Introducing the Private Car Rentals Concept

DriveMyCar Rentals (DMCR) puts a unique spin on car hire by hooking up renters with car owners. This peer-to-peer car sharing platform attracts owners by allowing them to generate income from their cars which in turn furnishes renters with the largest, most varied selection of cars to choose from.

Whether you want to save money with an old 1990 sedan or indulge yourself with a Maserati coupe, chances are you’ll find something that suits you. It’s also an excellent place for those seeking long-term car rentals at competitive prices.

All one needs to do is register yourself as a Driver for free. You’ll be able to search by make, style, rate and suburb. The results include pictures of the cars as well as the corresponding year of production. Select your car of interest and you’ll receive a brief overview of information like the all-inclusive daily rate, minimum rental duration, minimum driver age, insurance excess and the number of kilometres on the odometer.

Pick your rental dates to get an immediate quote and if you’re happy, submit a booking. You’ll need to do this at least 48 hours in advance of your pickup time and once the owner accepts your booking, you’ll have to pay a 16.5% administrative deposit to secure it (any cancellation prior to commencement and you’ll lose your deposit so don’t book until you’re certain!) You’ll then agree with the car owner where and when you’ll meet for the handover and to sign the agreement.

How reliable are the cars? Well, DriveMyCar Rentals ensures all cars are of roadworthy condition, complete with current registration and requires all owners to sign a declaration that their cars are in good working condition. Roadside Assistance for $1/day is incorporated in the daily rate though you can opt out of it.

All cars are also insured at a compulsory cost of $10/day which is also included in the daily rate. The amount of insurance excess on the car varies (starting at $1,250 up to $7,500 or even $15,000 for serious supercars) and you’re given an option to reduce the excess by 50% for a daily fee (from $5/day to $15-25/day).

When you first register as a driver, you start out at the Bronze Driver level. If you (and you should) upload your driving history information, making you more legit and trustworthy, you’ll be upgraded to Silver Driver which in turn gives you access to a larger variety of cars, particularly premium cars. Once you’ve rented at least 2 cars over DMCR and received positive feedback from the car owners, you’ll be awarded Gold Driver rating and have full access to all vehicles on the site.

All in all, DMCR is a highly promising site that’s looking expand their presence internationally this year. A few checks reveals they indeed have very competitive rates relatively to the Big Boys of Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty. There’s still room for operational improvement like making the search function more user-friendly but they’ve certainly set themselves apart.

One of their key selling points is the fact that there’s so much choice for the renter. If you live in Australia, there’s no reason not to give the site a check the next time you want to rent and are looking for something a little different.

Link:
DriveMyCar Rentals

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Our Verdict: If you are a frequent renter with Car Rental, Qantas Frequent Flyer or Velocity Rewards memberships, or you have Discount Codes from Avis, Hertz or Thrifty, there’s no more convenient place to compare and book your car hire.

Founded: 2007
Based: Melbourne
Companies searched: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Thrifty
Prices: Will not be higher than if you went to each of the rental companies’ sites. No extra mark ups, booking or agent fees. ‘Best Rate Guarantee’ will match a lower price on an equivalent car found within 8 hours of booking and add a further 10% discount
Of interest: Allows you to enter car rental membership, frequent flyer details or discount codes so you can automatically collect points or be shown discounted prices in the search results. Where the express pickup service is available, regular travellers can jump the queue

Their unique tabbed search results is well presented and highlights the cheapest available but if you want to see details of other results, you’ll have to click around. You can almost always find the cheapest price for each size category on Oodles, but our other recommended comparison site VroomVroomVroom tends to offer up more search results (e.g. green / hybrid cars).

Selecting a car will reveal all the necessary information from pickup and drop-off details and cost breakdown. Prices are final (but of course, excluding any further add-ons you may request). The booking form requires basic information but no credit card details are required and your reservation will be held for you at no obligation.

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1. VroomVroomVroom: A Snapshot
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Our Verdict: Simplest and most user-friendly, it is our favourite place for quickly finding the lowest prices and placing a booking without having to go to each of the different sites if you intend to rent a car from any of these reputable global brands.

Founded: 2002
Based: Queensland
Companies searched: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Thrifty
Prices: Unless you have an offer code or membership discounts, Vroom will find you the exact prices as if you went to each of their sites. No extra mark ups, booking or agent fees. Their Price Promise guarantees to match a lower price on an equivalent car within 3 days of booking with a further $10 discount
Of interest: Partnering with CarbonNeutral, Vroom offsets the carbon emissions of each car hire at no extra cost to you as a renter

With their real-time car hire price comparison presented as a list, it makes it easy for you as a renter to immediately find the cheapest option for the car size you require. Leaving your mouse to hover over each item automatically displays an image of the hire car so you can picture the car you will getting.

