How much does it cost to rent a car in Albania?

I have received so many questions about the costs of a rental car in Albania lately. Therefore, I decided to write a helpful blog post about the actual costs of renting a car in Albania.

How much does it cost to rent a car in Albania? It costs at least 20 euros per day to rent a car in Albania. The cheapest car rentals are 20 euros per day at AB Car Rental, 21.70 euros per day at Eurocar Rentals Albania and 25 euros per day at Albania Airport Rent a Car. Adding full insurance costs 10-20 euros per day.

Lately, I have received a lot of emails about where to rent a car in Albania and how much it would costs. Therefore, I reached out to 15 car rental companies in Albania and asked them for a quotation.

Upcoming:
-Costs to rent a car in Albania (list of quotations by car rental company)
-Costs of car insurance in Albania
-How much deposit is required for a rental car in Albania?
-How much does petrol cost for the popular routes in Albania?
-How to avoid extra charges when renting a car in Albania?
-Is it easy to rent a car in Albania?
-How old do you have to be to rent a car in Albania?
-Do I need an International driving permit for Albania?
-Is it easy to drive in Albania?
-How are the roads in Albania?

Costs to rent a car in Albania

A car rental in Albania costs between 20 euros per day and 90 euros per day. On top of the car rental, you will pay an additional 10-20 euros for full insurance coverage (see below). And you need 200-500 euros on your debit card or credit card for the deposit of your rental car.

To give you a good insight into the costs of a rental car in Albania, I have reached out to 15 different car rental companies in Tirana. Below I have written down the quoted car rental prices from each company. So that you can compare the prices from each company and decide which company you would like to contact for your car rental.

The cheapest car rental companies in Albania are:
1. AB Car Rental
2. Eurocar Rentals
3. Albania Airport Rent a Car

Costs of a Rental car in Albania by company:

• AB Car Rental offered a Citroen for 20 euros per day.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Volkswagen Polo with a manual gearbox for 21.70 euros per day with basic insurance or for 41.70 euros with full risk insurance.
• Albania Airport Rent a Car offered a Skoda Fabia 2018 for 25 euros per day, which includes 100% covered Casco Insurance for Albania and Kosovo.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Volkswagen Polo with an automatic gearbox for 29.15 euros per day with basic insurance or for 49.15 euros with full risk insurance.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Kia Rio with a manual gearbox for 30 euros per day with basic insurance or for 55 euros with full risk insurance.
• Enterprise Rent a Car Albania offered a Volkswagen Golf VII 2019 with a manual gearbox for 35 euros per day.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Kia Rio with an automatic gearbox for 35 euros per day with basic insurance or for 60 euros with full risk insurance.
• Avis Albania offered an Opel Astra Manual for 37 euros per day or Opel Astra Automatic for 40 euros per day. For full insurance, the price is 10 euro/day.
• Hertz Albania stated that their cheapest available car is an Open Corsa for 40 euros per day.
• Hertz Albania stated that a Volkswagen Golf 7 with manual transmission will cost you 47 euros per day. Plus full coverage will cost 13 euros per day.
• Rent Point Albania stated that a Volkswagen Golf costs 50 euros per day. If you want to add full insurance, we apply a fee of 10 euros per day and a security deposit of 500 euros.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Kia Stonic with an automatic gearbox for 50.40 euros per day with basic insurance or for 80.40 euros with full risk insurance.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Volkswagen Golf VII with an automatic gearbox for 51.70 euros per day with basic insurance or for 81.70 euros with full risk insurance.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Kia XCeed with an automatic gearbox for 55 euros per day with basic insurance or for 85 euros with full risk insurance.
• Albarent offered a Skoda Octavia for 60 euros per day including insurance.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania offered a Kia Sportage with an automatic gearbox for 90 euros per day with basic insurance or for 125 euros with full risk insurance.

My personal recommendation for a car rental company in Albania:

I personally found Eurocar Rentals to be very professional in their email communication. Of course, I have not rented a car from each of these companies, because that would make this a very expensive blogpost!

