One Way Car Hire

Traditionally you return your rental car to the same place you picked it up. Today though more and more people are using rental cars as part of a larger journey, so one ways, where a car is returned to a different rental location either within the same country or internationally, a becoming more popular.

In some circumstances international one ways are free but these are the exception. For example maybe picking up in a smaller location and returning to alarger airport location. This is because you are helping with the logisitics of the fleet moving the vehicle back to a larger fleet with more customers. In most circumstances though a charge is incurred and is normally stated in the terms and conditions. All fees are paid locally at the desk and are included in ant additional options on the rental agreement.

There are two types of one way:

Domestic One Ways

Car is rented from a location in country and returned to a separate location within the same base country. An example would be picking up in Gatwick Airport and returning to Bristol Downtown within the UK - the charge for this with National Alamo would be £35 sterling.

International One Way

Picking up at a location in one country and returning to a location within a different country. Not always allowed and always on request with some vehicles being allowed but some higher request cars not. Costs can be high for international one ways as the vehicle needs to be repatrioted to the country of origin due to licencing restrictions. This is not the same as travelling in a different country and returning to the same country you picked up in. This is normally allowed but do check the terms and conditions for restrictions.

Our form at Car Hire .net allows for domestic one ways and charges are shown normally in the terms and condtions. If you require a international one way we recommend booking the same location as the pick up and contacting the car hire company afterwards to discuss options available to you. A tip for international one way is using two domestic one ways with a another transport option inbetween. An example would be say pick up in Madrid and drop off in Girona with a train journey over the border to Perpignan. Pick up in Perpignan and return to Paris. The two domestic one way fees and train journey would be considerably cheaper than the single international one way fee.