Car Hire while on holiday in Europe

Hiring a car gives you the freedom to go where you like and not be tied to public transport timetables. It is probably a bit more expensive, but with two of us sharing the cost it is worthwhile. More passengers in the car makes it a no-brainer. We could go off the beaten track to visit friends in out-of -the-way places, and detour into tiny villages to have coffee and cake with the locals.

The down side is worrying about the traffic, accidents, and parking. In our case, these things weren't as bad as we expected.

 We have hired three cars over the last two months, through the car hire broker Argus Car Rental.  We've used Argus on all our holidays for the last couple of decades. This time, in all cases, we ended up with cars from the Europcar agency.

We try and choose a small car but not the smallest, and look at the reviews to make sure we are using a reputable car rental agency.  It saves a lot of dosh to use a firm that generally has a depot outside the airport, meaning a small delay taking a shuttle to the depot to pick up the car. And a shuttle back after dropping it off. 

We never get the extra insurance they offer as we figure the accident excess is usually covered by your travel insurance. Keep all your paperwork handy in case of a claim, and check your travel insurance covers the rental car excess. Take a phone video going around the car as soon as you pick it up, to show any existing damage.

The three cars all had manual gearboxes which worked well once I got used to it again. All the cars had controls on the opposite side of the steering wheel which takes some getting used to. I went into many intersections with the wipers going instead of the indicators.  Funnily enough, the same thing has happened since we have arrived home, as it seems just as hard to revert back.

We didn't take the optional GPS offers, preferring to use Google maps on our phones. It is almost essential when driving to have a local or EU sim card, so you can navigate, both in the car and on foot. A large paper map would be very useful too, just to give an overview of where you are.

Budget for parking,  pretty much anywhere except small towns, and in UK even in the countryside. 6 pounds for 3 hours. We always booked Air B and B apartments with secure parking.

Fuel everywhere was about the same price as NZ.  Also budget for toll roads. If you need to get somewhere quickly it is well worth paying the tolls and going on the autostradas and motorways.  It saves hours of time each day, but can add up in price. It is often a few Euros per 100km.  You can leave the motorways if you want, to get back on the minor roads, but a few kilometres behind a slow truck changes your perspective.

Car 1

Skoda Fabio

A four-door car with a boot just large enough for both our larger luggage and our daypacks. Initially the controls were fiddly, but might work OK once you are used to them. They are not intuitive if you are used to driving Japanese cars. It seemed well made. The seats were comfortable. The 3-cylinder 1000cc motor sounded like a lawnmower and had no power. It was dangerously slow uphill and trying to pass anything was an adventure. I initially thought there must be something wrong with it! Once up to speed on the motorway it was quiet, but sounded laboured and slowed down on the hills. It was very economical (4.7L/100km).  I wouldn't recommend one for anything out of town.

1500km

Car 2

Hyundai I20

Similar in size to the Fabio, it was very well made, and had typical Japanese car control,s which are intuitive if you are used to Japanese cars. I found the seats gave me a sore back on long drives. The 1200cc 4-cylinder motor wasn't too powerful but was adequate and sounded sporty. We had three adults in the car at times in hilly terrain and it was fine but slow. The most annoying thing about the car is the lane departure warning beep which comes on by default. It can be turned off using the menu on the screen, but comes on again every time you stop. The warning, and the lane steering correction were useful on the autostrada at 130kph but really annoying on the small roads. The boot was similar in size to the Skoda Fabio. It was economical, 5L/100km. Overall, a good car.

2500km

Car 3

Vauxhall Corsa

Similar in size to the first two cars, although maybe the boot was a fraction smaller. The cabin had a slightly plasticky cheap feel to it but everything worked well and was intuitive.  The car we had was loaded with extras which was nice, including heated seats and steering wheel. The seats were comfortable for long trips.

The 3-cylinder 1200cc motor was raucous when accelerating, but quiet enough at speed. It had just adequate power, and was easy to drive and live with. It had no spare wheel, and although it had a tyre deflation alert, it was not quick enough to stop the tyre destroying itself at 120kph. Calling roadside assistance added about 3.5 hours to our journey.

 Overall, it was quite a fun car, but I'd worry about owning one in NZ, as generally cheap German cars are less reliable in the long term and there are few dealerships and there are concerns about the availability of parts.

2000km