Since I wanted to equally compare the car rental companies, I sent the same email to all the car rental companies. Many companies sent me back a short email with a quick price and I needed to ask more questions afterwards to get all the information.

On the other hand, Eurocar Rentals send me a detailed email with different car types and prices and all their rules and regulations, it was very clear and professional. Eurocar Rentals also offered a Volkswagen Polo with a manual gearbox for 21.70 euros per day with basic insurance, which is a very affordable car rental price.

How much does car insurance cost in Albania?

Full car insurance in Albania usually costs between 10-20 euros per day. Basic car insurance is already included in the above car rental prices. However, if you would like full insurance it will cost at least an additional 10 euros per day.

These are the car insurance costs in Albania:

• Rent Point Albania stated that full insurance costs 10 euros per day.
• Avis Albania quoted 10 euros per day for full insurance.
• Enterprise Rent a car Albania offered 100% insurance on Metallic parts, mirrors and windows for 10 euros per day.
• Hertz Albania quoted 13 euros per day for full coverage.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania quoted 20 euros per day for full coverage on a Volkswagen Polo from 2018.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania quoted 25 euros per day for full coverage on a Kia Rio from 2021.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania quoted 30 euros per day for full coverage on a Kia Stonic from 2021.
• Eurocar Rentals Albania quoted 35 euros per day for full coverage on a Kia Sportage from 2021.

Bear in mind that the full insurance gets more expensive if you rent a bigger and fancier car. As you can see full insurance for a Kia Sportage from 2021 costs 35 euros per day.

How much deposit is required for a rental car in Albania?

You need between 200 – 500 euros for the deposit for your rental car in Albania. The car rental company needs to block this amount on your debit card or credit card.

I did ask the car rental companies whether I could pay in cash for my car rental. All the car rental companies, that they at least require a credit or debit card for the deposit of the car rental. Then some companies would allow me to pay the actual rent for the car in cash if I preferred that.

The costs of a car rental deposit in Albania:

• Eurocar Rentals Albania stated: “The deposit for the Economic category is 450 euro, Crossover SUV category is 600 euro, for the Medium category is 800 euro, and for the SUV 2×4 category is 1500 euro.”
• Rent Point Albania stated that a Volkswagen Golf costs 50 euros per day. If you want to add full insurance, we apply a fee of 10 euros per day, and a security deposit of 500 euros. Your deposit has to be paid by credit card. You can pay for the rental in cash or by credit card, whichever is best for you.”
• Entreprise Rent a Car Albania stated that the deposit is 200 euro from debit or credit card. You must pay the deposit by credit card or debit card, you can pay the rent in cash if you like.
• Albarent stated that the deposit is 500 euros. The deposit should be by credit card and you can pay for the car rental in cash.

How much does petrol cost in Albania?

On top of that, you would need to calculate your petrol. So to make it easier for you, I have made a little list of the approximate amount of money you will spend on petrol for the popular destinations.

Costs for the petrol per destination in Albania:

• Tirana airport to the city center of Tirana 2000 Lek for petrol (17 euros)
• Tirana airport to Durres beach 2000 Lek for petrol (17 euros)
• Tirana to Berat 3000 Lek for petrol (25 euros)
• Tirana to Saranda 8000 Lek for petrol (66 euros)
• Tirana to Ksamil 9000 Lek for petrol (75 euros)
• Tirana to Vlore 4000 Lek for petrol (33 euros)
• Tirana to Gjirokaster 8000 Lek for petrol (66 euros)
• Tirana to Shkoder 3000 Lek for petrol (25 euros)

These petrol costs are based on what I spend in my tour guiding business. We regularly take our guests on day tours and we keep track of the amount we spend on petrol on each route.

How can I avoid extra charges when renting a car in Albania?

You can avoid extra charges when renting a car in Albania by following these steps:

Step 1: Reach out to car rental companies by email before your email.

You are able to rent a car in Albania for 20 euros per day. But after reaching out to 15 car rental companies, I also saw that you can easily spend 35 euros a day, 40 euros a day or 50 euros a day.

