Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, economic is developed, public security is good, is a highly suitable for tourism and living in the livable country, there are five cities with a population of more than one million, Sydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,Perth and Adelaide, have all been in the top 10 cities in the world list of livable cities.
Australia has a beautiful environment, unique tourism resources, government and people have a good sense of environmental protection, good social order, making Australia one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Australia is very friendly to tourists, almost all large towns have tourist information centers, for tourists free of charge to provide all kinds of tourism information advice.
Australia is sparsely populated and inconvenient for public transport, coupled with world-class self-driving routes such as (Great Ocean Road), making it one of the most convenient and freest ways to travel in Australia, and one of the largest sources of Australian tourism in China. Australian government is also a green light for Chinese tourists with a Chinese driver`s license. Next, let`s talk about some basic knowledge that Chinese tourists need to know on their own driving tour in Australia.
Australian car rental requirements:
- Driver Age Requirements:
- 25 years and over;
- 21 the main driver at the age of 24 will be charged a young driver fee (Young driver surcharge), different car rental companies charge different fees;
- You are not allowed to rent a car under the age of 21;
Provide the original passport of the main driver;
Provide the original driver`s license, and
- NATTI three-level certified driver`s license English translation;
- Or the notarization certificate issued by the domestic notary office with an English translation.
- Or an international driver`s license (driving age must be more than 1 year)
Provide an international credit card under the name of the main driver (VISA / MASTER / AMERICAN EXPRESS),). The credit line of the credit card is sufficient to cover the rental fee, and some of the funds will be frozen as guarantee by pre-authorization. Note that some car rental companies, such as Europcar, do not accept credit cards with the word "UnionPay". Please confirm them in advance before renting a car.
If it is booked online, prepare the printed version of the order in advance or store it in the mobile phone for the counter staff to see;
In addition to the main driver, if there are other people on the car who need to participate in self-driving as co-drivers, they also need to meet the above conditions, and some car rental companies will charge additional driver fees per person or per vehicle; If there is someone other than the main driver who needs to drive in the process of driving, be sure to explain to the car rental company that it should not hide it in order to save money or trouble, otherwise, in the event of an accident, the car rental company may refuse insurance compensation on the grounds of breach of contract.
Choose a car rental company and book a vehicle
Don`t wait until you get off the airport and go to the rental company on a temporary basis. It is strongly recommended to book online in advance. Major car rental companies in Australia can book online and choose their own pick-up and return location, rental time, car model, additional equipment, etc., which is very convenient. The following is a list of major car rental websites:.
- Hertz：http://www.hertz.com.au
- AVIS：http://www.avis.com.au
- Budget：http://www.budget.com.au
- Europcar：http://www.europcar.com.au
- Thrifty：http://www.thrifty.com.au
- It is recommended to use http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au/, a comprehensive price comparison website that integrates the major car rental companies in Australia, which can be easily compared among several car rental companies and place orders directly.
Rental of other facilities:
- Child seats: in Australia, children under the age of seven must use child seats and can be rented from car rental companies; for specific law regulations on children`s seats, please refer to: http://australia51.com/read/6643A836-B86D-3255-7398-DC67B340140D
- GPS: rental price is usually not cheap, I think it is not necessary to rent, mobile phone install a Google Maps navigation on the line, do not worry too much about the remote areas will not have a network problem, as long as there is a network set up a destination and start navigation on the line;
Car rental insurance:
The rental price already includes the basic risk (Basic insurance), and if there is a traffic accident or vehicle damage, there will be an additional damage compensation fee (Damage excess fee), deductible amount, according to different car rental companies and different vehicles, generally in 2000 ≤ 5, 000 Australian dollars, if the loss of vehicles or personnel caused by the accident is less than this amount, the charterer will have to pay for it himself. Only when this amount is exceeded is paid by the insurance company, that is to say, if there is only basic insurance, the average minor accident will have to pay for it itself, so it is generally recommended to buy additional insurance to reduce the deductible amount, the cost is generally about $25 / day, and the deductible amount can be reduced to $300 per day, while some companies will provide so-called full insurance (Full/Maximum Cover), fee is generally about $35). The deductible amount can be reduced to 0, that is, no matter what accident occurs, it will be borne by the insurance company. But note that even if you buy full insurance, some people will have to pay for the damage caused by intentional damage, such as driving the car into the water, drunk driving / poison driving, damage to windows / windshield, interior, wheels, tyres, chassis or roof, and vehicle damage caused by hitting animals at night in the country;
If you don`t have the experience of driving in Australia, it is recommended to buy full insurance, although the price may be higher than the rental price, but buy peace of mind.
