StevePER
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Next month I'm off to Karratha for a day thanks for Virgin's $9 flights so I'm suddenly learning a lot about hiring a car for one day in a remote location. Maybe this is helpful to other people, or maybe I'm missing something that I should be thinking about...
Distance charges
The first thing you find is that nearly everyone includes only 100km per day, plus between 22 cents and 30 cents per kilometre.
Finding discount codes for all the major car hire companies is trivial, but finding ones that work (and are valid for anyone to use) is a bit more difficult.
If you want to drive on unsealed roads you need to be careful what you hire - most places require you to have a 4WD which gives you two options. Either you pay a lot more and get a 4WD or you get a normal car and hope you don't have an accident because you would not be insured. But there are exceptions!
Distance charges
The first thing you find is that nearly everyone includes only 100km per day, plus between 22 cents and 30 cents per kilometre.
- You can sometimes find 150km or 200km included (eg Europcar gives 200km when booked through the Flight Centre website).
- The Hertz UK website gives you unlimited kilometres at a higher daily rate, but requires you to be a UK resident.
- Other UK-based online travel agents (such as Car Hire 3000) give you unlimited kilometres, without being restricted to UK residents.
Finding discount codes for all the major car hire companies is trivial, but finding ones that work (and are valid for anyone to use) is a bit more difficult.
- All American Express cardholders can use Avis P908503, which gives a slightly discounted rate but also reduces the insurance from $24 to $15.
- Citibank cardholders can use Hertz CDP 1556481 for a slight discount.
- Anyone can use Budget code W810011 for a significant discount (found on the Walmart website with no restrictions on usage). This takes $12 per day off a Getz, and the better the car the more you save.
If you want to drive on unsealed roads you need to be careful what you hire - most places require you to have a 4WD which gives you two options. Either you pay a lot more and get a 4WD or you get a normal car and hope you don't have an accident because you would not be insured. But there are exceptions!
- Avis vehicles may not be operated on non-paved roads. No exceptions.
- Thrifty and Europcar only allow 4WD vehicles on unpaved roads. And it seems that not all 4WD vehicles are covered by everyone (eg Outlander, X-trail type vehicles).
- Hertz only allows 4WD vehicles on unpaved roads, except for some "short access roads" (eg to National Parks). They don't specify what constitutes short.
- Budget allows all vehicles to be taken on unsealed roads, as long as they are gazetted (ie shown on a map) and is therefore the cheapest option. (source: Budget Reservations email)
- If you require a 4WD, the cheapest option is usually a ute (eg a Hilux). These don't always come up in the default search - you might need to specify truck/van/ute.
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. (For those not familiar with the exact geography, Charleville is approx 1,000km roughly west of Brisbane, and Toowoomba is about 150Km from Brisbane - and on the way to Charleville).
