These days, it seems like our travel options are virtually unlimited. We land at the airport at some city halfway across the globe and can choose right at the airport between traditional limosine, app-based limosine, rideshare (often even three or four different rideshare apps besides the almost ubiquitous Uber), traditional taxis (maybe more than one type, for example, Singapore has five different options here), buses, trains, etc. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see a car-size drone waiting for us one of these days!
With all these options, we tend to forget that most of the time we tended to get to the airport and rent cars back in the good old days, like even 6-7 years ago this was still a thing. And it really still is a thing, it’s just not considered as often.
Renting a car can be a brilliant time and money saving move, or the worst decision of your life. A little preliminary research is in order here, which should be standard for every time you travel anyways.
Firstly, nobody should just show up at the rental car counter at an airport and expect to get a good deal. Reserve your car the same time you reserve your flight. It’s actually advisable in some cases to plan your flights and flight times around cheap car rentals. It’s amazing how much money you can save this way. Also, check out deals like these Reading Avis Coupons
. The bottom line is: when you’re at the counter you are at their mercy and they know it. If you book online they are still fighting tooth and nail for your business and you have the advantage.
Secondly, you have to find out the conditions in your destination city. If it’s outside the US and Canada, you better be sure you are good at driving cars with manual transmissions, because outside of those two countries automatic transmissions are extremely rare.
The ideal city for renting a car is one that is relatively flat, spread out, with low gas costs, cheap car rental rates, poor public transportation and ample parking. A lot of American destinations fit this bill perfectly.
You may think that getting around by public transportation is the best idea, but this is almost never advisable in a city you don’t know well. Many big cities like NYC London or Tokyo have extensive and high-quality public transportation, but there is a big learning curve the naïve traveller often forgets to factor in.
Once you’ve analyzed all the important angles described above, the choice will become very clear to you. Happy travels!