How it works
From booking to driving out
How to rent a car in Phuket, in four steps, from putting your dates in to driving out.
Language
01
You search and book
Put in where you want the car and the dates. What comes back is the live list from Phuket suppliers, with the daily rate in Thai baht, the deposit, the mileage terms and whether that particular car offers free cancellation. Those terms are set car by car.
Confirmation is immediate on some suppliers and manual on others, which means the supplier checks availability and comes back, usually within a few hours, with a yes or an alternative.
02
We send a voucher
It names the supplier, the meeting point, the time, and exactly what to bring. Add your flight number when you book: it is how the rental agent knows if your flight is delayed.
03
Where do you actually meet the car?
The simplest version of hiring a car from Phuket airport is collecting and returning there, because the car starts and finishes where you land. Collecting and returning at the airport needs no transfer between the airport and where you stay.
At the pickup point you chose. The supplier confirms where and when before you travel, using the phone number you gave at booking, so keep it reachable the day before collection.
What changes between the points is the drive afterwards, not the handover. Collecting in Khao Lak puts about eighty minutes and the Sarasin Bridge between the terminal and your hotel, so collect there in the morning rather than late at night.
The drive down to the Kata and Karon strip runs inland through Chalong instead of over the Patong hill. It is the longer line on the map and the easier one to drive.
Have these ready rather than in the bottom of a bag:
- Your passport
- Your home driving licence
- Your International Driving Permit, which is not optional in Thailand
- The deposit if the car holds one, in cash or on a card in the main driver's name. The listing says which, and whether there is one at all
- Any additional driver's documents too. Every driver has to be named on the agreement
04
What do you check before you drive off?
Walk round the car with the supplier before you sign anything and photograph it: wheels, bumpers, screen, and the fuel gauge. The photographs are the record if the condition is questioned when you bring it back. Then you drive off. Traffic keeps left, the same as home for British, Irish and Australian visitors.
Returning it works in reverse, at the point you chose when you booked. If you want to leave the car somewhere other than where you collected it, set that at the search stage rather than asking on the day. One-way rentals are available in either direction across the island, and the drop-off decides which cars are offered.
Away from the airport, the car comes to an address you give; Cape Panwa additionally offers named meeting points.
The deposit and the cover level are fixed when you choose the car, not at the handover. Traffic keeps left, and what to expect once you are on the road includes scooters filtering on both sides and the steep hill road into Patong.
Three terms are set at the search stage. The minimum chargeable period is 24 hours, so a rental of less than a full day is charged as a full day, and a car collected on a Monday morning and returned that evening costs the same as one kept until Tuesday morning. Collection and return do not have to be the same place: untick the return-to-the-same-place option and the second list opens. And delivery away from the terminal carries its own charge, priced per car and shown next to the rate.
The fuel policy is stated in the supplier's conditions rather than per car: bring it back at the level you collected it at. A lower level is charged at the supplier's rate, and a higher one is not refunded. Photograph the gauge at the handover along with the car itself.
The rental agreement allows the car on paved public roads. The Sarasin Bridge to the mainland leaves Phuket province, and the supplier's conditions ask you to confirm at the booking stage that the car may be driven out of the province.
Keep the phone number you gave at booking reachable throughout, including the day before collection. It is the number the supplier uses to confirm where and when, and on a delivery it is how they find you.
On the cars that hold one, the deposit is an amount taken at collection and returned when the car comes back undamaged. It is held in cash or against a card in the main driver's name, and the listing says which of the two before you commit. It is not a charge and it is not insurance: the size of the deposit does not change the cover. The deposit and the daily rate are both on the listing before you pay.
The steps above are the same at every pickup point and for every car.