What to look for when receiving and returning a rental car

So, the long road is behind (or ahead), and you arrived at the car pick-up station at the airport, train station, city center, port or any other office of a car rental company.

In your hands, of course, are all documents, cards and a printed voucher with your reservation.

You have successfully completed all the papers, you were given the keys to the car, the rental agreement and, if necessary, a navigator. Of course, they will tell you the number of the parking lot and show the direction of movement. Very often, along with documents and keys, a printed diagram of the path to the parking lot is offered and the place where your car is standing is marked. If you haven’t been given such a card, ask to draw — schematically on paper or on an envelope with documents — parking path and parking space number.

Be sure to ask where you will need to return the car. Of course, most often when you approach, for example, to the airport, you will need to follow the sign “RENT CAR RETURN”, but if you pick up and return the car not at the airport, you will be calmer to know where to return the car. Often in the navigators that are issued by rental companies, the default return address is programmed.

You safely got to your car, loaded things, prepared for the road, installed a navigator. It is very important to immediately check whether the cigarette lighter is working, from which you are going to recharge the navigator, phone and other devices. If the cigarette lighter is not working, you have the right to rely on a replacement car. This is a very common breakdown, because, as a rule, in rental cars the cigarette lighter is not used for its intended purpose, but to recharge the devices, which leads to its breakdown. This is a feature of car cigarette lighters. Agree that to notice this breakdown, already being far from the place of issue of the car, — not very nice, as well as being left without a power source for phones and navigators.

And one more useful tip: take a few photos of your car before you hit the road. As a rule, these are 8 photos, 4 sides of the car and 4 corners. If you take a car in a country with a very hot climate, pay attention to the dashboard and the car dashboard: quite often these parts can crack and burst due to strong heating.

So, you had a good rest (or worked) and return the car to the rental company.

Do not forget to refuel the car if you must return it with a full tank, or try to return the car with the least amount of fuel if you must return it empty. Refuel 5-3 liters of fuel if you are afraid not to reach the point of delivery of the car.

When stopping at a rental car parking lot (as a rule, cars of several companies are stored in this parking lot), make sure that you park the car in a place assigned specifically to your company. In some cases, employees who take the cars of all the rental companies in one place work at these parking lots. Check if you left your things in the car (it is rather difficult to return them later due to the flow of customers), hand over the keys to the company employee. An employee of the company will check the external condition of the car, mileage, fuel availability. After he says that everything is in order, you can safely leave, while the contract for car rental should remain with you. If you rent a car after hours, it is at your service that works at most stations around the clock “Key Box”, a simple box with a slot for documents and keys. It can also be a slot in the car pick-up counter, a slot in the office door, etc. Please note that if you rent a car after hours, you should always know in advance where the car parking is located and “Key Box”.

And finally, the last. On the example of Geneva, we would like to explain some specifics of the work of rental companies. As you, of course, know the Geneva airport is divided into two parts: French and Swiss. The same companies work on the French side and on the Swiss side, i.e. — under one brand. They have a relatively distant relationship to each other, so we strongly recommend that you return the car to the parking lot assigned to the particular rental station where you rented it.

Friends, if you have any questions, not necessarily only on this topic, contact us, We will definitely answer, we will try to help and advise.