Driving and car rental
The rental desk is where the unquoted costs live.
Almost nothing about renting a car abroad works the way it does at home. The rate you booked is often not the price, the coverage on your credit card may not apply in the country you are visiting, the waiver you paid for may exclude the damage you are most likely to get, and the tolls may be settled weeks later with a fee attached. This is the money side of driving abroad, country by country, with the figures dated and the sources named.
Some countries require local liability cover by law, and no US policy or credit card satisfies it. Costa Rica and Mexico are the clearest cases: the charge is legitimate, it cannot be declined, and it is often missing from the online rate, which is how a cheap booking becomes a much larger counter total.
Paying for the biggest waiver on offer does not always widen what counts. In Iceland both the standard and the super collision waiver typically exclude gravel, glass, tires and blown sand, which is to say the damage you are most likely to get. Read what each line covers, not what it is called.
Where tolling is cameras rather than booths, the rental company sits in the middle and charges for it. That can mean a small per-crossing fee, a daily pass costing more than the tolls, or a fine plus an admin fee if you miss a deadline you never knew existed. Ask how tolls are billed before you take the keys.
The waiver caps your liability at an excess, and abroad that figure is often four digits. It usually applies even when nobody was at fault, and breaching the agreement, unsealed roads being the common one, can void the cover entirely rather than just costing you the excess.
The card-coverage trap, before you rely on it
Credit-card rental cover is the most misunderstood part of this, because it is written per card and per country rather than as a general benefit. Two patterns are worth knowing before you decline anything at a counter.
It is per country. Standard Visa and Mastercard rental cover has long excluded the Republic of Ireland, and most American Express cards exclude Australia, New Zealand and Italy. Those lists move: some issuers have removed exclusions and now confirm worldwide cover in writing, while others have dropped rental benefits altogether. No general article can tell you where you stand, including this one.
It never covers your liability to others. Card benefits are written for damage to the rental car. They do not satisfy a country's mandatory third-party liability requirement, which is why the required local cover in places like Costa Rica is not something a card can replace.
So do this: call your issuer, ask about the specific country, and get a dated letter naming you and the card. Many rental desks abroad will ask to see one. Then decide the waiver on that basis rather than at the counter after a long flight.
Driving costs, country by country
Where a country has a driving or rental wrinkle worth walking through, we have written it up. Each one lives in that country's guide.
AustraliaDriving in Australia: tolls, fees and the excessTwo things decide what driving in Australia costs you, and neither is the daily rate. One is how your rental company handles tolls, which varies more than almost anything else. The other is the excess buried in the agreement.
CanadaWhat does renting a car in Canada really cost?Canada is the easy one for US drivers: your license works, and your usual card and insurance most likely cover the car, so the counter's pricey add-ons are often skippable. The costs to watch are the winter-tire rule, a sneaky Ontario toll, and the usual drop and driver fees.
Costa RicaWhat does renting a car in Costa Rica really cost?Costa Rica is one of the great drives and also one of the places where the rate you booked is least likely to be the price you pay. A single mandatory insurance explains most of the gap.
CroatiaDriving in Croatia: tolls and the 2027 changeCroatia is refreshingly simple to drive: there is no vignette to buy, and you pay for exactly the distance you use. The two things worth knowing are that a single trip can involve several toll operators, and that the whole system is due to change in 2027.
FranceWhat does renting a car in France really cost?France is a joy to drive, with quiet back roads and superb motorways, and the motorways are where the meter runs. The costs to plan for are per-kilometer tolls, the low-emission sticker some cities require, and getting the insurance right before the counter.
GermanyDriving in Germany: tolls, stickers and finesGermany is one of the cheapest countries in Europe to drive through, because there is no motorway toll for cars at all. The cost that catches visitors is much smaller and much easier to trip over: a windscreen sticker for city centers.
IcelandRenting a car in Iceland, and what the insurance skipsIceland inverts the usual advice. Buying the biggest waiver the counter offers still leaves out the damage that actually happens here, because the common claims sit in their own separate categories.
IrelandRenting a car in Ireland, and the credit-card catchIreland is the country where the sentence people rely on, my card covers the rental, is least likely to be true. It is also the one where the answer depends on your specific card rather than on any general rule.
ItalyWhat does renting a car in Italy really cost?A car is wonderful for Tuscany, Puglia and the islands, and a liability in the big cities. Two things catch US drivers out before they even hit the road: a permit you must carry by law, and the camera zones that quietly fine you long after you fly home.
MexicoWhat does renting a car in Mexico really cost?Booking a car in Mexico is where a great-looking rate turns into a surprise at the counter. The reason is one mandatory insurance that almost never shows up in the online price, and that your US coverage does not satisfy.
PortugalDriving in Portugal, and the electronic toll trapPortugal has two kinds of toll road and only one of them lets you pay at the roadside. That is the whole problem in one sentence, and the fix is a small transponder you should sort before you drive rather than after.
SpainWhat does renting a car in Spain really cost?Spain is superb for a road trip, from Andalusian white towns to the northern coast, and renting is easy once you dodge two traps: a fuel policy designed to overcharge you, and a permit you must carry by law.Rental pricing is set by companies rather than by governments, so daily figures here are current market ranges, not tariffs, and we say so on each page. Where a rule is law, such as a mandatory liability requirement, we state it flatly and link the official source. For what your card does to every other purchase abroad, see cash or card by country, and for getting around without driving at all, taxis and ride-hailing. More on how we work is on our methodology page.
Compare a whole region
Weighing up where to go? See how the countries in a region stack up on cost, cash, tipping and getting around, with a clear pick for each.