Car Rental - Australia

davidcollins01

Hi All. I'm looking to rent a car in Australia driving from Sydney to Brisbane over 6 days. Its starting to get a bit frustrating looking for a car rental company that is totally transparent with all of their charges and T&Cs.

Can anyone suggest a company that shows all waivers, young driver charges (i'm 24), local taxes and one way rental costs? If not does anyone have a rough idea of how much this adds to the half-baked cost the websites seem to provide?

Many thanks
DC

richardw

davidcollins01 wrote: »

Its starting to get a bit frustrating looking for a car rental company that is totally transparent with all of their charges and T&Cs.
DC

IMHO none are transparent, you just have to search and check

kennyboy66_2

richardw wrote: »

IMHO none are transparent, you just have to search and check

Whilst not usually the cheapest, if you join the British Airways executive club (its free) you can get one way rentals with unlimited kms, no airport / one way surcharge with Avis. They upgrade you 1 cat, so choose slightly smaller than you want.

Can't help you on the under 25 surcharge (there will beone) & there will be a few local taxes (approx 10%) to add. A rate may be about $340 before the under 25 bit. The crunch is always the excess (generally $3000). If you want to reduce this to $300 you could pay about $28 per day - increasing the real rate by 50%. Depends on how confident you are of avoiding a smash.

davidcollins01

Thanks both, i had a feeling they wouldnt be as easy as $x,$y,$z. I was going to add on the waivers anyway just as a bit of security. I dont mind paying the extra each day for things like that, as long as they're apparent beforehand.

I suppose it seems like a few emails to each of the local agents are required just to clarify things

ta
DC

tummy_tank

We have used http://www.bayswatercarrental.com.au/ before with no problems. Unfortunately not been under 25 in recent years!!!
Found them to be really good, recommended on this site and our friends in Oz swear by them for family who visit. Hope this might help.

TomsMom

We have used Salamanda two or three times. We are not in your age group but for us they were the cheapest and put us with well known rental companies with good quality cars and service. It was cheaper doing it through them than dealing direct with the rental company (Budget/Thrifty, etc). If there are any queries they are quick to reply by e-mail and quick to re-quote when we changed our minds over something. Ours were mainly one way rentals, even touring Oz and then flying to NZ and picking up a car there.

If you have any queries about terms and conditions after they have quoted you, I'm sure they will clarify quickly by e-mail.

laffer

You could thrifty. https://www.thrifty.com.au

gerrynimo

Hi,

We're going to Australia in 6 weeks too, and we have booked all our car hires with www.rentnewcars.com.au
We booked a 4WD in Alice Springs, and a 4WD between Sydney - Melbourne, and Melbourne - Adelaide.

Found them to be cheaper than to book directly with the hire companies at the airport, and they give unlimited km's!
They deal mainly with Thrifty and Europcar.

dzug1

The majors tend not to charge one way fees between major cities in Australia, if it helps.

davidcollins01

Rentnewcars seems to be quite competitive. £180 for the time i want, instead of £245 that i've had from elsewhere!

I shall check all the links you have put, it is much appreciated

ta
DC