Renting a Car

In America the rent-a-car industry is the biggest in the world. Renting a car here is not a luxury like in many other countries, but a usual thing.

I will never forget my first rent-a-car experience. I just picked up a free shuttle from the airport to the rent-a-car lot. By the way at every airport there are free buses or shuttles which take you to the rent-a-car companies. When we approached the rent-a-car companies I was totally amazed. Imagine a long street full with rental car lots on both sides. There were at least 7-8 different companies and in each of the parking lots hundreds of rental cars. I was amazed how these companies survive, and they do. Thousands and thousands of people rent cars daily all accross the US.

The main rent-a-car companies in the US are, but there are tens or hundreds of other smaller ones as well.

1. Budget
2. Hertz
3. Enterprise
4. Alamo
5. Advantage
6. Thrifty
7. Dollar
8. Avis

In order to rent a car you will need:
- a valid Drivers Licence (DL) and
- a credit or debit card. If you don't have an American DL you can use yours from your home country. The best is if you have an International DL, but it is not so critical I never had a problem to rent a car with a non-international DL.

Be sure you have a credit or at least a VISA or MasterCard debit card when you come to America, otherwise you won't be able to rent a car. Even with thousands of dollars in cash. The credit card also serves as identification, not just as payment method. I learned this the hard way, you don't have to do the same.

The rates on renting a car depend on the type and category of the car you want to rent. The cheapest cars from the compact category will cost you about $25 per day to rent, plus insurance, which is almost the same amount per day. So $50/day is a good estimate for that category.

Pleases note, that if you plan to rent a car reserve about $350 on your credit cards. This is a typical deposit rent-a-car companies require in order to process your order. Even if you rent the car for a single day, $350 will be reserved on your credit card, then after you returned the car the difference will be freed.

You have 2 choices refilling the car. When you take the rental car it is fully loaded with fuel. I suggest you to bring it back this way and buy your fuel. This is much cheaper than paying $25 for a tank of gas and leave the refill to the rent-a-car company. Be aware, that especially around airports the gas prices are higher, so try to refill the car not at the airport, but at 20-30 miles from it in the suburbs.