3 Tips for Picking The Best Rental Car Out Of The Lot

For many of your travels around the world, you’ll likely want to rent a car so you can best explore the area. However, if you’ve rented a car before, you know just how difficult it can be to ensure that you get the type of car that you want and need for your trip. So to help ensure that you never leave the rental counter feeling disappointed, here are three tips for picking the best rental car out of the lot.

Try To Get There Early

To give you the best chance of getting a good, quality car, Bark M., a contributor to Road and Track, suggests that you try to get to the airport or rental counter as early in the day as you can. As the day wears on, more and more cars will be rented, giving you less and less of a choice the closer you get to closing time. So if you can, try to plan to rent your car earlier in the day. If you get there with enough inventory still left over, you may even be able to snag an upgrade or choose your own car from the lineup, which will help ensure that you get the type of car you were hoping to leave with.

GIve It A Good Once-Over Before Driving Off

Once you’ve picked the car that you think you want to be driving off, it’s vital that you give the outside of the vehicle a good once-over before you take off. When cars are rented by different people all the time, they may have caused some damage that you could be held responsible for if it wasn’t reported earlier. This could result in you having to pay for the damage if you don’t report it before you leave. In addition to looking for damage, Smarter Travel shares that you should also make sure the lights and signals work and that the odometer is accurately recorded on your paperwork. And if you notice anything that looks wrong or is missing, report that as well.

Look At More Than Just The Vehicle

Along with getting the right vehicle, you’ll also want to consider the other factors that come along with renting a car. According to Rachel B. Anderson, a contributor to USA Today, you should also take things like mileage allowance, pick-up and drop-off times and locations, as well as the cost of insurance into consideration when picking where you rent your car from. Depending on these variables, you may find it more helpful to rent your car from a different location, which means you’ll have all different cars to choose from.

If you’ll soon be renting a car from your travels, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you pick the right car from the right location.