Renting a car on Rhodes

Is it difficult?

Not at all. Renting a car on Rhodes is very simple. There are many car rental services of which the prices and conditions vary, so you should choose really carefully. It would be a pity to overlook the article talking about paying excess in case of an accident, and than spend the rest of your holiday arguing about 300 EUR because someone scratched your car in a car park.

If you are travelling with a travel agency, you may use the services of a courier who will translate the conditions of the rental for you. Yet the trouble is the price. The couriers usually recommend those rental services that pay them commission for the contracts they sale. Often the courier in fact earns extra money renting cars on the island. There would be nothing wrong about this if it weren´t you who pays the commission: the cars rented via a courier are usually between 20 and 50% more expensive. The same is true about the trips bought from a travel agency or right on the spot in the tourist destination (but still it is cheaper to rent a car a go to the place on your own, including bathing on some nice beach in your trip, than to pay for the trip and then go there by bus in a group.

How long in advance should I book the car?

If you want to be sure you will find a car, book it as soon as possible. During the high season, i.e. from the beginning of July till the mid-September, all the cars are rented or booked and you simply can´t get one, nor on the spot neither on the internet, And if you do, the prices are exorbitant.

What to be careful of?

The most important thing is the insurance excess - your car should have complete insurance offered with zero excess. Then you can stay calm and stop worrying that you would have to pay extra money. Despite that, you should treat your car well - zero access doesn´t mean you could go with the car on a rallye or practice skids using a handbrake. If you are planning trips on unpaved roads in the island interior, you should definitely rent a 4x4 vehicle. As it is higher, you can drive even on rutted roads with hollows, and after turning on the four-wheel drive, it will drive up even a steep hill where a common road car would get stuck in fine dust and gravel with its wheels slipping.