Hiring a car or camper on holiday is an excellent way to get about many popular destinations, though certainly not all - imagine hiring a car or camper to get around a city with manic traffic like Cairo or Bangkok!

Seriously though, hiring a car, or making arrangements to rent an RV in the USA, can help you to get so much more from your time overseas on holiday, but then again, it can also prove to be far more trouble than it’s worth - you have to know what you’re getting yourself into.

Perhaps the most important point to make on the subject is that it’s essential that you arrange a rental, whether it’s a car, a campervan, or a full-blown motorhome that puts your current residence to shame, from an agency that’s reputable and won’t go out of their way to make you wish you had not once entertained the idea of travelling to a country like Australia or America.

When you hire from a good agency, you’re immediately reducing the chances of something going wrong that could have been avoided. In addition to that handy tip, here are a few things that you need to be aware of and bear in mind when hiring a car or arranging cheap RV hire.

Make sure you’re not paying more than you should

There are many ways to go about making sure that you’re not paying more than you should for a car or camper rental when on holiday, starting with doing your research and comparing prices before you make concrete arrangements with a hire agency.

A problem that many holidaymakers have experienced is getting hit with extras that they didn’t know about - usually because they didn’t make the effort to check - and this is a problem that’s commonplace the world over.

If you’re unsure of something on the bill, question the staff about it as it may be an optional extra that you simply need to say ‘no’ to. It doesn’t take much and you can save yourself a significant amount of money by making the effort to check. And another way in which you can avoid paying more than you need to, is to avoid travelling during peak season, as rental rates are always higher.

Check the condition of the vehicle beforehand

Before you get started taking ‘selfies’, be sure to take a few photos of the condition of the car or camper you just hired. Checking the vehicle beforehand so as to identify any problems that already exist is one thing, having evidence of the condition of the vehicle is quite another.

Whether you choose to rent an RV in the USA or a car in Australia, you need to take photos of the vehicle’s condition, and if you notice something that just doesn’t look right, be sure to bring it up with the staff at the rental agency before leaving. There’s more at stake here than being out of pocket, so always make sure the vehicle is safe.