Model of the vehicle:
The distinction between vehicles in Australia and that in China is slightly different. Some car rental companies will give a car of the same class or higher in lieu of a car without a predetermined model. Please refer to the following table for details:
- Manual gear: Manual, automatic block: Auto
- Economy: economic type, corresponding to domestic A0 class car, representative model: Toyota Yali Yaris
- Compact: compact type, corresponding to domestic A class car, representative model: Toyota Carola Corolla
- Standard standard type, corresponding to domestic A class car, representative model: Hyundai Ilant Elantra
- Full Size: full size, corresponding to domestic B class car, representative model: Toyota Camry Camry
- SUV: is the domestic SUV.
- Van: is a domestic business car, such as GL8 and so on.
- Luxury: luxury: high-end car, corresponding to domestic C and or S class sedan
- Sports: sports car or sports ca
Pick up the car:
Each major car rental company has stores in the airport, can pick up and return cars directly at the airport, but pay attention to the fact that the return point of the airport can return the car 24 hours a day, and the store is open during the car rental. If the flight arriving in the middle of the night may not be able to pick up the car directly at the airport, it is the best policy to pick up the bus at leave airport the next day.
When it comes to the car, do not drive away in a hurry. It is best to check the condition of the car carefully and explain to the staff in a timely manner if there are any questions:
- Whether the appearance of the vehicle is in good condition, whether there are obvious scratches and other appearance damage;
- Tire condition, including tire appearance, tire pressure and so on, if the tire is quickly flattened must be replaced, high-speed tire explosion is very dangerous;
- Check the brake system, if the brake has a clear sound must be replaced;
- Check the water tank of wiper and wiper. There are many bugs on the windscreen during long distance. If there is a problem with the wiper, it will seriously affect the driving safety;
- Ignition inspection fuel, Australia rental car there are two agreements on fuel, default is full fuel and require full fuel to return the car; the other is to pay the cost of a whole box of oil in advance, return the car time and space fuel. You need to know what kind of lease you have, but either way, the car rental company should be full when you give the car to you.
Come on:
- First of all, you need to know the type of fuel used by your car. The common types of fuel used in gas stations in Australia are:
- E10, gasoline, is a kind of unlead gasoline mixed with 10% ethanol, which is not found in China.
- Unleaded # 91, corresponding to No. 91 or No. 92 unleaded gasoline in China;
- Unleaded # 98, corresponding to domestic No. 98 unlead gasoline;
- Diesel: diesel, which is divided into 0, 10, 50 # and other models, is only one type of diesel fuel in Australia.
- The fuel type that the vehicle can add is generally printed in the fuel tank cover, most ordinary cars add # 91 or E10 can; diesel oil gun is larger than gasoline, can not reach into the fuel tank of gasoline vehicle, so do not worry about adding wrong;
Australian labor is very high, so gas stations are self-help, need to do it; after parking and flameout, get out of the car and put the fuel gun into the tank, hold the gun trigger to start refueling, fill up the gun to jump away. After adding, put back the oil gun, remember their own refueling number, go into the gas station to pay;
Some gas stations have cooperative relationship with supermarkets, such as Carltex and Woolworths, Shell and Coles (Woolworths and Coles are Australia`s two largest supermarket chains, everywhere). If you shop more than 30 yuan at a time, keep a small ticket and save a liter of money to the cashier when you add fuel to check out.
