Car rental vouchers

An easy way to manage the price and availability of a car rental is to use vouchers. I use Easyterra.com (Booking.com subsidiary, ugh), but any reliable provider will work. For the avoidance doubt: I am not rewarded for this reference. I can only confirm that I have already purchased 16 vouchers over a period of 8 years without any issues.

I only rent from car companies with a substantial number of reviews (hundred or more) and a score of at least 8. While these car rental companies will typically cost slightly more, they seem to be worth it given that I have never had any disputes, even though I never take the full insurance.

Always confirm that the car rental is with unlimited mileage and a fair fuel policy (pick up and return full). If you see any non-disclosed damage to the car, always inform the car rental company or, if the damage seems extremely limited (e.g., minor scratches), take some pictures prior to departure.

An additional benefit of car vouchers is that you can typically cancel them until a couple of days before the rental commences. This way you can cancel and repurchase if the price drops significantly, as +/- 50% price fluctuations over a period of a couple of months are very common.

Make sure you always have a fully-fledged (so no prepaid or virtual) credit card which mentions the first and last name of the main driver when you pick up the car. The required deposit is also mentioned on the voucher.