Before you go
This is based on official information from rental car companies and booking sites, as of September 2026.
The same company. The same class of car.
And yet the price is different depending on the page.
There’s nothing strange about it. Rental car prices change mainly with three things.
1 Where you buy it (the official site or a booking site)
2 What’s included in the price shown
3 How the rates are divided up, and the time of year
1 Where you buy it
A booking site lets you compare cars from lots of companies at once.
On the booking site rentalcars.com, your booking is an agreement with rentalcars.com, and the contract to rent the car is made with the rental car company at the counter. The booking is the site’s business, and the car is the office’s.
Who handles what differs from one booking site to another. Look at the contact details in your booking confirmation, and you’ll know where to turn if something goes wrong.
rentalcars.com ranks its search results not only by price and reviews but also by things like profit — it says so itself.
Being at the top doesn’t necessarily mean it’s cheapest. What you compare is what’s included, not the order.
2 What’s included in the price shown
Before you book, check what this price includes.
Here’s how it differs depending on where you book.
On Tabirai Car Rental, the price shown includes the basic rate, 免責補償 (CDW), navigation, the ETC unit in the car, and consumption tax. The ETC card, the company’s extra coverage (such as NOC), options, one-way fees, gas and expressway tolls are outside the price shown.
On ToCoo!, only available cars show up in the search results, and you can also see the total including coverage and so on. Consumption tax is added on the booking screen. For bookings through ToCoo!, ToCoo!’s own coverage (T.A.S.) is required. It covers NOC (the rental company’s compensation for the time the car can’t be rented out) in an accident, and towing costs, and because it isn’t the rental car company’s product, you can’t sign up for it at the office.
At Nippon Rent-A-Car, if you book on its own site with 「フル補償」 (“full coverage”), there’s no coverage to add on the day. If you booked on another site, it tells you to check your coverage with that site.
At Toyota Rent a Car, basic insurance is included in the hourly rate, and coverage packages cost extra. At Times Car Rental, coverage packages aren’t required, and you can choose them when you book or when you pick up the car.
So you don’t pay for coverage twice
The coverage that’s included from the start differs depending on where you book. Some companies also let you add coverage when you pick up the car (Times Car Rental, Nippon Rent-A-Car).
So note down what coverage your booking already includes, and bring that note with you.
Before you add coverage at the counter, compare it with that note, and you won’t pay twice for the same thing.
What the coverage includes is explained in “Rental Car Insurance in Japan (CDW and NOC) — Three Tiers So the Booking Screen Doesn’t Stop You.”
When we actually checked several booking sites, the amounts shown didn’t include the same things even when we searched under the same conditions. If you’re unsure where to book, see “Where Should You Book a Rental Car in Japan? How Much Is the Total?“.
3 How the rates are divided up, and the time of year
Times Car Rental’s rates come in blocks of 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours. If you rent for 8 hours, the 12-hour rate is cheaper, so that’s the one that applies.
Over the New Year holidays, Obon and Golden Week, peak-season rates apply (Times Car Rental).
Nippon Rent-A-Car has separate rates for Japanese licenses and other licenses. You can check your own rate as you go through the booking.
Once you know the blocks and the seasons, you’ll start to see ways to save a little when you pick the day you rent and the time you return.
You can’t choose the model. So it’s a surprise
What you choose when you book is the car’s class (its size category).
At Times Car Rental, Nippon Rent-A-Car and ORIX Rent a Car, you can only choose the class (at ORIX Rent a Car, except for campaigns that let you choose the model). Even if it says 「同級車」 (“a car of the same class”) or “or similar,” think of it as choosing only the class.
If you have your heart set on a particular model, there are ways. Nissan Rent a Car lets you choose whether to accept a 「クラスアップ」 (“class up”), where you get a car from a higher class. Toyota Rent a Car has a paid option to specify the model, and ToCoo! has plans that let you specify the model.
As long as the class is right, which car you get is a surprise on the day.
Checks before you press the book button
□ Will the card you have work? Some companies don’t accept debit cards or prepaid cards (Toyota Rent a Car, Nissan Rent a Car). Depending on the type of card, it may not be accepted, so check which cards you can use before you book. Some companies take only credit cards at the office (Budget Rent a Car), and some offices take only cash (Japanese yen).
□ What’s included in the price shown? Coverage, navigation, ETC, one-way fees.
□ The rules for canceling and changing They differ depending on where you book. Even at Times Car Rental, the cancellation rules are written differently on the Japanese page and the English page. So read the rules on the page you booked on.
□ Where you booked Keep your booking confirmation handy.
When you can start booking, and how to change a booking, are covered in “Japan Rental Car Q&A — Booking, Pickup, Return, Accidents and More.”
If you use a booking site
Booking sites are a handy way to line up companies and compare them. Besides rentalcars.com, mentioned above, here are two examples.
ToCoo! It handles 54 brands, with offices at 56 major airports and 72 major shinkansen stations.
Tabirai Car Rental It chooses the companies it lists using more than 20 criteria, and its top page shows six companies: Toyota, Nippon, Times, ORIX, Nissan and Budget. The price shown includes things like 免責補償.
※ What’s included in the price shown, coverage, the rules for canceling and changing, and the cards you can use differ by company and by booking site, and they can change. When you actually book, check the latest information on the page you’re booking on.