When I asked some of the car rental companies for their most affordable car rental, they would start at 40 euros a day! So do your research beforehand, because if you are at the airport car rental desk, you may not have much choice and you will end up paying more than 20 or 25 euros per day for your rental.

Step 2: Pick up and drop off your rental car at the same time

Eurocar Rentals stated that: “One rental day is 24 hours. Pick up and drop off has to be done at the same time to be calculated as 7 rental days.”

Maybe not all car rental companies are as strict when it comes to extra charges. But it is certainly worth checking because you do not want to be charged for an extra 2 or 3 hours because you woke up a bit later in the day!

Step 3: Crossing borders with a rental car costs significantly more!

Many of the Albanian car rental companies asked me if I plan on crossing the border of Albania with the rental car.

Avis Albania stated: “If you are driving only in Albania (not crossing borders) there will be no extra fees.”

So if you plan on crossing the borders and going on a drive through the Balkans, certainly check if the car rental company allows that. And how much they charge extra for insurance and border-crossing fees. If it turns out to be a lot, it might be worth considering crossing the border with a bus or taxi and then renting a different car in the next country.

Step 4: Pick up the car at the car rental office

Hertz specifically made me aware that I must pick up my car at the car rental desk at the airport.

Hertz Albania stated that “No we don’t have any other fee if you pick up the car at our office in the airport. If you would like to drop off service that is 15 euros.”

I am not sure if all car rental companies will charge extra for meeting you with the car rental. But you could save yourself some money by picking the car up yourself.

Is it easy to rent a car in Albania?

It is easy to rent a car in Albania.

I recommend that you start by emailing 10 -15 car rental companies in Albania when you are still at home. Because although I reached out to 15 companies, not every car rental company replied to my message.

The car rental prices per day varied enormously between companies. Some companies offered a car for 20 euros per day, where others offered 40 euros or 50 euros per day. That makes a big difference if you are renting a car for 1 week!

Some of the Albanian car rental companies made renting a car very easy. Here is an example of Albania Airport Rent a Car:

Our terms of the lease are:
1. Without Limit of KM/Day for Albania Territory
2. Full 100% Covered Casco Insurance Albania and Kosovo
3. No extra charges (guarantee payment don’t need or deposit)
4. No credit card copy to leave to us
5. We have desk in airport
The price would be 25 euro / day for Skoda Fabia 2018

How old do you have to be to rent a car in Albania?

You need to be at least 21 years old to rent a car in Albania. Several car rental companies, like Hertz Albania, Eurocar Rentals Albania, Rent Point Albania, Avis Albania and Enterprise Rent a Car Albania mentioned that the minimum age for car rental is 21 years old.

Moreover, Eurocar Rentals and Enterprise also mentioned that your driver’s license needs to have at least three years of driving experience. So if you have your driver’s licence in less than 3 years, I recommend that you check with the car rental companies before you travel.

In Albania, you are allowed to drive when you are 18 years old, however, the minimum age for renting a car is 21 years old.

• Hertz Albania stated: “The minimum age to rent a car in Albania is 21 years old.”
• Eurocar Rentals Albania stated: “The customer must be at least 21 years old and have a valid driver’s license of at least three years prior to the pickup date. All European driver’s licenses are accepted, along with Northern American ones and the ones from the U.K. For all other nationalities an international driver’s license is mandatory (of course also the regular one must be present in this case). “
• Rent Point Albania stated: “The minimum age to rent a car in Albania is 21 years old.”
• Avis Albania stated: “The minimum age for renting a car in Albania is 21.”
• Enterprise Rent a Car Albania said: “The minimum age for renting a car in Albania is 21 years old. And you need three years of experience written on your driver’s license.”

Do I need an International Driving Permit for Albania?

Most car rental companies in Albania do not require an international driving permit if you have a European or USA driving licence.

