Most of the times there are around 15-30 different suppliers at a single airport. Each of them has different rental conditions and even the same companies can have different deals for the same car class. More often than not you will have hidden fees when choosing the lowest priced offers. So how do we evaluate which deal in the end is the cheapest one?

Customers typically give the cheapest car rental companies the worst ratings, and we recommend you avoid them. Their business model revolves around extra charges and enormous full insurance costs if you do not meet their very specific requirements. On the other hand, there are usually 4-6 companies with amazing review scores. However, they are usually far more expensive than your average company on the market. We made a quick guide on how to select a good offer without overpaying for premium brands.

Usually you will see a rating box like this

You can further expand the ratings to see how well the rental company performs in specific areas

Our advice is to pay attention to the following factors:
1) Agent helpfulness – if any problems occur during the pick-up, the rental car agent is your best friend to get you through the issues. This is also an indicator of how hard the rental company will try to sell you their premium insurance and how they will treat you if you refuse it.
2) Car condition – any car breakages during holidays are a big nuisance and a huge time waste. Make sure to pay attention at this rating.
3) Pick-up speed – this can be a tricky one, because queues depends on seasonality and sales. We recommend checking if the selected company has best prices over different car categories in order to get an idea of how busy it will be during your pick-up times.

We find other rating factors easily solvable and less impactful. For example, if ‘ease of finding’ scores poorly, you should check the company’s location on Google Maps or their website for instructions.. If that information is not available – a quick phone call or an email can answer your questions.

Autorentwiz tip: Sometimes it is worth checking out car rental companies with lesser ratings. Prioritize companies where Agent Helpfulness, Car Condition, and Pick-up Speed exceed 8, and aim for scores above 8.5.

Make sure to compare final price of the offers. After you select your car rental destination, pick up and drop off times you will see a list of offers and their prices. Different insurance rates apply to each offer, and only selecting the offer reveals the true price. Frequently, people fall for lower prices, only to pay more due to hidden fees at the counter. Make sure to message us if you would like us to give you a second opinion on the offer.

Autorentwiz highly recommends using Discovercars to book your rental car. They take great care of their suppliers and customers and happy suppliers = happy customers! You will also find fantastic full coverage which we advice to add to your booking. Full coverage directly from a rental company is usually 2-4 times more expensive.

Disclosure: I (Simas, founder of Autorentwiz) worked with Discovercars as a car rental supplier with ADCRent. They have been the most fantastic partner out of all the platforms we were working with. Autorentwiz earns a small commission at no additional cost to you if you book via our affiliate link. I also encourage messaging us to get advice or a personal offer tailored to your needs. We are always happy to consult you regarding any car rental questions.

Some car rental deals can come with zero deposit offers and some might have a deposit of 2000 EUR or USD. Also, in most cases rental companies accept only a credit card in the name of the main driver in the confirmation email. The card must be issued by a bank and it must be a Visa, Mastercard or AMEX card. It cannot be stored on your phone as it must go into a card reader for the rental company to authorise the deposit.

You can use debit cards at some car rental companies, but always verify the rental conditions for their requirements.

In most cases the final price of such deal will be much higher than other alternatives.

Car categories

Usually you will see this order Mini -> Economy -> Compact -> Intermediate -> Standard -> Full-Size when it comes to choosing a car. The prices will also increase in this order, however, sometimes you can have great deals on Economy or Compact car classes which end up costing less than a Mini car. We advice you to not limit yourself to one category, but expand your categories and see if you can grab a discounted deal for a higher class car than you initially intended to get.

Are you interested in getting an offer from Autorentwiz? Message us here to start a chat with one of our car rental experts.

Simas Krasaitis

Hello Dear Reader! 🙂 I am a car rental expert and a founder of Autorentwiz! Previously I worked as a head of car rental at ADCRent in Lithuania. I created Autorentwiz to share my knowledge about car rental and to help you find your next best car rent deal!