We are planning a trip to Hokkaido next month and think it will be cheaper and easier to rent a car. There will be 4 adults plus 4 carryons+personal items (likely a medium-sized backpack each). Possibly one medium checked bag shared between all of us. We will need the car for 8-9 days. We are from the US.
We are traveling from CTS-Hakodate-Otaru-Sapporo-Furano-CTS.
Q1) Should I book directly with a car rental place online? Use AAA Travel? Use Expedia, Kayak, or some similar site?? I’ve never used online brokers before and book directly bc I feel like if there will be fewer problems (no middlemen) and if there is a problem, it will be easier to resolve. But maybe I’m wrong about that…..
Q2) Is it more expensive to rent from the airport? Should we taxi or bus into town?
Q3) If a car size is 1800cc and recommends 4 people + 3 suitcases (or 4 handbags) … do you think we would fit? We are all 110-130 lbs.
Q4) Do you have any recommendations for which car rental places to use? Are there any I should avoid???
Q5) Should I get the HEP? Do I need an ETC card if we get the HEP? Do I need an ETC card at all, or can I just pay in cash as we go? Do I need exact change at the toll booths? Is it staffed by a person, or is it all automated? Is there an estimator to help determine whether it is cost effective to purchase the HEP and ETC?
Q6) On the last day, we can turn in the car in the morning at CTS or keep it until our flight that evening. Do you have any recommendations for what to do? Can we check our luggage in early, or is there some limit (like 4 hours before flight time)? Are there lockers? If we keep the car, we were thinking of asking the hotel to hold our the luggage. Keeping it all in the car seems risky.
Q7) Do we need the extra insurance or whatever other extras they’ll try to sell us?
Q8) Should I exchange money, or just charge everything to a credit card? Where is the best place to exchange money? We land on a Saturday.
If there’s anything else you think would be helpful (car-related or just general info), I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you for your help! =D
4 comments
Q5) I don’t know what HEP is but you can easily use the toll booths and just pay in cash. Etc does discounts toll roads ever so slightly so keep that in mind. There’s either going to be a person at the toll booth so you can get change that way or the toll booths that don’t have a person has machines that will give you change.
None of your stops are off the beaten path in Hokkaido; I would highly recommend purchasing the [regional JR pass](https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/global/english/ticket/index.html) for this trip. Sure, you may have less flexibility but sightseeing is definitely doable without a car in these areas as they’re all frequented by tourists.
When next month? I’m not finding a lot of availabilities right now for our trip in (July 18-29).
Q1) I would personally book directly with the rental agency and not the Expedia or other third party companies. IME, it’s usually the same price (or in some cases, it could be cheaper) as booking directly. And you’re right, it would be easier to deal directly with the rental agency.
Q2) It’s looking like it’s slightly cheaper in Sapporo vs. CTS.
Q3) 1800cc is just the engine size and won’t say much about the trunk capacity. You would probably be ok with your luggage.
Q4) They’re all good. We’re going with niconico, but Toyota, Budget, Hertz, and all the big names are good.
Q5) answered
Q6) Yes, there are lockers at CTS. There’s stuff to do at the airport but I think most places open at around 10AM and there wouldn’t be enough things to do to occupy you for 12 hours. Keeping you luggage in the car wouldn’t be that risky.
Q7) I normally don’t get the insurance when I rent a car in the US, but I would get in when I’m in a foreign country.
Q8) I have the same question too, but if you’re going to major tourist destinations, you should mostly be ok with charging everything to a credit card. (We’re going to some out-of-the-way place where I know for sure that we’re gonna need cash).
1) I went direct. You can use e.g. tocoo for peace of mind if you want, but they charge a fee for their service.
5) You can pay cash as you go if you want. The ETC is just convenience to save you time on the expressways at the toll booths – if you’re taking relatively few toll roads then it probably isn’t worth it but up to you. Can’t comment on the HEP – I didn’t take enough expressways to make it worth it. You can do some maths using the nexco website to figure out if the HEP is worth it, but keep in mind that only a number of car rental companies offer HEP, not all.
misc) Driving in Hokkaido / Japan is fairly sedate – the speed limits are generally low. I concur with /u/lecarolina that you’re not going massively off the beaten path so it’s entirely possible you’ll be fine with train & use of takkyubin to send your bags on ahead.