car hire in Bangkok : best tricks

If you haven’t already, consider joining your car rental company’s loyalty program when you book. These vary by company, but most of them are free and entitle you to certain privileges when picking up your vehicle; your information will be on file ahead of time, allowing you to jump into the car and go rather than standing in a long line or filling out paperwork. You could also be eligible for special discounts or free upgrades.

The newest way to save on rental cars is to hook up with a car share service. If you live near a major city or you’re a frequent renter, you may save money by joining a car share such as Zipcar.

Decline the rental insurance – you may already be covered.

Chances are very good that your home auto insurance policy covers rentals that you drive. While the rental agent may try and pressure you into purchasing additional coverage, this is often unnecessary and redundant to your existing coverage. Just make sure to check your policy before assuming that you’re covered.

If you don’t own a car, or if your home policy doesn’t cover rentals, you may still have coverage. Extra info on rent a car in Malaga

Take Reviews With a Grain of Salt

I always do my research on car rental companies and read reviews of the exact branch. I have to note that, like hotel reviews, I take many reviews with a grain of salt. Reviewers tend to get pissed off easily and many times it’s for circumstances that could have easily been avoided or are kinda “duh” situations. They didn’t fill up their fuel when they returned the car, or their rented GPS has an upcharge, they got charged for tolls. All those reviews I disregard when picking a car rental company to go with. It’s also more likely to have some write a bad review if they’re upset, rather a good with if they had a pleasant experience.

The ones I do take note of concern about customer service, cleanliness, and quality of cars, or branches tendency to overbill and randomly charge your credit card. Again, do your research before booking. While I’ve never seen a rental agency with perfect reviews I have definitely seen the difference between terribly rated places and 4+ stars.

Find coupons and save big.

Before you put forth any cash for your rental car, do some coupon sleuthing for codes and deals you can apply to your total at checkout. Even if you already have discounts a loyalty or frequent flyer program, you can likely combine codes to double down on your savings. Sometimes you can save up to 50 percent off if you find the right code. If you don’t feel like hunting yourself, check out our wide variety of car rental coupons:

Hertz
Avis
Budget
National
Dollar
Enterprise
Sixt
Payless Car
Zipcar Read more on rent a car in Bangkok

When you book your rental car, the deal will come with a specific fuel policy. For example, the most common is ‘Full to Full’, which means you refill the tank before you take the car back. Another is ‘Full to Empty’, which means you pay for a tank of fuel at the counter and can return your car as empty as you like.

When you arrive to pick up your car, the rental counter staff may offer you a different fuel policy. If you’re booking your car on the spot, you’ll be offered different fuel policies to choose from.
Tips for avoiding fuel policy trickery

Fuel policies each have their pros and cons, but in general, Full to Full is a fair policy. So if you have that, there may not be any benefit to changing it.
If you booked online, check your car’s fuel policy before you get to the counter. That way you’ll be confident whether or not it’s right for you.

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