The Ultimate Car Rental Guide

Welcome to the Ultimate Car Rental Guide. We’ll show you step by step how easy it is to rent a car with Hertz. Some of the topics we’ll cover include:

• Why you should rent a car with Hertz
• How to start the car rental process
• Important things to consider when choosing your vehicle
• How to pick-up and drop-off your rental car
• Cool hacks and links that’ll help you save time and get you on the road faster.

Whether it’s for business, pleasure or leisure - renting a car gives you the flexibility to be in total control of your trip. Let’s start at the beginning…

Why rent a car?

Rental cars offer flexibility, reliability and enjoyment compared to other travel options. There’s no need to rely on public transport. Your trip, your ride – you’re in control.

Let’s look at some of the reasons why people rent with Hertz.

Visiting Family

When you visit family, or when they visit you, driving arrangements for multiple cars and dozens of people can create travel problems. Renting a large van or SUV can help you fit everyone into one vehicle, saving you time, money and stress.

Save on Wear and Tear

Car parts can be hard to come by and as vehicles add more and more technology into their design, owning your own vehicle can be really, really expensive. Renting a car lets you have the freedom of mobility without the costly responsibilities of repairs and maintenance, saving you hundreds – or even thousands – each year.

Weddings, Reunions and Other Special Occasions

The right car can make your next occasion or event truly memorable, providing a special experience for your family, friends or guests. For example, renting a luxury car for a family wedding, or sports for your next school reunion are great ways to add to these experiences without the costs and worries of actually owning one of these great vehicles.

Car at the Repair Shop

If your car is going through extended repair or maintenance, don’t worry, you can get a rental car to use until your primary vehicle is repaired. Plus, depending on your car insurance coverage, you can save on the cost of renting a car in this situation if your car is being repaired due to an automotive accident or collision.

Road, Camping and Fishing Trips

Public transportation can’t take you everywhere, and sometimes the car you own doesn’t have the space, comfort or features you need to take a road, camping or fishing trip. Renting a car gives you the temporary travel flexibility you need to fit all your friends, family, gear, and miles into your next getaway.

Tip: You can start planning your next road, camping or fishing trip today when you visit the Hertz Road Trip Planner.

Moving

Whether you need to move a few boxes, some furniture or a whole household, renting a pick-up or box truck will give you the space and power needed to get the job done quick.

Safety

Car rental companies like Hertz, want to get the most out of their vehicles. That’s why maintenance and repairs are a top priority; ensuring safe, reliable vehicles are always available for rent. So, if you want the confidence and peace of mind of knowing you’re driving a safe vehicle, renting a car is a great option to drive in a reliable vehicle.

Save Money by Renting vs. Buying

Cars can be a great investment but owning one can also be incredibly expensive. From regular maintenance and repairs to fuel costs and storage, sometimes owning a car can take more than it gives. Car rental companies like Hertz have huge selections of vehicles so you can get the right car for your right-now situation, to help you take that trip, move that furniture, or celebrate a special event.

Now that we’ve looked at some of the primary reasons to rent a car, let’s look at how to actually start your car rental process.

How to get started

Renting a car can be a relatively quick and easy process – especially if you know where to start. Car rental brands like Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, and others have mobile apps, websites and even brick-and-mortar locations; giving you a variety of options to choose from.

But what about if you don’t know where to start?

Before we get into mobile apps and web sites, let’s talk about how to find a car rental company or location, like Hertz, using an Internet search engine.

Using a search engine to find a car rental website

Many car rental companies – especially large ones like Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty – have their own websites; offering you a quick and direct way to start the car rental process.

You can find these websites by simply typing them into your browser’s search bar…

…or by searching for your favorite car rental brand on search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo. Let’s take a look at this example of a Google search for “Hertz car rental”:

This is the top natural, sometimes called “organic,” search result.

As you probably guessed, once you click on a car rental web page link in your search results, you’ll typically be directed to a home page; giving you the ability to start your car rental process immediately.

How easy is it to rent a car through a website?

Let’s take a look at the Hertz Car Rental website as an example.

Navigating a car rental website

Anxious to get the car rental process started? No problem.

Sometimes the quickest way to get your car rental reservation scheduled and booked is by going directly to an online travel or car rental site.

