Here's our guide to costs for Baby Seats, GPS and Insurance from the various car hire companies. We do not have the facility for users to add additional excess reduction or other insurance options to their booking but we can add baby seats and GPS. The rental companies make a killing from excess reduction so they like to sell it themselves.
Working out baby seats and child seats for rental cars is pretty tough. New baby seats laws mean that babies under 6 months must wear rear facing child restraints and children 4-6 years old need child seats or booster seats. Some rental companies however only offer one type of child seat (i.e. +8 kgs, forward facing seats). Other car rental companies don't offer booster seats. If you byo your own booster seat, don't expect much help. Small car rental companies often won't install a child seat rental for you for fear of being sued. You might want to watch this video on installing baby seats:
We have tried to make life a little easier by telling you which car rental company offers what and the price. Start a booking by entering your details and you will see at the last step that "child seats" is one of the additional options to take up on your car, alongside GPS and Insurance. The additional price will be displayed. Search for a rental car below and if you have any questions please contact us, we're happy to discuss baby seats as we have been doing it with our customers for 20 years.
On the third and final step that you hit when making a booking through Carrental.com.au you will be able to add GPS. The price is calculated automatically depending on what the car rental companies charge, which is between $8 and $10 per day. We of course recommend buying your own or using a mobile phone with GPS or mapping capability. In 2 years time almost all phones sold will have this inbuilt, but in the meantime be prepared to put your hand in your pocket for the hire companies.
In an effort to reduce their carbon footprint some rental companies also charge a per day rate for printed street directories (up to $5 p.d.). It may also be an effective way to reduce the size of their customer's pockets.
When you book with Excess reduction is available at the counter. You may also consider protection packages that cover damage to windscreens and headlights plus tyre punctures. Excess reduction usually reduces your excess towards $0 but not all companies offer to get it to $0 (most are around $300). if you have travel insurance or can get it cheaply through a private health insurer, we'd recommend doing so as it will be cheaper. Also some credit cards have free travel insurance in which case you wouldn't need excess reduction as it is an expensive option from which the suppliers make a killing.
You can find out more in our car hire insurance guide.
To add extras to your booking and compare the prices for each supplier, enter your trip details below: