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Car Hire In Australia: How To Find The Best Deals

If you are planning to drive in Australia, you will need a rental car, unless you are going on a tour or have friends who own a car and drive with you around the country. I recommend you start your research a good time ahead to save money on car hire in Australia.

A Guide to Car Hire in Australia
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Cheapest Car Hire in Australia: Tips and Tricks

These are my best tips and tricks you need to get the cheapest car rentals for any Australian Road Trip:

  1. Use a rental car comparison site
    Instead of using different car rentals sites. A comparison site gives you a broad more reliable idea of what’s available and compares real-time prices and features among car hire companies. I highly recommend comparing and booking car-hire from a well-trusted comparison site.
  2. Prefer a trusted Australian car rental comparison site
    They usually list a large pool of car rental companies and use many local companies as well as the most established international ones. On top of that, they have the local knowledge that is hard to beat from a global comparison site.
  3. Use the same pickup and drop off location
    I know it’s not so easy to get this done as Australia is a big country. If you can drive in a loop back to the pick-up site, this will save you at least 300 Dollars, as one-way car hire is more costly.
  4. Book all car rental bookings before arriving in Australia
    Booking a car in advance usually gives you access to the lowest car rental prices. You can always modify your car reservation online at any time with no extra cost or cancellation fee.
  5. Be sure there is no fee for booking a car rental
    This is a crucial aspect when booking car rentals online. It gives you plenty of freedom to modify your booking whenever you need to change your plans without losing money.

How to get the best car rental deals in Australia

There are many car rental comparison websites online. I have tried a few, and since 2011 I have been using the same website: DriveNow, which is my favourite site for hiring a car in Australia.

DriveNow is the biggest and most trusted site for hiring a car in Australia and New Zealand. It offers a wide choice of car rental suppliers and vehicles. And it does deliver real-time updated results with the best deals available.

You can compare results from over 10 car rental companies, among these they list: Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Kiddy by Europcar, Enterprise, Thrifty, Budget, Firefly, Redspot.

Searching and Booking Car Rentals with DriveNow

You can start from the homepage of  DriveNow and enter dates and locations for pick up and drop off. With a few seconds, you get a full page of search results from over 1250 locations all over Australia.

Benefits of using DriveNow to book a car hire in Australia

There are many advantages if you use DriveNow to book your car rental in Australia. Here is a list of them:

  1. No Deposit for Car Rentals
    This means that you don’t need to give credit card details to be able to make a car reservation. In 95% of cases, you don’t have to pay a deposit. There are, however, some car companies that require a small deposit. You will be notified before booking the car of this, and it varies between 5-10%
    of the price.
  2. Free Cancellation and Free Changes
    Should you wish to cancel your booking for good or amend dates or vehicles of an existing booking, you can do it as many times as you wish with no charge.
  3. Customer Service before booking
    If you have questions while searching or comparing car prices, you can use the convenient online chat and get doubts or queries answered. This is a free service offered by DriveNow.

My Tip: If you can, choose a car company that does not require a deposit, while you always get a refund in case of cancellation, you still have a higher level of flexibility.

Things to Know about Rental Cars in Australia

How much does a car rental cost for travelling in Australia? Hiring a car is much cheaper than in other countries around the world. If you book early, you can spend as little as 25-40 dollars a day. Depending on the type of vehicle you choose, prices vary a lot. The smaller the car, the lowest the price. Sometimes it can be cheaper to book a larger car than a smaller, depending on the availability and the demand for that specific type of vehicle. Also, 4WD-vans are more expensive, and they may range between 65-90 dollars per day.

All prices you get from the search results include all taxes, fees, and basic car insurance. We recommend getting extra car insurance to have incidents and personal liability covered. On this page, you can check all about Travel Insurance for Australia.

What you need to check before booking a car rental for a road trip

Once you have chosen the car and are ready to move on and book your car rental for your adventure, you should check all these details:

  • Price and Conditions.
    They should be all visible and clear on one page.
  • All Car Rental Company Details
    On your booking page, you have a wrap-up of your car rental with the address of the company and the pick-up location, with office time and phone number, and an email address. You can get in touch with them as often as you like to book any adds-on or to clarify details of pick-up, timing, extensions and anything else.
  • Payment of Car Rental
    Payment is best with a credit card or debit card (if the name of the owner is on the card). Please be sure you have both with you, and some car rental companies do not accept overseas debit cards, so you’d better have a spare credit card to pay for your rental cars in Australia.
  • Requirements for driving in Australia
    You need a valid driving license. You can hire a car with a US license, and all English license is valid for driving in Australia. For all other countries, you will need an international license that you can obtain from your local driving license officers.
  • Your Car Rental Reservation can be modified
    Your booking can be changed at no charge. You can do it as long as you do it before the arranged pick-up time. Should you like to change your booking, you can do it with no charge, but the new price may change and will reflect the current availability.
  • Cancellation with no Fee
    You can also cancel before the pick-up day and with no charge.

What if you want to hire a campervan in Australia

DriveNow also offers campervan rentals in Australia as well as in New Zealand.

Click on this link to learn more about Campervan Rentals in Australia.

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A Guide about Car Hire in Australia
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