The easiest way to do this is just by entering a car rental company’s URL (like hertz.com, dollar.com or thrifty.com) in your web browser’s search box.

Let’s use hertz.com as an example.

Once on the site, you’ll typically see a place right at the top of the page where you can start your car rental process right away – and this is a feature you’ll see on Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty and other popular car rental websites.

You can see this area below on the Hertz homepage, it’s typically referred to as a “booking widget,” which is just a technical term for “menu where you can start your car reservation.”

Booking a car rental doesn’t have to be difficult, but you can make it even easier if you know where you want to pick up your rental car, by typing or saying “car rental near me” into your search engine or mobile phone.

Let’s take a closer look at this process in action.

Locations Near You

When you rent a vehicle through a website or mobile app, you’ll need to choose where you’d like to pick-up and drop-off your rental car.

If you want to rent a vehicle from a car rental company near your home or work, simply type or speak “car rental near me” or, if you want to be specific, “Hertz car rental near me” into your favorite search engine (like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.).

Your search results will now show car rental locations and links near your geographic location. Search engines like Google will try to find the three best matches for your search and display their information and locations with a map for reference.

We call this a “local 3-pack” (pictured below) and you may have seen search results like this before if you’ve ever searched for restaurants, retail store locations, hotels and other places near you.

Even if you just search with simple keywords like “Hertz,” “Dollar” or “car rental” you may get a map like the one pictured above as part of your results.

If your results aren’t displaying car rental locations in your area, you can solve this in one of two ways.

1. Include a location – like a city, zip code or place name (ex: Milwaukee, 53201, or Milwaukee Hyatt Hotel) – in your web search. Instead of “car rental near me,” you’ll search for “car rental near Milwaukee, WI” or “car rental near Milwaukee Hyatt.”
2. Enable your phone’s GPS/Location feature or allow your browser to know your location to improve search accuracy. 

We know some people like their privacy and prefer to keep their location feature turned “off,” but by allowing your phone or computer to know and use your location, you’ll get more accurate search results, helping you save the time and effort of having to make multiple searches.

To start your car rental booking process at one of the locations simply click the location name, the website icon on the right side, or one of the red map pins.

Doing any one of these things will take you to a second screen with a larger map and more locations that match your search for “car rental.” It should look something like this:

You can click the blue website icon to go directly to the location’s unique landing page, click the blue directions icon to generate a route to the location, or you can click on the location name itself.

In this case I click on the Hertz Car Rental – Milwaukee – Vel R. Phillips Avenue HLE location.

When you click on a location name in the left column, a more detailed view will pop up in the right column with important information like location phone number, hours of operation, street address, customer reviews, special offers, and more.

This is called a “business profile” and it’s like a social media or online dating profile for each car rental location Hertz and other rental companies have – including airport locations.

Please note that even if multiple locations are owned by Hertz, Dollar, Thrifty, etc. they may all have different hours of operation – even if they’re in the same city. That’s why it’s always a good idea to research your car rental pick-up and drop-off locations carefully so your trip starts and ends as smooth as possible.

And remember those “special offers” we mentioned a few paragraphs back? If you’re looking at a business profile for a specific car rental location, make sure you scroll down and explore the entire profile.

Many business profiles have sections for customer reviews, places to showcase their products (in this case rental cars, trucks and vehicle add-ons) and a “posts” section where they can share important information, offers and opportunities to save with you – so don’t miss it!

Ready to rent a car?

Just click the “website” button below the location name to get your reservation process started.

The good news is that location pages are super easy to use; helping you lock-in a car rental reservation in just a few minutes.

But what does that process look like?

Renting Directly Through a Location Page

Welcome to a Hertz Car Rental location page! In this example, we’ll look at the location page for the Denver – Welton HLE in Denver, Colorado.

The instant you get to this page – or any Hertz Car Rental location page – you can start the car rental process by putting your pick-up and drop-off dates, and locations, in the fields shown above.

Even if you scroll down the page, the reservation box (pictured above) will follow you along. This allows you to explore the locations hours, contact information and even nearby events, locations, and attractions of interest in the Denver area.

Prefer to make a car rental reservation directly from your mobile phone? No problem.

