Anyone who has planned a holiday around public transport knows the feeling. You find somewhere you’d love to stay, a farmhouse in the hills above Noto, say. Then you check the route and discover it’s a 40-minute walk from the nearest bus stop, and the bus runs twice a day. At that point you either give up on it or hire a car.

Plenty of people give up on it, and it’s easy to see why. Car hire abroad has a bad reputation, and most of it is deserved. There’s the queue at the airport desk at 11pm and the insurance you’re told you can’t do without. There’s the fuel policy that turns out to mean paying for a full tank you’ll never use. And there’s the deposit, which can tie up a worrying chunk of your credit card for the whole trip.

Discover Cars was started to deal with exactly this. It began in 2013 as a three-person start-up called Discover Car Hire and rebranded in 2019. It now compares prices from over 1,000 rental companies at more than 50,000 pick-up locations in 164 countries. Over seven million people have booked through it, and the company says it’s now the most-visited car rental comparison site in the world.

For anyone actually booking a car, how the prices are shown matters more than the numbers. The quote includes all mandatory fees, taxes and extras, so the price you see is the price you pay. You’re asked for your age and country of residence before you search. That sounds like admin, but it means the young driver fee many suppliers charge under-25s is in the total from the start, instead of being sprung on you at the desk.

Each offer also lists its rental conditions: the deposit, the fuel policy and how much mileage is included. Read these, because they’re behind most of the rows at pick-up. If you’re planning long days on Crete’s coast roads, look for unlimited mileage. If your credit card limit is on the low side, the deposit figure will rule some suppliers out straight away.

Customer ratings help too. After drop-off, Discover Cars asks every customer to score the supplier, and those scores appear alongside the search results. At each location, the top three suppliers with an average of 8 or more get an Excellent Car Rental Service badge. Discover Cars’ own advice is to stick to suppliers rated 8 or above, and it’s worth following. Paying a few pounds a day more for a well-reviewed firm usually works out cheaper than a bargain from one known for disputed damage charges. For what it’s worth, Discover Cars itself scores 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from more than 280,000 reviews.

You can change or cancel for free up to 48 hours before pick-up, which takes the risk out of booking early. And booking early usually pays off, since prices tend to rise the closer you get to your dates, especially in summer. Our advice is to book the car when you book the flights. If your plans change, you haven’t lost anything.

One-way hire is an option as well. You could pick up in Lisbon and drop off in Faro, or drive the length of Sicily without doubling back. The app is worth downloading before you fly. It keeps your booking and pick-up details in one place and shows deals on a map, which helps if you’re weighing up a town-centre office against the airport desk. Support runs 24/7 in more than 15 languages, which you’ll appreciate if your flight is delayed and you need to move a pick-up time at midnight.

When you collect the car, you’ll need several things:

• your driving licence (most suppliers want you to have held it for at least a year)
• your passport
• a credit card in the main driver’s name with enough available to cover the deposit
• your voucher, printed or on your phone

Some of the big suppliers now take debit cards, but check the payment policy in the rental conditions before you count on it. It takes two minutes and can save you a very awkward conversation at the desk.