Car Hire: Your Practical Tips to Explore Indonesia with a Rented Car

You’ll be able to explore over 13,000 islands around Indonesia, but that’s maybe not one of your best choices this time. Indonesia has it all to cover all sort of needs for any tourists, so if you plan to visit Indonesia sometimes, you will find it relatively easy to fulfill your travelling needs. The only one you should concern about is what transportation you’re gonna use to explore this largest archipelago. In Indonesia there are has vast transportation network, from planes to motorbike, taxi to motorbike-taxi, and the one that should do the job is probably car. It might seems intimidating to choose one for the best choice, but renting a car should be included into your consideration. For you who intends to rent a car, here’s your best guide.

Car Hire in Indonesia

In big cities such as Jakarta, Bali, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Medan, and Surabaya, it’s easy to find car rentals almost anywhere to use on the go. Cars with various types can be rented for around $35 to $200 a day with or without driver. For you who just arrived at the airport of a city, you can easily find car rentals there. But the cost would be relatively expensive. So it’s best to find it in the middle of each city you visit.

Before Renting a Car

If you decide to rent a car, let us tell you that the roads in major cities can be quite chaotic. You’ll definitely get stuck on the terrible traffic. It’s best to use public transportation first to learning the situation on road by yourself. Ask around will be good as well, or simply search all the information on the net. If you’re hesitate to drive by yourself, hire a driver who understands the roads more than anyone else in your group. It is might be your best choice, but it’s still okay to use a car all by yourself.

To rent a car without a local driver, you’re gonna need several certificates/licenses or permission from the rentals. Besides, local business would not permit you to drive the car all by yourself, so if you choose to drive, find major international car rental companies around. Some of which are Avis and Europcar. Still, you have to give your international driving licence as assurance to be properly insured.

In summary, make sure all the required documents for renting a car with or without a driver are ready to avoid any issues in the future, especially to avoid fines from traffic police. This section is to help you understand the situation here in Indonesia before renting a car.

Renting a Car: Choose Only the Best Choice

If you do decide to rent a car, make sure you have fixed destinations on your list. Note that car hire is not available in all cities or regions around Indonesia. Just make sure that car hire is available in the city you want to visit. Or if you’re confused about what’s the meaning of all this, let’s dig into several case studies.

For example, if you decide to explore Bandung, West Java which is just about 3 hours from Jakarta (we assume that you arrived in Jakarta first when visiting Indonesia) and plan to stay in Jakarta for a few days before going anywhere else, we suggest to rent a car for a couple days from Jakarta and explore Bandung with that car. You can go back to your hotel in Jakarta after that.

Another case, if you decide to visit some other small cities which doesn’t have any car hires available, find out which major city nearby. For example around Bandung, there are good destinations to visit in Sukabumi, Pangandaran, Purwakarta, etc. But those small cities may not have car hire available for foreigners, so it’s best to rent a car from Bandung for a couple of days. It’s relatively cheap and you can use the car all by yourself on the go.

Other Suggestions & Recommendations

1. Best choice for travellers & backpackers, don’t rent the ones at airport. It is indeed trustworthy but it’s quite expensive compared to others in the middle of town.
2. International Driving Permit is required. If you decide to rent a car without driver, then you have to have this licence.
3. Easier option, you can use the help of private driver when renting a car. Most of car rental companies, even the local ones, already provide the option to use private driver.
4. Collect all the information about the route, traffic conditions and situations, and you will also need some technological assistance to assist.
5. Note that all rental companies have their own terms & policies, check them all first before even thinking to rent a car. It also matters depending on what city you’re gonna visit. For example, if you plan to visit Bali and want to rental a car to explore Lombok (another island), make sure that the company allows you to drive that far.
6. Use these resources to find reliable car hires:
   Avis.co.id
   BaliIslandCarRental.comElephantCarHire.net

   Hertz.com

   RhinoCarHire.com

   Europcar.co.id

   Rentalcars.com/en/country/id/

7. For easiest option, just use public transportations. Public transportations in Indonesia are better nowadays than ever.