Mobile Phone Apps

To help make renting a car easier many car rental companies, and online travel agencies, have created mobile phone applications for Android and Apple devices.

These “apps” offer mobile-friendly interfaces that allow you to check current car rental rates, choose your rental pick-up and drop-off locations, find the perfect vehicle for your trip, and even enroll in loyalty programs (which are usually free to join) to earn rewards, get exclusive offers and unlock special perks.

Because they’re designed for mobile on-the-go experiences, most car rental apps feature streamlined menus, buttons and interfaces; allowing you to rent a car with just a few button presses and thumb swipes.

Plus, most car rental apps are free so you can download them and start exploring their features and functions without spending any money.

Now that we’ve outlined all the different ways you can start the car rental process, let’s take a look at how to choose your vehicle.

Choosing Your Vehicle

Choosing a vehicle to rent may seem like the easiest – and most obvious – part of the car rental process, but it’s also one of the most important.

As we discussed above, there are a lot of reasons to rent a vehicle which is why it’s important to match the right car, truck, van or whatever to your unique car rental need.

Here are a few examples of the different vehicle types you’ll have to choose from when you make your reservation.

• Sedan

• Economy

• Standard

• Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) 

• Minivan

• Pick-Up Truck

• Box Truck

• Special Collection 

• Electric Vehicle (EV)

• Hybrid Vehicle (HV)

How do you pick the right car? You can start by asking yourself these questions…

• Am I driving alone or with other people?
• If I’m driving with other people, how many other people?
• How much luggage or cargo will I have?
• Do I want a manual or automatic transmission?
• Do I want a gasoline-powered vehicle or electric vehicle?

And maybe the most important question…

• How much do I want to pay?

The good news is that many car rental company websites like Hertz, Avis and Alamo show you most of this information when you get the option to select your rental vehicle. As an example, look at the Hertz website below. Here you can not only see all the vehicles you can rent, but also the rate, max number of passengers, estimated trunk/cargo space, transmission type, fuel/charge range, plus an image and short description of the vehicle.

Here’s a tip: The sooner you start planning your trip, and shopping car rental prices, the better chance you have of locking in the best rate possible.

Plus, car rental companies like Hertz can offer discounted rates if you choose to “Pay Now,” which can save you a lot of money – especially if you’re renting a vehicle for multiple days. Saving $20 per day on a five-day rental is $100 back in your pocket.

Online travel sites can’t always offer “Pay Later” options, but sites like Expedia do try to calculate the best “Pay Now” rate, saving you money, for whichever car and car rental company you choose. 

Modifying Your Car Rental Reservation

Plans can change in the blink of an eye, so if you need to update, change or cancel your car rental reservation, Hertz – and most other car rental companies – will let you do so as long as…

1. You prepaid for your rental.
2. You modify, update or cancel your car rental reservation by midnight two days before your scheduled pick-up time.

When Can You Modify or Cancel Your Car Rental Reservation?

You can modify or cancel a car rental in two easy ways:

1. Before you checkout and complete your car rental reservation.
2. At least 48 hours before your scheduled pick-up time.

Plus, you can modify or cancel your reservation on the web through the Hertz website, the Hertz mobile app or by calling your Hertz pick-up location.

Are Car Rental Extras Necessary or Not?

After you choose your vehicle, you’ll have the option to select “extras” or “add-ons” to help customize your car rental experience. And even though they’re called “extras” these additional services, features and products can give your road trip the boost it needs to make it great.

So, are they necessary? Honestly, that depends. 

You don’t always need children’s car seats, but something like a liability damage waiver can give you the peace of mind, added safety and legal and financial security you want for every trip.

And although many car rental companies offer similar products and services, please know that car rental extras can vary by company, so make sure to explore your options for car rental add-ons before you start the rental process. This will help ensure you not only get the vehicle you need, but also the add-ons that will help make your trip better, safer and more enjoyable. 

To give you a little more insight into what these extra offerings are, let’s take a closer look at Hertz’s car rental add-ons:

Loss Damage Waiver

Different than insurance, a loss damage waiver (LDW) protects you and your wallet from any damage to, or the complete loss of, your Hertz rental car as long as you weren’t breaking any laws or violating the Rental Agreement. Learn more about why the Hertz loss damage waiver is a must-have addition to your road trip.

