Before you go
The prices and conditions in this article were checked on each booking screen and in official information on October 17, 2026. Both prices and conditions change. When booking, check the latest information on the page where you make the reservation (this is not an explanation of insurance or law).
The Short Answer ― Do Not Decide by the First Price You See. Check All 4 Before Deciding
If we were choosing where to book a rental car, we would decide by looking at the following four points, not the price in the search results.
- Total price ― Does the amount include tax and coverage?
- Coverage ― If there is an accident, how much will you have to pay at the rental location?
- Who to contact if there is a problem ― Who do you contact to change or cancel the booking?
- Cancellation deadline ― How many days in advance can you cancel and get your money back?
We actually checked four booking sources for the same dates, the same airport, and the same car size. The prices in the search results ranged from around 10,000 yen to the 20,000-yen range. But all four included different things, so we could not compare them by price alone.
That is why we will not say which one is the cheapest. Instead, section 5 explains which one we would choose for each set of travel conditions.
1 Where Should You Book?
There are two starting points: a rental car company’s official site and a booking site that lists many companies at once.
Among the booking sites we checked, Economybookings states in its terms that it acts as an intermediary, while the rental agreement is made directly with the rental car company, and that the booking confirmation is proof of the booking rather than the rental agreement itself. rentalcars.com also separates the booking arrangement with the site from the rental agreement made with the location at the counter. With these two companies, booking matters go to the booking site and car matters go to the rental location.
An official site is not always safer, and a booking site is not always cheaper. Which works for you depends on the shape of your itinerary. We explain how to choose a company in “How to Choose a Rental Car Company｜It Depends on the Shape of Your Itinerary.”
2 What We Learned by Actually Checking 4 Companies
Conditions we checked (the same for all four companies)
- Pick up at Naha Airport and return to the same place
- Three days, from 10:00 on Tuesday, December 8, 2026, to 10:00 on Friday, December 11
- Compact class (a smaller car)
- Driver age 30–65 (left at each site’s initial setting)
- One search per company at around 22:30 on October 17, 2026. We stopped before booking
Prices shown in the search results (the lowest one displayed in the compact category. Only rentalcars.com had no compact category, so we used the price for a Honda Fit or similar. The order is the order we checked them, not cheapest first)
| Booking source | Price in the search results | What the price includes |
|---|---|---|
| Economybookings | 14,557 yen (displayed as 14,557.27 yen) | Displayed as the “total price for 3 days, including taxes and fees.” The details for this car showed Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), theft protection, and Third Party Liability as included |
| Tabirai Car Rental | From 14,750 yen | Tax included. The screen showed 免責補償 (CDW), a display audio system or navigation, and an in-vehicle ETC unit as included |
| ToCoo! | 9,545 yen | Before tax. 免責補償 was included. The amount for ToCoo!’s own mandatory coverage (T.A.S.) was not shown at the screen we reached |
| rentalcars.com | 22,470 yen | Honda Fit or similar (“medium car”). Because there was no compact category, this was the car we checked, and it was not the lowest price in the results. We could not confirm whether tax and coverage were included (unconfirmed) |
We learned four things.
1 Having a price is not the same as having a comparable price. At first glance, ToCoo! looks much cheaper, but its price is before tax and does not yet include mandatory coverage. Tabirai’s price has “from,” and we could not confirm on the screen how many days it charged for the three-day period. You cannot rank them just by lining up the numbers.
2 Many of the cheaper cars were at locations outside the airport. The cars we checked on Economybookings, Tabirai, and rentalcars.com required taking a shuttle bus from the airport to the location (we did not record the location of the ToCoo! car). On Economybookings, cars in the same class at locations inside or near the airport terminal cost 46,831–59,944 yen, about three to four times the price at shuttle-bus locations. The companies were different too, so we cannot say the entire difference was caused by the shuttle, but whether the location is inside or outside the airport is something to check together with the price.
3 Sites divide car classes differently. rentalcars.com had no “compact” category, and the Fit was categorized as a “medium car.”
4 The number of results also differs. For the same dates and airport, before narrowing by class, Economybookings showed 114 cars, Tabirai 177 plans, ToCoo! 367 cars, and rentalcars.com 42 cars (only Tabirai counts “plans”). More is not necessarily better, but the number of cars shown changes depending on where you start.
3 Why You Cannot Compare Prices Even Under the Same Conditions
Even with the same dates, airport, and car size, the “contents” of the displayed price differ by starting point.
- Tax ― Some include it and some do not
- Mandatory coverage ― Some include it from the beginning and some add it on a later screen
- Coverage for NOC (the car’s “time off” charge) ― For every site, it was either not included in the initial price or we could not tell whether it was included
- Car class ― Category names and divisions differ
- How days are counted ― Whether 72 hours are charged as three days or four
So when comparing, first align tax and coverage, then look at the amounts. We explain how to read displayed prices in “Why the Same Car Has Several Prices｜How to Read the Booking Screen,” and the levels of coverage in “Rental Car Coverage Has Three Levels.”
