It will not take much effort to find stories of car rental disaster. Only a few searches online and you will see them. In fact, research indicates that some rental companies have a bad reputation than others. Online search will bring up stories of people who are charged for insurance they did not want or be charged for damage that they do not cause, the car is not served when they mature and even bumper cars as being driven down the road.

Although it is impossible to completely avoid the bad experience, take a few precautions will keep the chance of having your very own car rental horror story minimum.

First goal: Successfully book your car hire
It should be easy, but for many it is confusing quest price, type of car and the fine print. These measures should help alleviate confusion.

Book well in advance
Be sure to book well in advance, car rental prices tend to rise closer you are to take a date, not down. Price worked on simple supply and demand system, they go up as availability goes down. If you are traveling to Europe and need an automatic car you will need to book months in advance to secure one, especially in Italy where they are very rare. If you are traveling during the holidays, Christmas and Easter in particular, make reservations three months ahead is ideal. This way you will have the best chance to get a car with normal prices. After this point only the price starts to rise. Most car rental companies sell for the holidays, so many tourists panic in recent weeks before a major holiday as they struggle to secure the car. Those lucky enough to find a car will be forced to pay a very high price, three or four times the normal level. Do not be one of those people. Summer is also the peak period to prepare. Many locations have low or no availability during the summer so if you book last minute you may have trouble finding a good price and type of car you want.

Make rental car reservations
To start making a list of the basics: where and when you want to take the car and where and when you want to bring back, what car size you need and you want automatic or manual gear box. These details are especially important if you contact the various rental companies to get a quote via email. Make sure you give them to avoid unnecessary emails. Also do a little research on the various rental companies and avoid the worst offenders even if they offer the cheapest prices. There is no rental company is perfect so you will just have to narrow your choices.

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