Compare car hire deals

1. Pre-book online

Save a fortune by pre-booking your car hire online before you travel. Walk-up rates at airport and downtown locations are much more expensive. Not only can you save significantly, you get a range of options to browse in your own time, and can avoid the pushy sales pitch at the desk.

2. Arrange your own car hire excess insurance in advance

Car hire excess insurance is a must for car rental – it is designed to lower the expensive excess you would have to pay towards the cost of repairs if you had an accident. However, you can end up paying over the odds for a policy at the rental desk when compared to buying a standalone policy in advance. Book with our partner, iCarhireinsurance, and save up to 65%.

3. Take your own infant and child car seats

Most airlines will let you take a child car seat for free. So, avoid the over-the-top fees charged at the rental desk and take your own with you. Your child will be familiar with it and you’ll enjoy the savings pocketed.

4. Don’t bother with the rental sat nav

Renting a sat nav from the car hire desk can soon become expensive, so avoid this if you can. Instead, check if yours can be used abroad, take an old-fashioned map or use your smartphone – both Google Maps and the iPhone Maps app allow you to download the data required to use your phone’s sat nav offline.

5. Consider your fuel policy carefully

Think about the fuel policy that will be the most cost-effective for you. For example, full-empty policies mean that you’ll have to pay for a full tank of petrol, probably at an inflated price, at the rental desk then return the car empty. Instead, look for car hire firms that allow you to return the car with the same amount of petrol it had when you picked it up. On TravelSupermarket, you can filter your results by fuel policy type.

Fair fuel policy

A fair fuel policy (also known as full-to-full or same-to-same) means you’ll only pay for the fuel you use. All car rental deals compared on TravelSupermarket come with a fair fuel policy, so you can book your hire car safe in the knowledge there will be no nasty surprises at drop-off. More information on TravelSupermarket’s commitment to fair fuel policies can be found here.

No hidden fees

All rental deals compared on TravelSupermarket include mandatory fees (for example, one-way and young driver surcharges) in your rental quote at the time of booking, meaning you’ll know the full price of your car hire upfront.