Looking After Your Hire Car to Avoid Extra Costs

Hiring a car can be a great convenience – you can take it wherever you like and enjoy the car for a short-term period without having to worry about maintenance costs, the upkeep of the vehicle or having to keep hold of it long term. No matter what the reason is for hiring a car, here are some of the things you will need to consider in order to avoid paying extra charges when you return the car.

It must be kept in good condition

This might mean that you need to go a little bit over the top and really look after the car more than you would normally do with your own vehicle. However, when you return the car, the company will carefully inspect it and will be able to charge you for any little thing which has gone wrong or been damaged inside or outside of the car. This could include cleaning costs, which are incurred as a result of eating inside the car, loading the car with items such as plants and other shrubs or even children messing around on the back seats. While you can enjoy all the convenience, you’ve also got to take a little bit of extra care to keep it clean and tidy.

You can’t drive further than has been agreed

If you’ve been looking at car hire company for a while and have finally found the perfect deal, you might have a contract whereby you cannot drive more miles or kilometers than has been agreed. For some contracts, you will be able to drive an unlimited amount, and this will be agreed beforehand and you will normally pay slightly extra in order to get this added benefit. However, since you will be increasing the mileage on the vehicle and therefore decreases the value of the car, companies will ask that you don’t drive over the limit that has been set. The mileage of the car will be noted before you drive the car away, and then when you return, the representative will check to make sure you haven’t driven the car more than your contract states. If you have driven extra miles, you will have to pay an excess charge.

Read the terms and conditions carefully

Many people end up having to pay extra costs when they return a hire car simply because they didn’t read the terms and conditions properly when they took out the contract. Although it can be lengthy, boring and often seem unnecessary, it’s definitely worth reading the contract that you have signed and checking for any little things that you could be charged for. It might be the case that you need to refill the fuel tank before returning the car, and failing to do so could mean that you are charged the cost of the fuel plus an extra charge for the inconvenience of somebody else having to do it. You might also be required to have the car professionally cleaned before returning it back to the company. These points will be covered in the terms and conditions and should also be discussed with you by the representative when you take out the contract.