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It has been about a week since I've been looking at rental car prices online for Taiwan. All the prices I found so far are exorbitant and more expensive than any other country where I rented a car except for Iceland (I was told there that prices were very high because the tourist season is short and they have to make profits for the year in a short period).

All the major websites and even lesser known ones show around a minimum price of $70 per day for the smallest car available. Is that really the price of rental cars in Taiwan or do website jack up prices for tourists? Do prices get noticeably better (I would consider at least 20% difference) if renting while in Taiwan? For reference, I am paying $9-39 per day in the Americas, Europe and other Asian countries.

Are there websites that offer more reasonable prices? I've already checked Expedia, Kayak, Priceline, RentalCars, SkyScanner, EasyRent, Avis just to name the ones I remember checking.

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  • It's more of a are online prices representative? rather than a whats the price question?. I found that in Vietnam for example I could easily pay 50% to 75% less than online prices were showing (at the risk of missing availability).
    – Itai
    Jan 24, 2017 at 4:27

1 Answer 1

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Taiwan has electronic toll collection and although a quick check of Avis does not plainly state that tolls are included in a free daily allowance of 400 kms I suspect they are, given the nature of the tolling system. This could account for as much as $15/day of the daily hire fee.

So yes, Taiwan is (probably) fundamentally different.

Note though that there do seem to be offers under $70/day - that is with unlimited mileage and includes the cost of tolls.

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  • Nice observation. Very interesting. I am looking into it. It looks like the cheap one you find deduces the tolls from the deposit, which is going to make the final price difficult to compare. I also noticed in my original route through Google Maps had tolls had it recalculate with avoiding tolls. I'm not sure these are of the same type as you linked to.
    – Itai
    Jan 24, 2017 at 4:35
  • Confusing because I read that at the top of the page but this We will deduct the toll bills from your deposit before we re-fund you at the bottom. That is misleading because what I understand is that it is included in the deposit, which anywhere else is something that is entirely returned (except for damage and fines).
    – Itai
    Jan 24, 2017 at 4:43
  • Neither would I, which is why it surprises me that tolls would be deducted from the deposit. i assume, the 70% deposit paid back is after deduction. Sounds really strange to me, have you found any other place that rents for a similar price? (I haven't yet, not even close)
    – Itai
    Jan 24, 2017 at 14:17
  • Yes, you're probably right, it's most likely from the 30%.
    – Itai
    Jan 24, 2017 at 14:26
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    That one listing seems to be the one exception and they make it rather difficult to deal with them. So, yes, it seems there is not choice but to pay a high price for rental cars in Taiwan.
    – Itai
    Jan 27, 2017 at 0:44

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