optional)
• A phone for photographs

Step by step

1. Check what documents that country requires from a UK driver.Licence, and possibly a licence check code or an international permit depending on the country and the company. Generate any check code close to the pick-up date, as they expire.
2. Buy standalone excess insurance before you travel.It is typically a fraction of the price of the waiver sold at the desk. Check it covers that country, the vehicle type, and the parts hire companies commonly exclude — tyres, glass, roof and underside.
3. Take a credit card in the main driver's name.Most companies will not release a car without one and will not accept a debit card or a card in another name for the deposit. The hold can be a four-figure sum, so make sure the limit accommodates it.
4. Choose full-to-full fuel and refuse anything else.Full-to-full means you return it as you got it. Full-to-empty and pre-purchase policies charge a premium rate for a tank and give nothing back for what you do not use.
5. Add every driver formally.An unregistered driver invalidates the cover entirely. If someone might drive, add them and pay the additional driver fee — it is far cheaper than the alternative.
6. Inspect and record the car before moving it.Slow video all the way round in good light, then photographs of every existing mark, the wheels and alloys, the windscreen, the roof, the interior, the fuel gauge and the mileage. Include a shot showing the date. Roof and underside damage is the classic charge because nobody photographs them.
7. Make sure existing damage is written on the form.Get the agent to record anything not already marked, and take a photograph of the signed form. Your photographs are evidence; their form is the contract.
8. Check the equipment and the paperwork in the car.Warning triangle, vests, spare or repair kit, and the insurance and registration documents. In many countries the legally required equipment is your responsibility even in a hire car.
9. Ask about tolls, emission zone permits and cross-border rules.Whether the car has a toll transponder and how it is billed, whether it carries the relevant city permits, and whether you are permitted to take it into another country at all. Unauthorised border crossing voids the cover.
10. Return it in daylight, with fuel, and get it checked in front of you.Photograph and video it again at return, including the fuel gauge and mileage, and ask for written confirmation that it was returned undamaged. Keep the fuel receipt from the nearest station.
11. Watch the card for the deposit release and any later charge.Deposits can take weeks to release. Charges appearing afterwards should be challenged with your photographs, and disputed with the card provider if the company will not engage.

Tips

• Book with a company that has a desk in the terminal if you land late. Off-site shuttle operators with limited hours are where a delayed flight becomes no car at all.
• Decline the upgrade offered at the desk unless you want it. It is where a substantial part of the desk's revenue comes from.
• Check the vehicle category, not the specific model. 'Or similar' means you may get something appreciably smaller than the photograph.

Common mistakes

• Buying excess waiver at the desk — It is typically several times the price of an equivalent standalone policy bought in advance, and it is sold under time pressure at the end of a journey.
• Driving away without photographing the car — Without your own dated evidence you have no answer to a damage charge taken from the deposit, and roof, wheel and underside damage is what gets charged.
• Accepting a pre-purchased fuel tank — You pay a premium rate for a full tank and are refunded nothing for what is left. Full-to-full is the only policy that cannot cost you extra.

Questions people ask