It’s easy to be in a rush when picking up a rental car.
After hours of traveling, you’re eager to finally get where you’re going and relax. There’s a decent chance you’re running behind schedule, too. It’s natural to want to grab the keys and tear out of the rental lot.
Taking a breath instead and completing this brief checklist when picking up your rental car can help you avoid driving distracted and prevent bigger headaches down the road.
1. Know your insurance situation
When renting a car, you’ll need to accept or decline the add-on insurance the rental car company offers. The most important consideration is whether your regular car insurance covers damage to your rental.
The good news is that in the U.S. and Canada, your personal auto insurance policy generally covers you when you rent a car for leisure. However, you’ll only have the coverages your policy includes. For example, if you carry liability and medical payments coverage, but not comprehensive or collision coverage, you won’t have those coverages on your rental, either. In that case, it’s a good idea to take the collision damage waiver—otherwise, you could be paying tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for the entire cost of the rental car if it’s totaled.
Even if you do have collision and comprehensive coverages, accepting the add-on collision damage waiver can save you from having to file a claim with your own insurance and risk a rate increase if the car is damaged.
When renting internationally, where your personal auto insurance usually won’t cover you, you’ll want to either take the collision damage waiver, or make sure you have similar coverage through another means, like a credit card or Allianz Global Assistance’s Rental Car Damage Protector.
2. Check for pre-existing damage & take photos inside & out
Before taking any pictures, look over the car with the naked eye for major scratches, dents, cracked glass, missing trim, and other damage both to the car’s exterior and interior. These can be harder to see if you’re only looking through your phone’s camera. Give special attention to high-contact areas like the hood, windshield, bumpers, side-view mirrors, and wheel rims.
After you’ve given the car a thorough once-over, start taking pictures. You’ll want to make sure you have enough images for a rough 360-degree look at the car exterior, plus the dashboard, center console, and seats. Include detailed close-up shots of any pre-existing damage you found earlier.
This is also a good opportunity to take a picture of the car’s odometer and gas gauge for your records.
3. Safety first: Adjust your mirrors & seat
Hop into the driver’s seat and adjust it such that you can comfortably reach the pedals, hold the steering wheel at 10 and 2 o’clock, and see the dashboard instruments. This might involve moving the steering wheel as well; many models have a release latch near the base of the steering column for this.
Then it’s time to adjust your side-view and rear-view mirrors. (If you do this first, you’ll have to do it again after moving the seat.) Different models have different mechanisms for this, which is why it’s good to familiarize yourself with them while parked and not while driving.
4. Familiarize yourself with the controls
You’ll also want to know how to operate the car’s essential systems before you get under way. This includes:
- Headlights and high beams: How to turn them on, and how to activate the automatic high beams if your rental has them. Automatic high beams should be used if equipped.
- Windshield wipers: How to turn them on and how to adjust their speed.
- Climate control: How to turn it on, how to change the temperature, and how to engage the defrosters.
- Cruise control: How to set, resume, and adjust the speed of the cruise control. If your rental has adaptive cruise control, know how to adjust the follow distance.
- Advanced driver assistance systems: How to use systems like lane keeping assistance, if you plan to—or how to turn them off if you don’t.
If any of these aren’t readily apparent, rental cars usually have an owner’s manual in the passenger-side glove compartment.
5. Check out the dashboard instruments
Take a moment to find the information you want displayed while driving, such as speed or fuel efficiency. If you want to use the trip odometer to record your distance and fuel efficiency, this is the best time to reset it.
6. Connect to the infotainment system
For many of us, it’s not really our rental car until it’s playing our favorite music. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto have also become popular ways to integrate apps like Google Maps, Waze, and Spotify directly into the car’s infotainment. Setting these up by plugging in with a USB cable or pairing your phone’s Bluetooth before you drive away avoids a potentially serious distraction. Another reason to do so: In some cars, Bluetooth can only be paired while parked. (And of course, once you’re under way, the driver shouldn’t be fiddling with these apps.)
If you’re not rocking out on your own device, you’ll still want to know how to turn on the radio, navigate between stations, and adjust the volume.
A note about cables
As the world increasingly transitions to using USB-C cables, many new cars only offer USB-C plugs for data and charging. It’s a good idea to bring at least 1 USB-C compatible cable in case your rental is one of them.
Article reprinted from AAA, written by Robert Goldberg