Traffic regulations and driving experience:
Australian traffic rules can not be finished in a few words, but the change does not leave its place, just pick some important or obviously different from the domestic driving habits, there is little problem with mastering these.
- The Australian vehicle is left and right rudder, the cab is on the right side of the vehicle and the vehicle is on the left side of the road. This is actually simpler than many friends think. It is very fast to adapt. A skilled old driver is basically no problem driving for 10 minutes to half an hour.
- The concept of driving rights in Australia is very important. In short, it is:
- Intersection: auxiliary road let the main road;
- Opposite vehicle: straight turn, right turn (big turn) let left turn (small turn);
If your road power is low, then be sure to observe carefully and let the vehicle with high road power go first, because if you rob, the other party will not expect you to rush out suddenly, and the probability of car accident will be very high. So on the two paths, how to judge which is the main road and which is the auxiliary road? Very simple, if your intersection has the following sign, then must be the auxiliary road, must give way to the transverse vehicle, in which the Stop sign indicates that the vehicle must stop completely at the intersection for more than 3 seconds, regardless of whether there is a car opposite the road, and the Give Way sign indicates that you need to make the line, but do not have to stop, make sure that the main road vehicle can not be affected. Note that some intersections are unmarked by Stop and Give Way, so you need to look at the marking lines on the ground, as shown in the following figure:
Sidewalk: in Australia, the zebra crossing without traffic lights has the absolute highest road right, must slow down before approaching the zebra crossing, if there are pedestrians crossing the road, or if there are pedestrians ready to cross the road by the side of the road, then must stop and give way, rest assured, when you give up, there will never be a rear car honking your horn to urge you; On the contrary, if you dare to rob pedestrians on the sidewalk, it is very serious to be seen by the police uncle;
Traffic lights:
- Turn left (small turn) also must look at the traffic lights (unless there are other instructions), this is different from the domestic, remember;
- When only the direct green light is on, the left turn (small turn) and the right turn (big turn) can turn, but the right turn must give way to the direct vehicle; If the straight direction has been the car can not turn right, at this time in the front of the right-turn vehicle can drive the body out of the parking line to wait, when the direct green light is about to end, the opposite direct vehicle stops, using the transverse green light has not yet lit a few seconds to quickly turn right away (when the direct green light is on, and when the right turn red light is on, you can not wait for the car to drive the parking line);
- Turn left or right when the red light is on, do not turn left or right;
- When the right turn green light on, the right turn exclusive, do not worry about the direct traffic;
- At traffic lights, unless specifically instructed, it is usually not possible to turn right (corresponding to the domestic left turn), which needs to be turned at a special turn-around intersection;
- Even if the left or right turn is a green light, you must let the pedestrian crossing the road;
Stop the car:
- You can`t stop on the road along the yellow road;
- Parking needs to pay attention to roadside instructions, generally speaking, the Australian city CBD area roadside parking spaces are mainly charged, and out of the city is basically free, the parking space signs will have the words Ticket or Meter. However, whether it is a fee or a free parking space, there may be a parking time limit, more than the allowed time will be fined, to pay attention to the time instructions on the parking sign, generally P5, P10, P15 and so on can stop for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, while 1: 2p 1p 2P, etc., can park for half an hour, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc., can refer to the following figure;
- Never stop a parking space with a disability sign on the ground or on the side of the road. Whether it is a roadside parking space or a disabled parking space in a consumer place, it may be a super huge ticket waiting for you.
Roundabout island: the roundabout island usually appears at the intersection where the traffic flow is small, replacing the role of traffic lights, this is almost not available in China, so many friends do not know how to drive, often drive when they should not drive, or hesitate to drive, affecting the traffic, in fact, the rules around the island are also very simple, roughly explained:
- Before entering the roundabout, slow down to about 25 kilometers / hour, and turn to the light ahead of time, take the four most common intersection roundabout example, if it is the left turn (the first exit), then turn the left light; if it is the right turn (the third exit) or turn around (the fourth exit), turn the right light; if it is straight (the second exit), do not turn on the light. The purpose of lighting is to let other vehicles know your driving direction, can make the corresponding judgment, so it is necessary;
- Some roundabout islands are not necessarily four intersections, maybe three or five intersections or more, the principle is the same, you turn on the lights in which direction you want to turn on.
