Process of Renting a Car

Car rental is a pretty standard process. No matter which car rental company you choose, you will go through the same basic procedures to rent a car. Renting a car starts with making reservations. Once you have chosen a car rental company, you will call the company to make your reservations. Tell them the day you need to start renting the car and the day you will be returning it to them. Each day you have the car will be a charge, even if you have it for only a couple of hours, so you need to think about these arrangements as you book your rental car.

You will have to make rental car reservations with a credit card. There are two reasons for this. First, if you do not end up picking up the car, you will be charged a fee. Also, if you damage the car or do not hold up your end of the rental agreement, they will charge your credit card for damages. This saves them from losing thousands of dollars should you total the car or decide to drive off with it. If you do not have a credit card, you will need to get one in order to rent a car.

The day you are renting your car you will come to the car rental company’s office. In the case of airport car rental, this may be nothing more than a counter at the airport. You will present your driver’s license and credit card to the company. Many times they will run a quick credit check, and then they will hand you the keys to your car. The car will have a full tank of gas, and you will be able to drive away and enjoy your vacation. When you are done, you will return the rental car and keys to the location you rented the car from. Some national rental car companies will allow you to return cars at other locations, but this is not always the case. Remember to return the car with a full tank of gas, otherwise you will be charged a high price for the fuel the car rental company puts in the car.