ABout Perth's Car Rentals

Probably the best way to really explore Perth and see some of its best attractions like the coastal region with its beautiful beaches, or the surrounding countryside with its famous wild flowers is to hire your own vehicle. A lot of travelers find it more comfortable to rent a car and drive around Perth themselves and prefer doing so over taking a guided tour. This way, you can get to all the places that you want to see but may you may otherwise not be able to reach on public transportation. Even better, you can set your own timetable according to your specific personal needs.

This option can be quite expensive though unless you are traveling with a group (and therefore have the option to split car rental expenses). In Australia, cars drive on the left hand side of the road and have right hand drives. There is a free booklet on road rules within Western Australia, a copy of which can be obtained from the Western Australian Police Department. Perth has a highly efficient highway system that links the city to all the major roads that service the coastal as well as the surrounding hills areas. Speed limits are posted on all the roads and in cases where they are not, city speed limits tend to be about 50 kilometers per hour in built up areas, while the maximum speed in Western Australia is about 110 kilometers per hour but this is only applicable to country areas.

Western Australia makes use of speed cameras in both the city and the country regions to catch speed limit offenders and the wearing of seat belts is compulsory. Western Australia also has very strict laws about drunk driving and the legal blood alcohol limit is 0.05% with automatic forfeiture of driver s license for blood alcohol levels over 0.08%. Perth has all the major car rental companies (e.g.: Avis, Hertz, Thrifty, Budget, etc.) located throughout the city, suburbs and at the airport, and most of these car rental companies have a large range of cars including compacts, sports cars, convertibles, family cars, luxury vehicles.

4WDs and the conventional 2-wheel drive as well as the 3-wheel drive cars and campervans. You should be able to get advise as to a suitable style of car to meet your driving requirements from the car rental companies. Larger towns and cities usually have several local car-rental companies and these may rent out cars at cheaper rates than the international companies. When renting a car, you will be asked to present a current Australian, international or overseas driver s license which must be carried at all times when driving the vehicle.

Rental charges vary according to the type of vehicle you wish to hire, the total number of miles traveled, whether or not you intend to travel outside of the Perth city limits of the metro area and for how long you will be renting the vehicle. Car rental may cost more for younger drivers and most rental companies will not rent out vehicles if you are below the age of twenty-one. As with most other places, the car-rental companies at Perth have restrictions as to where you can go, so it s a good idea to check on this as well as exactly what the car-rental company s insurance covers. Generally, the standard insurance for rental cars do not include tire and windshield damage in their coverage but for a little more cost, you should be able to include that as well.