As far as being in control of where you go on your holiday and price wise , its often much cheaper to hire a car than get a transfer from the airport , transfers can be from £25 pounds per person and if there is 4 of you that can be as much as £100 and with car hire often less than £100 for a week its often better to rent a car . The downside is you 'll need to queue up and get the car plus you will not necessarily know where you are going so you 'll need maps and have to plan the trip a bit more . But it means you can come and go as you please , not the extra cost of petrol though .

Some tips when hiring a car

Petrol - make sure you fill the tank up as car hire companies often charge far more to fill it up if you leave it half empty after you have returned the car . You can also pre-pay for it to be filled up when you complete the booking process at the airport

Pre book the car , you can get a quote here - remember its cheaper than actually turning up at the airport . Also you may not get the exact car that you booked on the Internet or over the phone but it should be similar . Don't be afraid to ask for an upgrade as well to a better car .

Insurance Excess - make sure you re comfortable with this , you can pay more to increase the excess , check for collision damage waiver as well . Check out your travel insurance as well and ensure that this covers you for any aspect of your car hire .

Check the damage to a car if there is any - you unusually have to sign off on this on a diagram of the car beforehand but to be thorough check these marks on the car when you pick the car up make sure you have car hire companies number and also the Emergency number for that country should you break down . Check whether the car is diesel of regular petrol

Once you get your credit card statements make sure the car hire company has made no unauthorised debits to your card . If they have write to them and then if the situation persists you can commence a chargeback on your credit card through the issuer

Travel Tips

Plan your route

Have a good look at the map before departing to decide how far you want to go and in how much time. Leave the detailed planning for later but make sure that you have your first day's route roughly in mind.

Driving regulations

Rules vary across different countries. Here is a small selection of rules you may not have heard of:

• Belgium - On certain stretches of road, it is legal to overtake on both sides.
• Finland - Winter tyres are compulsory between December & February.
• France - Watch out for locals enjoying their right to priority from the right, even when joining fairly major roads.
• Germany - It is an offence to make derogatory signs or use abusive language to other drivers.
• Greece - Children under 10 are not allowed in the front seat.
• Portugal - Photographic ID of some form is required by law.
• Spain - Pre-1991 (green) UK driving licences need to replaced by pink ones or used with an international driving permit (IDP).

Journey timing

• When planning a drive in a country you don't know, make a rough guess of what you could do in the time and halve it!
• Remember that the more distance you cover, the less you will actually do or see - you can spend too much time in a car.
• Work out how much driving you feel happy to do each day and the distance that represents.
• Build your route, leaving time for sightseeing and rest-stops on the way.
• Remember that motorway driving may be faster, but it is duller and more fatiguing than driving on smaller roads.
• Don't plan too rigidly. Drive for a day or two and you will have a much better idea of driving conditions and the speed at which you can expect to travel (Germany, for example, will be a lot faster than Portugal).
• Decide in advance what to do if you make an error and avoid last-minute corrections which can be dangerous. The best option is usually to agree to come off at the next motorway exit or stop at the first convenient lay-by.

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