Car Hire
Car Hire is often the best
way to see a country and experience it's beauty and customs. Car-Hire
isn't expensive and it can easily save you fortunes because food in
restaurants and goods in shops are often much cheaper if you venture
outside of the "tourist area" and most foreign countries now
have large hypermarkets where you can find just about every product
imaginable (and at around half the price of the local tourist shops).
Your Car-Hire should easily pay for itself, and more!
Most car hire companies
will offer fully inclusive car hire rates and some have innovative comparison
system accesses so you can compare rates of up to 100 or more car hire
companies worldwide to ensure that you get the best price. Always read
the small print before you commit to a car hire deal, just to make sure
you are adequately insured as many unscrupulous rental companies quote
you a cheap price but then add on extra like more expensive insurance
etc.
Tips for driving abroad
Watch out when pulling out from service stations or restaurants
on the left side of the road. If you spot a petrol station on the left,
remember that there’s going to be oncoming traffic between you
and it. Every country in Europe now has strict drink driving laws (at
least as strict as the UK and more stringent in some other countries).
Drivers should not assume that their personal drinking limits for the
UK will match those of other countries.
Speed limits are implemented rigorously and radar traps are frequent
on foreign roads. Watch for speed signs and remember to think in KPH
not MPH. Keep coins handy because pay-as-you-go tolls are charged on
most motorways in France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Austria. Many
take credit cards which is generally much quicker.
Seat belts, front and rear, are obligatory everywhere, with some countries
enforcing strict rules on carrying children. Traffic signals can be
confusing and vary internationally - in many countries a continuously
flashing amber light means that you may proceed if the road is clear,
but you must give way to both other cars and pedestrians. The change
from green to red can be far quicker than in the UK too.
Using the horn for giving a warning of presence is also far more common
in mainland Europe than in the UK but local restrictions apply in urban
areas.
Plan ahead - make sure you know where you are going. Exploring is enjoyable
but a good map and a good idea of where you want to be will help avoid
confusion at difficult moments. Also know your road numbers and make
yourself understood - have a phrase book with simple phrases to hand
and learn key words like petrol, breakdown, hospital, bank, for example.
Make sure that passports
and visas remain valid for at least the duration of your travel. Remember
you may also need additional insurance, motor, medical and personal.
Throughout mainland Europe, you are also legally obliged to display
a nationality plate or sticker on the rear of the vehicle. You may also
have to carry a bulb kit, first aid kit and warning triangle.
Driving in the USA &
Canada
CDW (Collision Damage Waiver), sometimes called LDW (Loss Damage
Waiver), is optional with some companies but included with others so
chack out your car hire deal thoroughly before you embark on your trip
as you could end up getting an unexpected bill when you pick your car
up at the airport! Watch out too for those "hidden charges"
they try to throw on to you (such as a full tank of petrol costing twice
the price of what petrol costs, or trying to force you to spend extra
on an upgrade). You could end up spending much of your holiday money
BEFORE you've even picked up your hire car and driven out of the airport!
Remember, the cost of CDW/LDW varies from state to state, but is typically
$20 per day for normal cars and higher rates may apply with special
vehicles such as RV's (recreational vehicles - i.e. motorhomes).so if
it's not included in your deal it'll cost you!
That aside, renting a car is by far the best way of seeing America and
Canada. It is probably best to accept the full cost of renting a car,
including CDW/LDW, top-up insurance and sales tax, as an inevitable
part of the cost of the holiday rather than to waste time exploring
rather less satisfactory and in some cases very complicated alternatives.
In some US States you are required to use headlights when it is raining.
Long stretches of roads across the states are called Interstate Highways
(the US equivalent of our Motorways). These highways are sometimes subject
to tolls and these toll roads are usually called Turnpikes. All of the
major Interstate Highways running north-south have odd numbers - on
the Pacific coast they are ordered 1-5 and on the Atlantic coast are
ordered 1-95. All east-west Interstates are evenly numbered. Those near
the Mexican border begin either 1-8 or 1-10, then as you get closer
to Canada they begin 1-94. If you are a member of a motor club in your
native country (for example, in the UK there is amongst others, the
AA or the RAC) you may also receive some of the benefits that the American
equivalent, The American Automobile Association (AAA, commonly called
the "Triple A") offers. Take your membership card as proof.