I asked many different car rental companies if I would need an international driving permit and they stated they would accept EU, USA and UK licences. See my summary of their answers below:

1. Eurocar rentals mentioned that they accept European drivers licences, North American drivers licences and UK drivers licenses.
2. Enterprise, Rent point and Albania Airport Rent a Car accept all national drivers licenses.
3. Avis stated that they accept all European licences.
4. Albarent stated that they accept European, USA and Canada licences. Any other countries the driving licence should be accompanied by an international driving permit.

• Eurocar Rentals Albania stated: “The customer must be at least 21 years old and have a valid driver’s license of at least three years prior to the pickup date. All European driver’s licenses are accepted, along with Northern American ones and the ones from the U.K. For all other nationalities an international driver’s license is mandatory (of course also the regular one must be present in this case). “
• Rent Point Albania stated: “Your national driver’s license will do the job for you to rent the car, no need for an international one.”
• Avis Albania stated: “Any kind of European driving license is valid for driving in Albania. No international driving license is necessary.”
• Albania Airport Rent a Car: “Your national driving licence is okay.”
• Enterprise Rent a car said they accept any regular driving licence, you do not need an International driving permit in Albania.
• Albarent stated: “We accept European, the USA and Canada licences, the rest of the licences should be accompanied by an International driving licence.”

Is it easy to drive in Albania?

It is not easy to drive in Albania as a foreigner. Driving in Albania as a foreigner can be daunting and challenging.

The Albanian drivers have a chaotic driving style. Although there are traffic and road regulations, many Albanian drivers do not follow the rules of the road.

Examples of challenging situations you may face whilst driving in Albania:

e.g. You are driving on the road and people are overtaking you on both sides simultaneously.
e.g. You drive up to a roundabout and all the drivers from different directions are trying to get on the roundabout at the same time.
e.g. Albanian drivers may make a U-turn, drive over a petrol station or the emergency lane to get to their destination quicker
e.g. Albanian drivers may stop, open their window and shout at another driver because they do not like the way the other driver behaves on the road

I am a tour guide in Albania, which means I live in Albania and I know the Albanian driving habits.

Ultimately, you are the only person, who can judge your driving abilities, experience and confidence. However, if you have any doubts at all about driving in Albania, I would recommend you hire a driver, take the bus or book a tour instead.

How are the roads in Albania?

The quality of the roads in Albania varies significantly based on the destination.

You may have read some reviews on TripAdvisor about the bad quality of the roads in Albania. However, this is too much of a generalization, there are bad quality roads in Albania, but not all the roads in Albania are of bad quality.

The roads from Tirana to the South of Albania and the Albanian Riviera are generally of good quality. If you do want to travel to the Albanian Alps in the North of Albania, you will see some bad quality roads in the mountainous areas.

List of popular roads in Albania and the quality of the road:

• The road from Tirana International Airport to Tirana or Durres is of a good quality
• The road from Tirana to Durres is of good quality
• The road from Tirana to Berat is of good quality
• The road from Tirana to Apollonia is of good quality.
• The road from Tirana to Vlore is of good quality
• The road along the Albanian Riviera from Vlore to Saranda is of good quality
• The road from Saranda to Ksamil and Butrint is of good quality
• The road from Saranda to Gjirokaster is of good quality.
• The road from Fier via Tepelene to Gjirokaster is of good quality
• The road from Tirana to Shkoder is of good quality
• The road from Shkoder to Theth is of bad quality. The last hour of the mountain road is a stony dirt track. I recommend you hire a local driver with 4 wheel drive for your safety.
• The road from Shkoder to Lake Koman is of bad quality. It is an uneven dirt track with large stones on the road. I recommend you hire a local driver with 4 wheel drive for your safety.
• The road from Fierze to Valbone (after coming off the Lake Koman Ferry) is of bad quality. I recommend you hire a local driver with 4 wheel drive for your safety.

Welcome to Albania!

I am a Tour Guide in Albania

I am an Albania Tour Guide, who organizes 1-day, 2-day or multiple day private tours in Albania.

Book your free Albania Planning Session via Skype now, by using my online scheduler to find a time that’s convenient for you.