Renting a car on holiday is a straightforward exercise of the most holidaymakers.  Most large car hire companies now have online booking tools, connected to their website.  This makes it simple to check availability, prices, compare costs based on car model, and additional features.    Often car hire companies try and cross sell additional car insurance to enhance their standard third-party policy.  This is sometimes taken up by nervous passengers worrying about the implications of an accident in a foreign place, and consequently taking out fully comprehensive car insurance. 

Car hire insurance cover may include options such as the number of days, multitrip or singletrip, breakdown cover, accidental damage waiver and some types of liability insurances. Some car hire companies may even offer you local travel insurance to take away the worries regarding accidents or being repatriated back to the UK in the event of a real emergency.

For drivers who plan to hire a car when they arrive at their holiday destination, this can sometimes present difficulties. Many car hire desks are located inside the airport, next to their rival competitor car hire desks.  The queues at that car hire companies check-in desk, at many of the popular airport in Spain and Portugal, can be crowded with tired passengers all with the same idea.  Regardless of whether your car hire on the Internet before you leave for your holiday, or you decide to pocket when you get there, you'll need a number of basic items to prove your identity on arrival. This will include your driver's license, passport, proof of address in the form of some type of utility bill and a valid credit card.  Usually copies of these things are not accepted and car hire companies will refuse to release the car, even if it's two o'clock in the morning.

For families travelling with young children and babies, booking the car is sometimes a necessity to provide the flexibility to move around on holiday.  This can only be achieved though as long as the car hire company can provide child safety seats or baby seats.  It can be a bit of a worry for young parents with newborns, concerned about the quality and standard of foreign car hire seats provided for hire. 

Sometimes your car may be delayed due to the fact that there is a limited number of baby will car seats available.  Sometimes you may have to wait for the person is currently hiring out a car with a car seat in, to return to the airport, so you can obtain the seat your children.  Therefore, it's a good idea to plan out and book in advance your car and car seat before you leave on your holiday, rather than leaving it to chance when you get there.

For anyone who has not driven a left-hand drive car, on the wrong side of road, it can feel a bit weird at first.  The signs out of the airport may be confusing and you may find yourself having to make choices about which dual carriageway or motorway you join within seconds of leaving the airport.  The standard of roads and of other drivers varies, by country and differs to that of the UK. Taking into account these factors, it is a good idea to print off a map of the airport and its surrounding roads and plot the route to your holiday destination, before you leave from the UK.

The main car hire companies are budget, Alamo, easy car, holiday autos, thrifty, Expedia, sixt, auto Europe, opodo, ebookers and  Argus car hire.  Many online car hire portals provide access to a range of companies at a number of different airports, providing comparative prices and varying availability.  Despite these choices available, there is always a limited number of cars held at any one airport.  This is because there is a finite capacity size to the airport car park.  You may find that if you booked too late, there is no cars left to hire for your holiday vacation.

Always read the car hire rental agreement carefully before signing it.  In particular, you should check the costs of the petrol if you opt to leave the tank half empty before returning the car.  It normally pays to choose the option whereby you fill the tank up yourself from a nearby airport garage, just before returning the car to the car hire company  based at the airport terminal.