Frequently Asked Questions
Within this section you will find answers to all of the most commonly asked questions that we have had from our valued customers.
Below are a number of Frequently Asked Questions. To view our answers to these questions, simply click on the question:
Our unique Cancellation and Re-booking Policy covers all of our Rental Options, except our Non-cancellable Rental Package. We advise our potential customers to consider whether the Non-cancellable Package is suitable for their circumstances.
Should you choose to cancel your rental car booking, irrespective of any cause, you are guaranteed a full refund of any other money that you have already paid towards your rental, but not yet activated, provided only that we receive your notification of cancellation more than 48 hours prior to the scheduled commencement of your rental term. If you fail to meet the 48 hour requirement, the maximum amount that will be retained by us will be $75.00, plus the payment card fee already activated. If you seek to make a new booking to replace the cancelled one, our protection package ensures that if an equal period new rental cost is dearer than the cost of your cancelled booking, the new rental price will be discounted by up to 10% to strive for price parity, even if the difference reflects seasonal pricing differences. Should you curtail any part of your rental, you will receive a refund for the proportion of your rental curtailed, so that you only pay for the period of actual use, plus one day.
We are very conscious of cyber security.
Our website is protected against hacking because we have both "Https" and "DNNSEC" website protection facilities to provide maximum safety and security of our website, protecting both you and ourselves.
We also use "Pin Payments" as our independent payment platform provider, completely protecting your payment card details, even from ourselves.
We have a full comprehensive motor vehicle fleet policy covering damage to the rental vehicle and to other people's property.
Our motor fleet cover is fully explained in the Insurance Coverage and Excess Options page of our website.
Personal injury (often called CTP or Greenslip) insurance is controlled by the Queensland Government as part of the vehicle registration process. The cover protects all people who are injured in a motor vehicle incident, except for the driver who is at fault.
Rental cars operating in Queensland should be registered as Self-Drive Rentals (Class 4) to ensure that the correct CTP premium is paid. Our vehicles are registered appropriately.
There are many Seatbelt and mobile phone usage detection cameras in Qld and the fines are very heavy.
Every person in a vehicle must be using a seatbelt, and importantly, the seatbelt must be worn correctly. Drivers are responsible if anyone is not correctly using a seatbelt.
Drivers are prohibited from touching mobile phones whilst in a car, even if the car is stationary. Holding the phone, or resting it on your lap attract a fine.
Current (2024) fines are $1,161 plus 4 Demerit points for each mobile phone or seatbelt offence.
We can provide you with mobile phone holders, just go to our Holiday accessories webpage.
We respond to calls for assistance for our customers. Simply call our office on 1300 301 002 during our office hours; or after hours call 0439 940 033 or 0439 940 034.
If you have any mechanical issue with our vehicle, we will endeavour to provide you with a swift solution - free of charge. If the issue causes you to lose more than 45 minutes of your rental time, we will rebate one whole day of the Vehicle component of your rental.
"Driver error" factors such as lights or auxiliaries left on, flattening the battery; losing keys or locking them in the car; running out of fuel; changing a flat tyre are matters to be corrected at your cost, unless you have chosen "MaxiSafe Plus" as your optional Liability Limitation package, or separately elect to add "Premium Roadside Assistance".
We encourage multiple drivers - there is no charge
There is no need for you to nominate additional drivers when you are making a booking, if we need any such detail before you arrive to collect your car, we will let you know.
It is best to keep all drivers within the same age group, as if anyone is under 25Yrs or over 80Yrs, the insurance rules will apply to all drivers on a "worst case" basis.
We see it very much as a case of them being much dearer than us, rather than us being much cheaper than them.
Many years ago I (Darryl Essington-Wilson) was for 10 years the Chief Executive of a motor vehicle insurance company – I know the pricing profile for the reduction in car rental insurance excess arrangements. We do not take any shortcuts, we don’t exclude Single Vehicle Accidents; Hail or Storm Damage; Interior Damage or Glass and Tyre Damage which are often excluded from coverage offered by our competitors. There are some 3rd party insurance arrangements (e.g. RACV) where the cost of protection is approximately the same price as our EconoSafe Insurance Excess Reduction Package – you should be confident that we have got it right and the others have got it wrong.
Our late model vehicle rental packages are often cheaper than other operator’s older vehicles.
However, with us it doesn’t matter whether you get our newest or oldest car, the same “Clean & Reliable Guarantee” applies to all of our cars – it is shown on our home page, but we have reproduced it here:
“Our vehicles are all meticulously maintained to the highest levels of reliability and cleanliness, and are covered by contracted 24hr roadside service.
