Car Rental Recommendation- 58 days

[dannywla]

Can my fellow TVF members recommend a good independent car rental establishment.  I will need a rental for 58 days this summer and would like link or name of recommended companies.  Thanks in advance.  

[thaibeachlovers]

I'm not going to recommend a particular establishment, but I do recommend one of the big companies like Hertz etc. An "independent" company will be cheaper, but there is a reason for that. In Thailand, you get what you pay for and if it's cheap if you have an accident you'll find out why it's cheap.

Chances of an accident driving in LOS- high end of scale. Doesn't matter how good a driver you are.

Have you a lot or any experience of driving in LOS? If a lot, you already know it's dangerous out there.

[NanLaew]

I've tried a couple of local Pattaya car rental companies and despite their ultimately being no issues with either the vehicle or price agreed (which always seems + + from the rates they tout), their slow, old-fashioned booking, sign up and 'security' payment malarkey is only surpassed in its arcane pedantry when handing back the vehicle where they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for non-existent damage. When you get your deposit back, you can sense that they think you've somehow pulled one over on them. I imagine they are quite joyous if they find some evidence of a door ding or stone chip.

 

Of the mainstream operators, after several years of brand loyalty with Thai Rent a Car (always superb customer service and lowest prices) I now stick with either Budget or Avis as their online booking experience is excellent and service at BKK, CNX, UTH, UTP and USM is fast and friendly. They both seem to keep a fleet of newer vehicles than they used to which is why I initially went with Thai Rent a Car before they started hiking their rates.

 

If it's a short-notice rental booking, I book direct. If I have a bit more time, I use an online aggregator website that uses some variant of car trawler software to get a better deal from Avis, Budget, TRAC and all the others.

[SidJames]

Pattaya rentacar up in Pratumnak btw sois 4 & 5.

Full insurance including bail from a long established ex-pat with excellent Thai backroom staff.

Shane is well known in golfing circles as he's bloody good plus they will even meet you at BKK (at cost) with the vehicle.

(I'm not Shane btw just have used him when I first came to town & he's also looked after pals when they came to town)

[Henryford]

As said above if renting i would also go for one of the global companies Avis, Hertz etc.

[DrTuner]

SIL works at National, I'm fairly familiar with their caveats. Their cars are Nissans which are ok, read the fine print and take the full protection. I would never go with cowboy outfits here.

 

https://www.nationalcarthailand.com/depots/pattaya-downtown/