But there are a few things you need to know if you want to avoid a car rental disaster. First of all there are some preconditions you need to satisfy, otherwise you will not receive the key for your booked car.

You must have

1. A valid driving license. And possibly an international driving license.
2. There may be a precondition that the driver is older than 21 years.
3. A credit card. Most car rental companies do not accept prepaid credit cards or cards with a printed number. It must be possible to impress the card number on a special paper form. For expensive cars, two cards may be required; one of them should be American Express or Diners in such cases. If a company rents a car for an employee, the credit card can be replaced by a corporate contract combined with a customer card issued by the car rental company. The employee can carry this customer card instead of a credit card, if this is allowed in the corporate contract.

If you ignore one of these requirements, you will just not get your car.

Before you rent a car you should take also a closer look at some conditions of the car rental company.

Important issues may be:

• The opening hours of the car rental outlet, if you need to get your car outside of usual business hours.
• How many kilometers or miles are included in the price, and what is the cost of an extra kilometer?
• Which insurance is included in the price? Are a crash damage waiver and a loss damage waiver included? If not, what is the additional cost?
• Are there any additional fees, like taxes and airport fees or late hour service fees, and how expensive are they?

Limitations of Use
If you plan that more than one person is going to drive the car, there may be a fee for each additional driver. You may also find additional fees for one way rentals. And usually there are restrictions where you can use the car. (E.g. only in the country where you rent your car and not off road)

Foreign Tax Savings
If you rent a car in a foreign county, you may save some tax expenses by using a car rental broker. In this case you will have a contract with the broker. He will issue a voucher for you. You will still need your credit card as guarantee for any damages of the car. The car broker will not pay VAT or local sales taxes if you are not a resident of the country, where you rent the car. In this case the contract with the broker spells out the extra fees for insurance, additional drivers etc. You should carry not only the voucher, but also the paper spelling out these conditions. And you should have an emergency phone number of the car broker to deal with any disputes that may arise with the car rental company.

Avoid Unpleasant Surprises
These are the basic secrets you need to know if you rent a car. They should help to protect you from unpleasant surprises at the counter of a car rental company.