How much does it cost to rent a car in Australia?
Based on an intermediate car, car hire cost in Australia is around $50 a day from big cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. But car rental prices in Australia can be raised by heavy one way fees and mileage limits from destinations outside the state capital cities.
Hiring a car in Australia is a good way to see the country, although it is not essential. A lot can be covered by domestic flights, public transport and tours. You don’t need a car to visit the Blue Mountains from Sydney, for example.
If planning long distance journeys, though, doing it as a road trip adds more fun and freedom. And that’s going to require a rental car in Australia. For visitors from the US and Europe, this may be daunting, as Australia drives on the left.
Car rental prices in Australia
Car hire cost in Australia is generally a teeny bit more expensive than in the US or Europe, but not prohibitively so. Major international firms such as Hertz, Avis, Dollar, Budget and Thrifty can be found in most towns, cities and airports. There are other, lesser known options, such as Firefly, Alpha, Apex, No Birds and Redspot, too. There’s no point in being loyal to any of them. For car rental in Australia, you may as well go with the best price via a comparison site.
There are several comparison sites available. But Australia-based Vroom Vroom Vroom is a good bet for getting rough prices for car hire cost in Australia. Doing a dummy booking for two week’s car hire from Brisbane Airport, for dates two months in the future, the cheapest price was $458. That’s $32.76 per day for a compact car such as a Hyundai Accent. This is for an off-airport rental from a small local firm. The cheapest of the international firms was Europcar with $628 for a Kio Rio or similar.
Chances are, though, that you’ll want something bigger if planning to drive long distances. Luckily, slightly bigger cars don’t cost much extra, as Australians tend to buy big cars anyway. For the same dates, Europcar was offering an intermediate car (such as a Hyundai I30) for $662 – that’s just over $47 a day.
For an advance booking, these prices are about standard. A decent rule of thumb is that anything under $50 a day for an intermediate car is a good price.
Australian car hire: one way fees
The bad news is that one way fees can bump up the car hire cost in Australia by a hefty amount. Using the same dates, but picking up at Brisbane Airport then dropping off at Sydney Airport, things get more expensive. The cheapest on-airport deal available for an intermediate car was $961 with Thrifty – that’s just under $69 a day.
If you’re driving from Sydney to Byron Bay for a dolphin kayaking tour, or taking on a west coast road trip from Perth to Broome via the Shark Bay stromatolites and the Ningaloo Reef, expect the one way fees to bite hard.
That extra money is all one way fees hidden within the total price. Obviously, the longer you hire the car for, the smaller proportion of the price the one way fee eats up. So three or four weeks travelling down the coast is comparatively better value than a fortnight. And a week’s car hire from Launceston in Tasmania will work out cheaper per day than a couple of days’ rental.
Another thing to look out for is mileage limits. With rentals in regional Australia, there can often be limits on how far you’re allowed to drive before extra charges kick in. It’s not uncommon to be limited to 100km per day with car hire in Geraldton or rental cars in Port Lincoln on South Australia‘s Eyre Peninsula, for example. That distance allowance gets eaten up very quickly if hiring a car at Uluru, or picking up a rental car in Devonport.
Car hire in regional Australia
Pick up a hire car in Proserpine, Whitsundays.
Rent a car in Cairns, Queensland.
Mildura car hire deals, Victoria.
Car hire in Albany, Western Australia.