Car Rental Insights from Our In-house Research

2011 is here and once again, we’ve scoured the big brand and independent car rental companies within Australia’s major cities to get a gauge on what’s on offer. The aim of our research was to help point people in the right direction when it comes to finding value and understanding all there is to know about renting a car. Along the way, we made some interesting observations.

To recap, 2010 saw a jump in prices from the Big Boys (Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty) as compared to early 2009 of almost 40-50%. Our hypothesis pointed at the global recession as a the culprit for this staggering increase (read more here). Fortunately, despite the increase in Premium Location Fees charged by airports to the rental companies for operating on-site, it appears Big Boys’ rental rates have now eased down by an average of 20% across the major cities’ airports*. Accordingly, downtown car hire prices have also dropped.

The independents, however, have not adjusted their rates by much. Their offerings remain by and large similar apart from perhaps a fleet update. That means the price gaps between them and the Big Boys are now smaller. Therefore, those too time-poor to research all the various independents out there for the lowest price wouldn’t be overpaying by as much as before. Still, savings (sometimes significant) are up for grabs for those who make the effort.

On the down side, we noticed an increase in Standard Liability amounts. While many companies maintained their levels, a few were upped from e.g. $2750 to $3300, and none were reduced. This implies now more than ever, renters need to be smart about how to protect themselves. One of our most popular (and valuable) articles is on alternative car rental insurance options that, to put it simply, you just have to read.

A myriad of complicated choices with all their clauses and fine print continue to await the car hire seeker. As such, it is a welcome development that the new Australian Consumer Law has been launched to give extra protection to all consumers, with car hire being one of the targeted industries. Fine print written to protect car hire companies is no longer completely binding with this new law that now allows a case to be judged based on how fair a particular condition set by a car rental company is in the first place.

All in all, it looks like steps in the right direction for us renters. At Car Hire Insider, we’ll continue to work towards demystifying the car hire maze. Stay tuned!

* Our research covered Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.