The Best Car Rental Brands for International Travelers

When you are planning on traveling to a foreign country it’s always best to Car Rental. Sure, when you are in your home country you normally use public transportation or ride with family and friends. But when in Rome do as the Romans do, right? That means in some foreign countries riding with Uber might not be an option so… Renting a car is the next best thing!

It’s for that reason that I have conducted research on which companies let you drive their cars into other countries. And not only EUROPE but also the USA (because we get calls from people that want to travel there), Canada and even South America (because we get calls from people that want to travel there). So here comes my list of “best car rental companies for international travel” – complete with the pros and cons of each company so you can make an informed decision.

The best car rental brands for international travelers are agencies that have the following traits:

• Offer cars in all major destinations around the world. Offers automatic transmissions. Offer manual transmissions everywhere they’re sold. Have great customer service, both pre-purchase and post-purchase. Have competitive insurance rates (i.e., no additional charges on top of what you’ve purchased). Pay attention to detail, offering special extras like GPS devices at no cost (though you will usually need to sign up for a service like AAA or Auto Europe – included with your membership – to get it “free”). Often offer free cancellation of reservations made far ahead of time; allow returns at airports; provide free cancellations on multiple day rentals; allow one-way rentals to different cities from the same starting city. Sometimes offer free upgrades on cars reserved far in advance; provide free child seats and/or booster seats where they’re legally required; allow smaller drivers, or younger persons, to rent. Are “hassle-free” when it comes to processing rental agreements at airports – if you ordered a car reservation for pickup at an airport while still in your home country, they will have the paperwork ready for you.
• Offering all of these traits requires a company that has a large base of operations – i.e., a fleet that is updated frequently and widely available throughout the world.

So here’s my list of best car rental brands for international travelers:

Avis:

They have gotten much better over the past years, particularly as they added a lot of automatic cars to their fleet. They have offices around the globe and offer free one-way rentals from/to some airports.

Advantage:

This is a subsidiary of Avis, so you can use your membership to get discounts on both companies’ cars – including “free” upgrades on Avis.

Enterprise:

Like Advantage, a car rental company that has a good reputation for international travelers going through US airports.

Hertz:

 I’m not sure why this didn’t make it into the first list of 10 best car rental brands for international travelers! They used to be terrible at providing customer service outside of North America (I recall having problems with them in Buenos Aires, Argentina), but since merging with Dollar, they’ve added some great international locales to their worldwide car rental network (e.g., Europe formerly having been an Advantage subsidiary).

Thrifty:

This is the parent company of Zipcar – one of my favorite car-sharing brands for short-term rentals in cities. Around the world. They’re often more expensive than Avis/Advantage or Hertz, but they do offer free one-way rentals between airports on some reservations made far ahead of time (7+ days) and has good customer service both pre & post-purchase. In addition, I’ve heard from a few folks that renting from Thrifty at certain locations overseas is not much more expensive than taking public transportation into town.

All this being said, I think the best car rental brands for international travelers. Vary widely based on the specific country in question. I mean, I wouldn’t rent a car in Istanbul with Enterprise. But would go with Avis or Hertz without hesitation – so your mileage may vary here.

Conclusion:

Shop around when planning your next international trip. Keep an eye out for discounts offered by major credit cards (e.g., Chase Sapphire Preferred helps out big time when renting cars). And always check to see what companies are available at your preferred destinations before purchasing plane tickets!