Everything you need to know about long-term car rental

If you’re going on vacation somewhere and plan to stay a while, long-term car rental can be a wallet-friendly way to get around. Whether you rent or lease, having a car on hand gives you flexibility to travel when and where you want, particularly if you’re staying somewhere with poor public transport. Here’s my guide to getting the most out of a long-term rental car.

Why book a long-term car rental?

Renting a car for a holiday or business trip is common practice nowadays. For a trip lasting a few days or a couple of weeks, a short-term rental is a quick and easy transport solution. In almost every city and airport, you’ll find a huge range of rental cars to suit most budgets and needs. From flashy convertibles to cheap and cheerful city cars, there’s a rental option for everyone.

If your trip isn’t so fleeting, long-term car rental can be a convenient and surprisingly cost-effective way to stay mobile. That could be an extended vacation road-tripping the US or a workation somewhere remote without a public transport network. I recently spent several weeks working in the beach towns of Andalucia in Spain where a car was the only realistic means of transport. The cost of renting a car for one month was less than I would have spent on public transport and taxis. And the convenience was priceless.

A long-term rental car can also give you flexibility. Rental contracts mean you can renew your monthly car rental, usually up to a period of three to six months. And those longer contracts come with lower day rates than short-term rentals, making it cheaper than you might have originally expected.

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Find a long-term car rental

How long can you rent a car for?

Every company has a different policy when it comes to the duration and terms of a long-term car hire agreement. Typically, rentals fall into the long-term category if they last from 28 days to anything up to three months. Although more and more rental companies now offer four, six-month or even year-long rentals.

Rent a car for a month

Long-term rentals start when you rent a car for a month or 28 days. These are great for longer holidays like extended road trips, the longer rental period brings down the daily cost. You can book a cheap car rental for a month just like you would a short-term rental. If you’re looking for cheap long term car rental, most companies will let you extend your car rental as you need to and even swap your car for another.

3-month long term car rental

If you need to rent a car for three months, you’re also getting into the realm of short-term leasing. This gives you options. Leasing a car for three months may work out cheaper than renting, but it gives you less flexibility. Using a car rental company will likely cost a little more, but for that price, you get far less paperwork and the ability to extend the rental and swap your car. You’ll find different deals and discounts to meet your needs, so you can choose which works best for you.

6-month long term car rental

More and more rental companies are extending their long-term rental periods to six months, especially for business fleets. As with three-month rentals, this gives you the choice of a standard long-term rental or a short-term lease. The same benefits and pitfalls for a three-month rental versus leasing apply to six-month rentals too. Read on to find out more about the pros and cons of renting versus leasing.

Long-term car rental vs. short-term car leasing

If you need a car for longer than a few months, you face the question of whether it’s better to rent a car or lease one. Generally speaking, long-term car rental includes rentals of one to six months. Longer duration, and short-term car leases become an option for anything up to 24 months.

As I’ve explained above, there’s plenty of flex within these timeframes. Indeed, more and more rental car companies are offering longer rentals to compete with leasing companies. This is a good thing for the consumer, as it gives you more choice.

What are the benefits of long-term car rental over a short-term lease?

Flexible rental periods. You can rent a car for as long as you want it rather than the fixed, predetermined period that a lease offers. Need to extend your rental? Most long-term rentals will let you rent for any duration up to a predetermined limit.
Swap your car. Many rental companies will let you exchange your vehicle during the rental period, so if your needs change, so can your car. If there’s a problem with your rental car, you can call the rental company to sort it out for you.
Convenient booking. Book quickly and easily in advance, just like you would any rental car. There’s less paperwork than there is for a lease and you won’t be subject to credit checks. Leasing also sometimes requires a second person to sign for the car.

Expert tip: If your rental lets you swap cars, you can book the cheapest one for everyday use and only get something more expensive when you need it. This can cut costs significantly over a long period.

What are the benefits of short-term car leasing?

Longer rental periods. If you’re looking at a rental period longer than six months, you’ll have much more choice leasing a car than renting one. Most rental companies impose a long-term rental period limit of between three and six months. You can lease a car for years.
It’s cheaper. The big plus with car leasing is that it’s almost always cheaper than renting. That price gap only increases the longer you have the car. So if you need a car for more than six months, leasing will cost significantly less than renting.

Expert tip: Think about all the ways you’re going to want to use your car throughout the entire period of the lease, as it will save you money and hassle. Got family visiting at some point? You may need a bigger car. Just you in the city? A small car will be much cheaper.

How much does long-term car rental cost?

The cost of long-term car rental can vary wildly depending on lots of factors. The location, how long you’re renting for, what mileage is included and what type of car you want. Then there are the rental companies themselves, with some charging far less but without much in the way of customer service.

How much does it cost to rent a car for a month?

On average, I’ve been finding long-term hire cars priced from around $380 a month at the cheapest end of the scale. Bigger, more reputable hire companies generally charge substantially more than smaller local ones.

How do you find cheap long-term car rentals?

There are a few things you can do to bring down the cost of a long-term rental car. The smaller, more basic and less powerful the car, the less it will cost. Although I wouldn’t recommend it, you can also choose the least expensive insurance option. Beware though – this may end up costing you more in the end should the car get damaged and your insurance doesn’t cover the repairs.

To save you searching through the tens of car rental companies out there, a dedicated search site is the easiest way to find the best car rental deals.

Expert tip: The KAYAK Car Rental Search Tool checks hundreds of rental car companies to find the cheapest available. You can even search by car type for everything from a van to a convertible sports car.

Which companies offer long-term car rental?

All major car rental companies including Sixt, Enterprise, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Avis, offer long-term car rental. Make sure to check the details of every policy to make sure you’re getting the right deal. Pay particular attention to the type of car to make sure it suits your needs and if there are fixed mileage allowances. Companies often offer discounts if you book online rather than over the phone.

Conclusion

Getting a long-term rental car comes with lots of benefits. It makes getting around easy, and removes the hassle of car maintenance and insurance. If you’re going to be somewhere for three, six, 12 months or longer, renting a car offers convenience and mobility without the hassle of leasing or buying.

Before you rent a car, long or short term, there are plenty of things to consider. From the best way to pay to knowing what to do in an accident, KAYAK has guides to help.

How does KAYAK know what to put in this guide?

I’ve been working and living in different countries for more than 15 years and have only ever owned a car in the UK. During that time I’ve had a few long-term rental cars, everywhere from Los Angeles to Cologne. My learning has been that the convenience of renting a car almost always outweighs the hassle of leasing one.

This guide takes you through renting a car long term for anywhere from a month to a year. How to do it, whether it’s worth it, and what it’s likely to cost. This is all based on my personal experiences coupled with research into the latest prices and policies of car rental companies.

Long-term rental car – FAQs

Yes, there are more and more car rental companies offering car rentals for four months or even longer. Not all rental car companies offer such a long-term rental though, so you may need to look around. Or you can of course use the KAYAK Rental Car Search Tool, and let it do the hard work for you.

The cost of leasing a car varies depending on the type of car, where you’re leasing and for how long. When leasing, you may need to leave a down payment and pay admin fees up front. You may also face extra costs when you return it.

Multi-year rentals are usually cars that have been leased. If you need to rent a car for three years, you should lease rather than rent it. Leasing is cheaper than renting, and you may find it hard to get a rental car for such a long period.

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