The Basics of Renting a Car

If you've never rented a car before, the whole process can be somewhat overwhelming. Here are some steps to take that will help you rent a car with relative ease.

Where to Look

You can still find car rental information in telephone books, but the best place to look is the Internet. Just type –rent a car” and the city and state into a search engine like Google or Yahoo, and you will get thousands of leads.

To simplify the search process and find the best deal for a car, visiting sites like Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com or Hotwire.com will give you comparison prices between different companies.

You can also book the car right there on the website.

What You Will Need

The number one item to have ready when you contact the car rental company, online or by phone, is your credit card. Most companies take Mastercard and Visa, but only some take American Express or Discover. The rental company will place a charge hold on the card for more than the amount of the rental, but they will release the excess funds when they charge the total amount for renting the vehicle. If the card you want to use is a debit card, be warned that your bank account funds will be held and unusable during that time.

You will also need to have your driver's license ready. The rental company will need that information to verify that you are a legally licensed driver. International travelers may use the driver's license from their country, but they may be requested to produce a traveler's cheque as well.

Some rental companies set age requirements. If the driver is younger than 25 years old, there may be an additional fee for the rental.

Weekends or Holidays

If your car has broken down over the weekend or a holiday, you may have trouble trying to rent a car. Most car rental companies are not open past noon on the weekends, and many are closed on holidays. However, if there is a commercial airport in your area, it may be possible to find an open rental agency there. Those airports operate daily, so car rental companies located there try to accommodate the airport's hours of operation.

Renting a car is not difficult, nor does it require a lot of savvy to find a good, inexpensive car rental company. It is simply a matter of looking in the right places and finding the company that suits your needs.

Renting a car is not difficult