If you experience an operational problem with the vehicle you rent from us and as a consequence you lose more than 45 minutes of your holiday, we’ll refund the car rental charge for the entire day. This guarantee applies equally to our newest and oldest vehicles but excludes “driver error” items (e.g. lost keys, out of fuel, flat tyre etc.)”.
Yes.
You will need to bring your own “P Plates” and conform to any restrictions imposed in your home state. You will have a limited choice of vehicle and your insurance excess will be higher than otherwise would be the case. It will be best to make your enquiries by phone.
Yes.
Go to our webpage headed “DRIVER AGE REQUIREMENTS”.
Yes, if you have a Visa or MasterCard debit card, we view these in the same manner as a credit card.
Unfortunately, many other car rental companies do not accept them. If you don’t have any card at all, you can still rent a car, the Security Bond requirement will be different, please refer to our website section headed “SECURITY BONDS”.
Fines can be initiated in 3 ways ...
(a) You are personally fined by a police officer and given the fine notice
(b) The fine is attached to the vehicle
(c) The fine results from a camera detected offence
In (a) and (b) above, you should pay or dispute the fine yourself (you need to wait 3 days for parking fines to get onto the system) before the expiry date of your time to pay as shown on the fine notice. If you leave it, the authorities will check the registration, add $25 and send a demand notice to us. We will then add another $25 and charge the whole amount to the credit card that you provided as Security with the rental contract.
In (c) above, a fine will be issued to us as the registered owner of the vehicle – this will be for 5 times the value of the fine if it were done in your name (this is to deter people from avoiding the demerit points component of the fine). We then need to do a statutory declaration nominating the Renter as the person responsible for the vehicle at the time of the offence. We charge a fee (currently $25) for this. The authorities will then withdraw the fine from us and send a new (reduced) fine to you and you should then pay or dispute it.
There are no tolls on the Gold Coast, but there are toll points in and around Brisbane.
They are all electronic and all of our vehicles are fitted with a toll activator.
The tolls are charged to our account and we will recover them from you, plus a one-off service fee of $4. This is usually done by deduction from your Security Bond refund at the completion of your rental.
If you have an E-Tag at home in Sydney or Melbourne, please leave it at home. If you have it with you in our vehicle you run the risk of both activators being engaged, resulting in you paying twice.
Many other rental companies open an account for your rental with the Toll operator which results in an additional $0.40 camera cost for photographing the vehicle number plate and there is a $3.30 management fee for every day when a toll has been activated during your rental term.
They are fully disclosed in our webpage headed “PICK UP & DROP OFF”.
Full information is on our webpage headed “KILOMETRE ALLOWANCE”.
These are provided free of charge.
If you check on our webpage headed “HOLIDAY ACCESSORIES” you will find a range of items designed to help you enjoy your holiday without having to bring half your house with you. Child seats (Reverse facing, Upright, Booster Seats, Booster seats with Harness) are all free and the reverse facing ones come with a sunscreen for the side window. Other items such as strollers or prams are available at concessional rental rates.
We recommend that the parents check the fitting of child seats every time they are used – an older child could easily accidentally undo the seat belt connection.
We have several models that can accommodate 3 child safety seats across the rear seat
In our SUV section look at Our Nissan Qashqais; Our Nissan X-Trails; Our Mazda CX-7s and in our family sedans, the best bet is the Toyota Camry sedan.
Every vehicle in our fleet displays the number of child safety seats which can be fitted.
Lowest Price Guaranteed!
When you hire a rental car from us, it comes with our personal guarantee:–
"If you find another car hire company that offers you a comparable full service car rental package at a cheaper price – we will reduce our price by twice the difference, plus an extra $50*" (view terms). In simple terms, this means that if you found someone that was (say) $25 cheaper than us, we would reduce our price by $100.00!
If the quote you provided us with is found to be not reasonably comparable with our quote, we will still provide you with a reduction in price of $25, as a thank you for giving us a 2nd chance to win your business.
Ideally, it is a question of "Full to Full"; we only want you to replace the fuel you used.
We are very aware that you can't stand at a bowser and see the fuel guage at the same time. If your returned fuel level is below the level that it should be, we will refuel the car and if the difference is less than 3 litres, we will pay for it. If it is more than 3 litres and less than 10 litres, we will charge you for fuel only, but if the shortage is more than 10 Litres, there will be an $11.00 service fee added.
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