- Roundabout rules, Australian vehicles are driving on the left, so the direction of driving around the island is clockwise, all vehicles entering the roundabout must give way to the right side of the vehicle, do not affect the driving of the right side of the vehicle; if there is a vehicle on the right side, then stop and wait in front of the roundabout entrance. Sounds a little complicated, in fact, it is still very simple, in conclusion, before entering the roundabout, see if you have a car on the right, let it go, do not care about the left side of the vehicle, because the left side of the vehicle is to give way to you.
SchoolZone:In the road section near the school, there will be a sign of SchoolZone, and there will be more strict speed restriction requirements for students to attend class. The requirements of each state are different. In short, it is necessary to pay attention to the sign, especially in the morning and afternoon from Monday to Friday;
Bicycles: there are basically no independent non-motorized lanes on Australian roads. Some cities have but the driveways are very small. If someone is riding a bike on the side of the road while driving, the correct way is to slow down and keep a safe distance when surpassing the bike. You can change lanes to the right side of the road. And if there has always been a car can not change course, then patiently follow the bike, do not rush to overtake or honk the horn, this is very dangerous and impolite behavior;
Kangaroo: don`t worry in the city, but once out of town, Australia`s fine wild natural environment is likely to teach you a good lesson. On the outskirts of the road, you can basically drive for an average of about 10 minutes to see the body of a kangaroo or emu. These clumsy guys bring endless nightmares to novice drivers about how to avoid close contact with kangaroos as much as possible on the road. I have written another article: "Australian self-driving kangaroo incomplete manual", you can refer to;
Highway and overtaking: if there are more than one lane in the same direction on a road with a speed limit of more than 80 kilometers, then unless it is overtaking, you must drive in the leftmost lane, you can enter the right lane when overtaking, but you must return to lane one as soon as possible after overtaking; If it is a two-way two-lane road, there is only one lane in the same direction (very common in the suburbs), then you can use the opposite lane to overtake, but only when the middle of the road is a dotted line (or a solid line and a dotted line, but the dotted line is on your side). At this time, you need to observe whether there is a vehicle head-on and quickly speed up the overtaking and return to your own lane in order to ensure safety. In addition, on (Great Ocean Road), Australia`s most famous self-driving line, most of the roads are two-way two-lane roads, and because many roads are curved and it is not easy to see the situation of the opposite vehicles, it is often very long in the middle of the road that the solid line can not borrow to overtake, as long as there is a car driving slowly, then a long motorcade will be lined up in the back very soon. If the leading car is driving significantly below the speed limit, then it is best to find a chance to stop by the side of the road and let the car in the back go first (pay attention to the car after you turn on the lights in advance), and the car in the back will usually honk a few trumpets to thank you; This is not only a kind of driving politeness, but also a kind of law requirement. When I first traveled to Australia to drive Ocean Road, I rented a very large RV, which could not drive fast (110 kilometers of speed limit was about 100). Before long, there were more than a dozen cars in the back, and I had been unable to overtake the real line, and I couldn`t find the right place to stop and make way. So, after about half an hour of driving, an uncle of the police drove up in a motorcycle. Stopped us at an intersection and said that someone called the police that we were driving too slowly to affect the traffic and the police did not punish us, but we were taught that we should find a way to pull over and give way to the rear car, which also impressed me.
Some basic knowledge about Australian self-driving needs to be introduced here. In short, do not avoid self-driving as a terrible thing; but do not do any homework, take the car directly on the road, I hope this article can be helpful to friends who want to come to Australia to drive themselves.
This article is original for Australia`s No Concern Network(http://AUSTRALIA51.com).
