If you’re planning to rent a car in Norway, you should plan in advance so you can get the best possible rates while you’re there. If you follow these tips, you should be able to procure a great rate on a car hire or rental car.
Make reservations in advance.
The greatest rates are usually found by booking two weeks in advance. When the day approaches, make sure to check often and try to do it a month in advance.
Make a reservation any day.
There isn’t a single ideal day to reserve your rental; instead, you should do it on the day that the pricing you find is reasonable. The highest overall price ($38) in user data is Wednesday, while the lowest rate will cost you $3 less.
Think about where you are.
In the US, costs often vary between states and areas. As far as median daily rates go, historically, Florida has the lowest and Alaska has the most. Additionally, daily prices in smaller Midwestern cities are greater, so bear that in mind while weighing costs, particularly when choosing where to begin a lengthy road journey.
Drop off and pick up at the same location.
It is usually less expensive to pick someone up and drop them off at an identical place rather than separate places. Pickup in an urban center costs $33, whereas picking up near an airport costs $35 on average. Picking you up at one and leaving you off at another, however, comes closer to $65.
Think about upgrading.
As it contradicts obtaining the best deal possible, this one could seem paradoxical. Having said that, the average cost of renting an economy automobile is $31, but the average cost of renting an intermediate car is $33. After that, it’s just $4 extra over the typical price for a full-size or standard automobile. Upgrading can really provide you with better value for your money.
Prior to returning the vehicle, fill up the gas tank.
Making sure your automobile is fully charged before returning it is one of the simplest methods to reduce the cost of your rental. In most cases, filling up the tank yourself will be less expensive than paying the rental company for the same quantity of petrol.
How to reduce the cost of a rental car
Make use of your credit card.
Travel credit cards sometimes come with rewards schemes that offer savings on automobile rentals.
See if you must rent through a specific booking gateway by contacting your credit card company directly for further information or by using a discount coupon on the website of the booking business. A complimentary damage waiver, which takes responsibility for any harm done to the rental automobile, could also be included with your credit card. If it’s available, it’s a good idea to have this as you would need to buy it individually.
Make use of a corporate coupon.
The main vehicle rental firms, such as National, Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis, have relationships with several businesses and colleges.
No one else may access these, and in order to be qualified, you must provide documentation of your job or status as an alumnus. Verify at leiebilguiden.no/norge/stavanger/ whether there aren’t any other requirements, such as using your company code only when scheduling business trips.
Make a reservation via an airline.
If you intend to hire a vehicle from a location you’re at when making a reservation, think about using the airline’s booking website. Relationships between rental car businesses and airline miles/rewards programs are common among major airlines.
You could qualify for status matching that results in free vehicle upgrades and additional points if you’re a regular traveler with your airline and have “elite” status. The one drawback, if vehicle rental is anything else you’re interested in, is that reservations made via the airline do not accrue points.
How to find a fair price while renting a car overseas
Recall further advice.
When renting a car overseas, the majority of the previously mentioned advice on how to get a decent bargain still holds true. Although there may be regional variations, you should always review the terms and conditions, much of the same guidelines will apply.
Hire a vehicle with a manual gearbox.
This is only applicable if you have a great deal of experience and are an expert manual gearbox (https://x-engineer.org/manual-transmission-works/) driver. In Europe, rental automobiles usually come with manual gearboxes as standard equipment.
Automatic transmissions are less prevalent and usually reserved for larger or more expensive vehicles. If you don’t reserve these cars well in advance, you can discover that driving them in the city is more difficult because the streets are smaller than they are accustomed to.
Keep an eye out for international surcharges.
Should you intend to drive over international boundaries, you must ensure that the cost and if the automobile is qualified to cross at all. Please review the specifications and conditions from your rental since cross-border costs vary depending on the countries involved.
Bring a car seat of your own.
If you intend to hire a car overseas, you must remember to include the car seat. Although it may seem like a lot of work to carry your own car seat along with a stroller, most airlines accept it free of charge and it won’t reduce your luggage allowance. If you don’t want to reserve one via the rental vehicle business, there is a method to save some cash.
Make a reservation with just one driver.
On a lengthy road journey, it is more pleasant for several drivers to share driving responsibilities, but more drivers will increase the cost of your rental. Find out if the second driver is complimentary from your rental business or if you may add one on specific days when you anticipate spending a lot of time behind the wheel.
Keep an eye on the time.
It usually pays to return your automobile at exactly the same moment that you got it up, however this may depend on the rental. Sometimes, if you deliver the rental vehicle after the 24-hour window from when you took it up, you can avoid being charged for a whole extra day.
Car Hire
Getting behind the controls of a new automobile has long been made more alluring by leasing, or individual contract hire (PCH), which frequently costs less overall than a hire purchase (HP) or personal contract purchase (PCP), depending on your satisfaction with never owning the car.
You may frequently operate a car with cheaper monthly payments than you’d face with a PCP or HP agreement after making a small down payment.
But the past few years have been difficult for leasing businesses, and a number of variables have caused personal term hire (PCH) packages to cost more per month than PCPs. The “unholy trinity” of rising loan rates, rising car prices, and growing living expenses drove a 7.1% decline in personal automobile leasing in 2023, according to the British Automobile Rental and Leasing Association’s (BVRLA) most recent quarterly report.
Private drivers consequently started “shying away” from comparable replacement cars when the monthly rentals skyrocketed, often by more than 30%.
Automobile leasing
However, things are beginning to turn around again, and there is hope once again in the private automobile leasing industry. This is due in part to an increase in car sales and much more generous discounts offered by franchised dealers, which lower the cost of leasing.
Fuel-powered automobiles are expected to account for the majority of the personal lease agreement recovery; in the final quarter of 2023, 66% of newly signed PCH contracts were for gasoline-powered cars, and just 16% were by electric vehicles (EVs).
On the other hand, there is hope that more economical leasing offers on EVs will soon be available. Increased discounts are helping with this as automakers scramble to achieve the zero-emission vehicle rules or the EV sales standards that need them to meet an annual EV sales volume.
All of this is fantastic news for customers because there are many situations in which leasing through PCH is more cost-effective than obtaining a PCP or HP arrangement.
