Travel tips for car rental
Getting around is obviously a key challenge when arranging your own travels. For some years, we always rented a car, which appeared to be easier. However, some cities can be a bit challenging with respect to cars. In this article, I will summarize about 10 years of experience with car rental in Europe and North America.
Rental vs Uber/Taxis vs public transport
In my view, you need to consider two factors when deciding on a mode of transportation — cost and convenience. I have made a few mistakes, where it would have been cheaper and more convenient to NOT have a rental car.
Is rental cheaper?
Mostly it isn’t. It can be if you are traveling in a group of four or more. For example, if the airport is far from the hotel, taxi fares are high, and rental costs are not outrageous.
Examples and considerations:
- In Los Angeles 2019, the hotel only had valet parking at 42 USD per day. We were only on the beach those days.
- In Iceland 2023, we had a one-night stopover. The airport is 45–50 minutes from Reykjavik and a taxi costs around 140 USD one way. Car rental is ridiculously expensive in Iceland at around 450–500 USD per day. Hence, two times an expensive taxi was about half of the car rent. Airport bus was 27 EUR…
