Car Rental Toronto

Car rental companies don’t want to give their cars to people who can’t drive properly. Of course, no company will want to get in unnecessary hassles because of a bad driver. But when you think of bad driving as a term, there are a lot of things, like rash driving, rules breaking, accident history etc. covered in it. So, which ones of these are the worst offences in the eyes of the car rental company? Let’s have a look.

Fines: If in the verification of your driving license, which is done by the rental agencies, a lot of fines are shown, this goes to mean that you are irresponsible. In this case, it becomes difficult to get a car on rent. Your chances of getting a car in such a case becomes even bleaker if you have not paid these fines, as this goes to show 2 things. Firstly, you are an irresponsible driver and secondly an irresponsible person. This makes the car rental company afraid that you might show the same irresponsibility in case of some mishap with their vehicle while you have it in your possession. There is of course no use of skipping your ‘driving record’ section in the rental form as your record will be physically verified before you actually get the car either way.

Accidental history: In case you have had accidents in the history, it will show in your driving record which the rental company can verify from the authorities. In this case, most companies will refuse to rent the car to you as they don’t want the same happening to their car. This is not only because the car will be trashed, but also because the insurance company will get an additional expenses. However, the car rental company may at its discretion have you sign an agreement with them in which you can state that your driving records are acceptable and you will be responsible for consequences. Not many companies do this as this makes things more complicated. They would rather not give you the car than risk such things. Companies normally consider the record of your last 36 months of driving when looking for accidental history.

Less history: If you are less than the age of 21 or even 25 even in some cases, you can’t get the car on rent. This decision depends on the policies of the car rental company and thus you should look for companies which will not screen you for your age. The basic intent of rental companies is to avoid any legal hassles in case you get in a problem while you are in possession of their car. They want to give their cars to people who don’t only have clean driving records, but also have enough years on the road, to make this a fair judgment. If you have been driving only for 6 months, the car rental company is probably not going to trust you with their car. But this again, depends on the discretion of the company.

Drunken Drivers: The least chance of getting the car is when you have been caught driving when you were drunk or under the influence of drugs. In this case, companies usually don’t rent the car if such events are in plural numbers.

Suspended License: Sometimes you are fined and don’t go back to pay them up. Your driving license does not show this on the face, but on the records, it may have been suspended. So, keep a check to avoid that from happening. You cannot only get in serious trouble for this, but also won’t get a rental car in any case.

Rental companies and even insurance companies for that matter don’t take much notice of things that happened more than 3 years back. If you have been driving well lately, have been avoiding your fines or at least paying them on time for the last 36 months, you will surely get the rental car of your choice.

There are times when you can’t use your car because you have to go out for a trip or your car is undergoing repairs. At times like these, you look for cars to rent. There are a lot of things that you want from a rented car. You want the car to be in good condition, you want the rate to be cheap and you want a hassle free experience in the documentation and processing.

A major factor in a customer’s mind before renting a car is the duration for which the car can be rented. Although this depends on the customer’s needs as the car rental companies normally don’t have a problem with the duration, but it is an important thing to inquire if you really need the car for a long time. Such requirements are exceptional and out of the norm for these rental car companies. For instance, you want to rent for a car for touring the entire country or if your car is stolen and you are having problems in securing the insurance.

But all this can leave you confused at times, especially if you don’t have any prior experience of renting a car. In such a case, you look around for the best deals. But car rental is not really like the other kinds of rentals, there are lots of things that you should consider before renting a car. Let’s have look at the most important ones:

• Why do you need a car? Your requirements can help you decide what kind of a car you need. If you need to go for a road trip, you’d be better off with a sedan. If you just need it for your daily office use, you may do well with a small sized car. The type of car very much determines the rate of rental.
• From where are you renting the car? At many places, the car rental rates seem to be higher. Rental services near the airport, for instance, charge higher rates as they know they will have newcomers as most of their customers.
• For how long do you need the car? You need to tell the rental company, about the approximate time for which you will be taking the car. There are different rates for different durations and different travelling distances. Normally, the more you use the car, the lower usage rate you can get due to a tiered pricing strucuture some rental companies employ.
• Will you reach the rental location yourself? If you can reach the location while taking the car and then dropping it back, it will usually cost you less. The costs of picking up a customer and then picking the car at the end of the term are charged as hidden costs most of the time. However, these costs are nominal so won’t be a problem if you need the services.
• Long-term car rental services usually charge their customer for one month and this is less expensive than the rates for lesser durations. Before you take the car, check the conditions for insurance and for the repairs, damage and wear & tear.
• If you are not in a familiar region, you may want the transactions in cash rather than on credit. This makes things simpler, especially if you are travelling abroad.
• On the long term, it’s always a good idea to make the down payment and purchase the company’s car rental insurance.
• You should also inquire and check the condition and reliability of the car. This normally doesn’t matter if you are renting for the short term, but on the long term can be quite an important thing to do. Cars at rental services are usually topped up with external repairs, which make them look and feel good for the short term. But if you are thinking of making long tours in the car, you definitely would not want the car to break down in another part of the country.
• All the car documentation, tools and equipment should be noted down. This is important to do to avoid any confusion regards missing parts when you return the car. Keep all these points in mind when choosing your next rental car contract.