Cheap car rental in Europe: where it's genuinely cheap

Three habits do most of the work. Book early with free cancellation - European fleets are smaller than American ones, so prices climb steeply as pickup approaches, and a cancellable booking lets you rebook whenever the price dips. Take a manual if you can drive one: it is the default across Europe and routinely a third cheaper than the automatic version of the same car, which also sells out first in summer. And compare the total with cover included, because the cheapest headline rate often carries a four-figure excess that the desk will happily reduce for more than the car costs.

Then match the country to the trip. If the route is flexible, starting it in a cheap market changes the whole budget: a two-week loop picked up in Spain or Portugal can cost half of the same loop started in France. Crossing borders is normally fine within Western and Central Europe as long as every country is declared at booking - it is dropping the car in a different country that gets expensive, so plan a loop rather than a one-way where you can. Each country then has its one quirk worth knowing: electronic tolls in Portugal, ZTL camera zones in Italian old towns, motorway vignettes in Czechia and Austria, pricey autoroute tolls in France. Our Portugal and Ireland guides cover the two cheapest markets we've written up in full, and the car rental hub has the rest.