Liability Insurance Supplement

Adding a liability insurance supplement (LIS) to your car rental will help protect you from third-party automobile liability claims for bodily injury and property damage. Read more about the Hertz liability insurance supplement.

Personal Protection Package

Protect yourself from medical expenses and loss or damage to your belongings during your car rental with the Hertz personal protection package. See how the personal protection package can give you peace of mind during your trip.

Fuel Purchase Option

Skip the pump and save time by prepaying for fuel with the Hertz fuel purchase option. When travelers know they’re going to use a full tank of gas (or more) the fuel purchase option gives them the flexibility and freedom to pay at pick-up to save time (and maybe even money) at drop-off. See why the fuel purchase option is right for your next car rental.

SiriusXM® Satellite Radio

Go beyond your in-car audio options with instant access to news, talk, and music you love with SiriusXM satellite radio in your rental vehicle. Learn how you can get satellite radio in your next car rental.

Child Car Seat

Traveling with children? Save the hassle of transporting your own car seats by getting car seats with your car rental. Explore all of Hertz’s car seat sizes and options.

Now that we’ve covered how to select your vehicle and any add-ons or extras, let’s discuss how to pick-up and drop off your Hertz car rental.

Did you know…?

Hertz Gold Plus Rewards® members can select their preferred value-add services and extras in their profile so all their Hertz car rentals come loaded with the add-ons and peace of mind they need to drive with confidence mile after mile. See how a free Hertz Gold Plus Rewards membership can help you get more out of every car rental.

Picking Up and Dropping Off Your Rental Car

You’ve picked out your car. You chose the extras. You have pick-up and drop-off locations. Now all that’s left to do is pick-up your rental car.

But how do you do it?

How to pick up your rental car.

If you’re picking up your vehicle at an airport location, you’ll need to find the Hertz Rental Car counter, and in most cases, this is as easy as simply following the signs.

As you approach your airport of choice, you’ll begin to see signs that will direct you toward parking, the main concourse, different terminals, and a variety of other important locations including the rental car area.

Once you’ve parked or have been dropped off at your departing airport, continue to follow the signs to the Hertz rental counter.

To get you in your rental vehicle and on the road as soon as possible, make sure you have these three things in your hand:

1. A valid driver’s license.
2. A form of payment (even if you paid ahead, it’s always good to have that same credit card with you just in case).
3. Any proof of reservation or rental on a physical print-out or pulled up in a confirmation email on your mobile device.
    

As a member of the Hertz team checks you in, they may offer you the chance to make any last-minute changes to your rental like adding the Liability Insurance Supplement (LIS), Personal Protection Package (PPP) or other extras you might’ve missed when you made the reservation.

Then, after a quick review of your car rental, a Hertz team member will direct you to your rental car.

If you’re picking up from a Hertz Local Edition location, the process is the same.

• Approach the counter.
• Have your license, form of payment and rental information in-hand.
• Review your rental.
• Go to your vehicle.

How to drop-off your rental car.

When your trip’s over and it’s time to return your rental car, follow this short checklist:

1. Fill up, or charge (if you’re driving an electric vehicle), your rental vehicle back to full. If you chose Hertz’s Fuel Prepay option when you made your reservation, you can skip this step.
2. Check your vehicle for any personal belongings like charging cables, luggage, clothing, etc. in the front seat, back seat, trunk and frunk.

Then take your car to the drop-off location you chose during your car rental reservation, follow the signs, and enjoy Hertz’s Instant Return Process.

With Instant Return a Hertz agent equipped with a tablet will greet you at the rental car return to inspect your vehicle, determine whether any additional charges or reductions apply, and close out your rental.

Once this process is complete, the agent will close out your rental and get you a receipt in less than a minute!

That’s it.

Time to rent a car. Let’s go!

We hope this guide has helped you see just how easy it is to rent a car from Hertz.

If you have additional questions, comments or just want to learn more give us a call at 1-800-654-4173. Our customer service team is standing by Monday thru Friday, from 6am-7pm CST. 

You can also contact us via social media on Twitter and Facebook.

Want access to more car rental guides, hacks and resources?

Check out the Hertz blogs below to learn how to get more out of your Hertz car rental, and make your next trip as incredible as it deserves to be.