I just realized the difference between China and US is less and less obvious. Let me give you some signs. The recent development is car rental. We tried our first car rental in Sanya this holiday, and it worked almost as well as in the US.
Price
The price is twice as high as in US: 330 RMB/day (or 50 USD/day) for Toyota Yaris vs 25 USD/day at AVIS. However, that also reflected the price of cars (twice as high) and other related costs in China – like all kinds of difference taxes, and fees paid to the government related to car ownership.
Reservation
Reservation is more complicated than US, but still easy to use. We used this company’s service this time: http://www.hainan365.com/. Their reservation telephone is 0898-66287008.
The good thing is, they have a dedicated person to help you – you can always call her mobile phone to make arrangement.
Pickup and Return
In US, it is pretty standard – you directly drive to the AVIS car return at the garage, park the car there, and it is.
For this car company, they offer to provide the car to the hotel of where you stay at 50 RMB service fee. You can make reservation to their people and you can return the car at the domestic departure level – the exact location where your friends or taxi will drop you off at airport. You give the car to the person coming to pick up the car, and you enter the airport – even better than AVIS. The only concern is, you have to make a phone call to make appointment to the person.
Car Condition
This time, the Yaris is only 10,000 KM in mileage, a very new car. We returned it at 11000 KM. The car is very nice – just as any new car. It is automatic shift, and come with empty gas – you need to fill in the gas yourself, and return it with empty gas.
I will Always Rent!
For my next trip to Sanya, I will always rent a car. For my travel in other places like Hainan – a place with wonderful scenery, not a city like Shanghai – I will definitely rent a car again. There are more and more car rental companies in China emerging, like 1hai.cn, Zhizun. I am sure in 5 years, car rental can be a big industry and will become the new lifestyle in China.
very interesting to see the little differences between rental in the two countries. I have never rented a car in China, but I suspect that insurance must be different than in the US. Starting with an empty tank is a big change.
empty tank?
Yes, empty – I got the car when the empty tank warning sign is flashing.
Wendy and I talked about it. Our guess is, they are not comfortable about the gas the customers put into the car – in the extreme case, someone may put water into the tank to make it look like full, and they have nothing to do to defense themselves. That is exactly what other companies are doing.
many car rental companies announce fake prices and hide huge amounts of fees under their announced prices.
Not very cool, ah? often people hire a car rental service and they pay a good amount for it and booking online and does not guarantee you a car.
Regards!
the driver must hold a valid driver’s license and driver’s license the People’s Republic of quasi-line car type and rental vehicles. …
I am french , and i have not DRIVER LICENCE FROM CHINA … it’s posible anyway rent a car and drive myself ?
Great post, I often feel like many of the tasks
I do online are like grunt work, and like you I agree
it was not the way I wanted to run an online business,
I wanted everything more easy and automated.
The 2 out 3 rule sounds good to me, I will be implementing that now,
I was never sure what ratio to use for mailings.
I have tried, failed and gave up, but now I am back to try again,
with a new passion so hopefully I can find the way that works for me this time,
thanks for this post, it really helped me
Great information! i think that’s great, i enjoyed reading here.
It is nice to have a proper car hire comparison of both countries and amazed to hear that in China you get a dedicated person to solve your problems.It is surprising for me because my experience is exactly opposite to your experience .Anyhow nice blog post.
I plan to get a drive license in 2011.
It is a nice blog . Thanks for showing it here. Keep sharing these kind of things.
Thanks for sharing your experience with us. This information is of much use. Please, post such blogs in future. This is meaningful. Keep It Up !!