Car Rental Checklist: Five Things You Need to Know

Do you plan to tour in a rented car this spring or summer, either in the United States, Canada, or Europe? If so, here's my checklist.

Get the Right Size Vehicle

If you're touring single or as just a couple, even the smallest subcompact can accommodate two adults with reasonable comfort. But that's not the case if your party includes three or more adults or teenagers. Then, you have to think of backseat room, and far too many cars fail to pass muster. Forget about minis, subcompacts, and compacts; even some intermediate cars don't have enough rear-seat legroom for comfortable long-distance touring.

Air and Shift

Renting in the United States and Canada, you don't have to worry much about either an automatic transmission or air-conditioning. Because the resale market generally wants these features, almost all cars you rent here will have both. In fact, you typically find very few stick shifts, even if you prefer one.

In Europe, except on bottom-end subcompacts, air-conditioning has now also become the norm for France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and other southerly climes. Again, you should find an air-conditioned car without paying much premium, if any. Automatics, on the other hand, still command a stiff rate premium just about anywhere in Europe. You can cut your costs considerably if you brush up—or acquire—your stick shift skills. The only place I even consider an automatic is in the UK, where having the shift on the left of the driving position adds to the already-stressful complications of driving on the "wrong" side of the road.

GPS

GPS is becoming more widely available as an extra-cost option on both sides of the Atlantic. Although I don't use it much at home, I find it useful in unfamiliar areas. One worry: In Europe, the GPS you get with a rental car may have a database for only the one country where you rent the car. If you plan to drive in several countries, see if you can get appropriate databases.

Avoid the Worst Airport Charges

Lots of airports assess special fees and taxes on rental cars. Of course, states and cities levy such taxes, too, and taking a taxi to a downtown rental location can add more cost than just paying the extra tax. In a few cases, however, the airport tax is so onerous that you should consider renting from a city location. The worst offenders seem to be in Europe, where special airport (and rail station) fees and taxes can add as much as 20 percent to your total rental bill. If you're planning an extended rental, check out the difference between an airport and a downtown rental location, and if it's big, rent downtown. Keep in mind that you can return a downtown-rented car at an airport without extra charge.

Avoid Rip Off Insurance

Use a credit card to cover the risk of collision damage—most gold and platinum versions of MasterCard and Visa do, as do all American Express and Diners Club cards. That's a longstanding recommendation by just about every travel writer I know. Lately, however, I've modified that recommendation: When renting in the United States or Canada, try to use a card with primary collision coverage, not secondary. That includes all Diners Club cards but only a very few MasterCard and Visa cards. Normally AmEx provides only secondary coverage, but you can convert it to primary by enrolling in the extra-cost "Premium Car Rental Protection" program. Primary coverage means the card pays for damage without first trying to collect from your regular insurance—and therefore avoids occasionally difficult "it's the other guy's responsibility" arguments as well as avoiding a black mark to your claims record.

Rental agreements in Europe occasionally come out of the printer with all the insurance "accepts" boxes already checked. If you don't change them, your rental cost can easily more than double. Read the agreement carefully: Even if it's in a foreign language, you can usually decipher the difference between "yes" and "no."