Once you’ve selected your car, you’ll be shown pickup and drop-off details, a description of your vehicle and a breakdown of the costs. The final price listed is inclusive of all taxes and fees for the basic car hire so there will be no surprises upon pickup. Naturally, you have to pay more for further add-ons such as child seats or excess reduction, prices of which are also displayed.

The booking form is basic and simple to fill in. No payment or deposit is required, allowing you to secure a rental car far in advance at no risk or obligation.

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1. Oodles: A Snapshot
2. Best Comparison Site for the Major Car Hire Companies
3. Big Boys Comparison Sites We’ve Reviewed

• AustralianCarHire.com
• AustTravel.com.au
• AutoEurope.com
• Carhire.com.au
• Carrentals.co.uk
• DirectFlights.com.au
• Discovery-CarHire.com.au
• DiyCarHire.com.au
• * DriveNow.com.au
• EasyCar.com
• EasyTerra.com
• EzHireCar.com.au
• HolidayAutos.com.au
• Kemwel.com.au
• LastMinute.com.au
• NovaCarHire.com
• * Oodles.com
• RentNewCars.com.au
• Transhire.com
• TravelJigsaw.com.au
• TravelSupermarket.com
• WebCarHire.com.au
• * Vroomvroomvroom.com.au
• ZoomToGo.com

* Our Top Picks

Amongst other factors, the few most important selection criteria for these Top Picks are:

• Lowest Prices/Best Value
• Ease of Site Navigation, Car Search, Price Comparison and Booking
• No Hidden Fees
• No Deposit Required to Place a Booking
• No Credit Card Details Required to Place a Booking

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1. Best Comparison Site for the Major Car Hire Companies

For car hires under 3 days or standard-sized cars and vans, you’ll find the Big Boys of Avis, Hertz, Budget, Thrifty and Europcar are likely to offer the best prices (read more on comparing these companies here). For longer rentals or smaller cars and SUVs, we strongly recommend having a look at the best two independent companies serving the Perth city, particularly Bayswater Car Rental. As always, while we provide the key highlights, do ensure you find out their latest terms and conditions.

Bayswater Car Rental… a.k.a. No Birds Go To Site

Best value. Toyota Corolla Hatch & Sedan only. Excess reduction included free. Unlimited km’s

The clear winner for best value, this is the company to go for if you’re happy with a Toyota Corolla hatch (compact) or sedan (mid-sized). Not only are their 3 day or more car hires with unlimited km’s one of the cheapest around, but they also come with a reduced Collision Damage Liability of only A$300. All other companies have a CDL commonly around A$2750 and then charge you between A$14-27/day extra to drop it down.

Besides their Perth city depot, they have two others – one just to the west of the city in Subiaco and another further out in south-west Fremantle. Note that you can only pickup your car during their opening times: Mon-Fri 8am-6pm, Sat 8am-noon, Sun 9am-11:30am (Perth depot only), closed on public holidays. Excellent value.

Bargain Wheels Go To Site

Check for SUVs. Only 120km/day

If the cars offered by Bayswater are too small, Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz or Thrifty are hard to beat. However, Bargain Wheels can sometimes bag you lower prices on SUVs especially when there are offers extending the typical 120km/day inclusion to unlimited km’s. Naturally if 120km/day is adequate for you, all the more you should check their rates.

We do suggest you compare the Big Boys’ prices to the ones you find here since if the savings are marginal, you may want to stick with the known brands instead.

Each booking has links to Supplier and Rental information. Be sure to go through them so you can ascertain what value you are really getting from their prices.

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The smaller independent companies can be cheaper (especially for airport car rentals) but either way, you should get the best price offered by Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, and Thrifty to use as a benchmark.

After finding the lowest prices here, remember to check all the car hire coupons we’ve compiled to see if you can bag yourself further bonuses and discounts. Then after booking, be sure to apply our tips for saving $100s on car hire insurance by bypassing the car hire companies.

Update: To make life easier for you, we’ve now incorporated our top picks’ search engines directly onto this page.

Read more on VroomVroomVroom

• Clean, easy-to-use site
• Easy price comparison at a glance
• Most complete listing
• Modify or cancel your booking online
• Prices given for GPS, baby seats, excess reduction
• Summary terms and conditions displayed
• Price matching promise + $10 further discount within 3 days of booking

• No Rewards or Preferred Program membership input
• No Discount Codes input
• Call needed to reserve child seats

Read more on Oodles

• Presentable site design
• Rewards (Qantas, Velocity) and Preferred Program (Avis, Budget, Hertz, Thrifty) membership input
• Discount Codes input
• Able to book child seats
• Vehicle details (e.g. luggage space, engine) shown with search results
• Modify or cancel booking online
• ‘Best Rate Guarantee’ matches lower price + further 10% discount within 8 hours of booking

• Tabbed comparison table looks good but not intuitive for first-time user and requires clicking around
• No ‘Green’ Hybrid cars or Station Wagons
• Prices for Europcar are 4-5% higher than VroomVroomVroom

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