4 Features and Cautions for Each Booking Source
Economybookings
- The search-result price said taxes and fees were included (“total price for 3 days”). It is a display that leaves fewer items to add later when comparing
- Money returned after a cancellation first goes into Economybookings’ “E-Wallet” (you can withdraw it to the original payment method for free). Some plans are nonrefundable, so check the booking screen
- Changes and cancellations are both handled through Economybookings’ “My Bookings.” If you tell the rental location directly that you are canceling, Economybookings’ refund rules do not apply. There is no fee for changes (you either pay or receive the difference)
- If your flight is delayed, it tells you to notify them by phone as soon as possible. It also says that the location may hold the car for up to about one hour and that it is not responsible for losses caused by delays or cancellations
- The screen languages are English, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Indonesian, and Thai. Chinese is available only in Simplified Chinese; there is no Traditional Chinese screen
- Its public Trustpilot rating was 4.4 (155,191 reviews, October 17, 2026). The page states that it uses a paid Trustpilot plan. Companies may collect reviews differently, so treat this only as a guide
The paid “Full Coverage” is reimbursement-based. It is separate from the rental location’s coverage. It does not mean you pay nothing at the location after an accident. You pay the location first, then file a claim to have that money reimbursed. For the car we checked, it was 3,493.93 yen per day.
The conditions below are for Economybookings’ own Full Coverage in its English terms (the version effective from October 5, 2026). Full Coverage may also be provided by another company, in which case its terms appear on the booking screen. We did not confirm which type the Full Coverage for this car was (unconfirmed). The same terms do not necessarily apply to every booking, so check the terms shown on the booking screen.
- In an accident or theft, first pay the rental location the excess (deductible) and other charges, then claim reimbursement from Economybookings
- Submit a claim through “My Bookings” within 30 days after returning the car (under the version of the terms above, for Economybookings’ own Full Coverage). If approved, the money goes into E-Wallet, and withdrawal is made within 14 days of the request
- The reimbursement limit is the equivalent of 1,700 euros (again under the version of the terms above, for Economybookings’ own Full Coverage)
- Covered items include the excess, theft excess, damage to tires, glass, and the underside of the car, towing charges, lost keys, and administrative fees the rental location charges in relation to the claim
- Excluded items include negligence such as drunk driving, using the wrong fuel, driving off-road, or violating the rental agreement; dirt or damage inside the car; damage to other people or property; and natural disasters
- The terms say it is not a substitute for CDW. The security deposit at pickup is not waived even if you have Full Coverage
- After pickup, the Full Coverage fee is not refundable
The terms do not say whether NOC (the car’s “time off” charge) is reimbursed (unconfirmed). We cannot say that it is covered or that it is not. The term NOC does not appear in the terms, and they do not say whether it falls under “administrative fees the rental location charges in relation to the claim.”
Also be careful about the meaning of “CDW.” Economybookings’ terms describe CDW as limiting your liability to a set amount (the excess), on the assumption that the excess remains. We have not confirmed whether it is the same as the Japanese rental location’s 免責補償 described in our three-level coverage article (which means you do not have to pay the 50,000-yen excess).
In other words, using the yardstick in the three-level coverage article, Full Coverage is a mechanism for getting money back later, separate from the rental location’s second- and third-level plans. It does not mean “you will pay the location zero yen both at the counter and after an accident.” Like ToCoo!’s T.A.S., remember that it is a booking-site product, not a rental car company product.
Tabirai Car Rental
- A banner on the screen said the price includes 免責補償 (CDW), an English-language display audio system (or navigation, depending on the car), an in-vehicle ETC unit, and consumption tax
- An ETC card, NOC coverage (the company’s optional coverage), one-way fee, gas, and expressway tolls are outside the displayed price
- For inquiries after booking, it says to contact “the rental car company or travel agency”
- This time, we could not confirm on the screen how many charged days the three-day period counted as. We did not confirm whether there is a Traditional Chinese screen
- We did not find the same type of rating page on Trustpilot
ToCoo!
- The “Total” in the search results is before tax. Consumption tax is added on the booking screen
- 免責補償 is included in the base rate. Separately, ToCoo!’s own T.A.S. coverage (which covers NOC and towing charges in an accident) is mandatory for bookings through ToCoo!. It is not a rental car company product, so you cannot buy it at the rental location. The T.A.S. amount was not shown at the screen we reached
- The cancellation fee is not waived even for a canceled flight or bad weather. To make a change, you cancel and book again
- There is a Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) screen. However, we did not confirm whether you can continue in Traditional Chinese until the booking is complete
- We did not find a rating page on Trustpilot
rentalcars.com
- It separates the booking arrangement with rentalcars.com from the car rental agreement with the location. It states that the order of search results considers not only price and ratings but also profit and other factors
- This time, there was no “compact” category and we could not open the car-details screen, so we could not confirm whether tax and coverage were included
- Its public Trustpilot rating was 1.5 (156,034 reviews, October 17, 2026). This is also only a guide
We do not use review scores to rank the sites. We do not know whether every site collects ratings in the same way, and the two Japanese companies do not have ratings in the same place. Treat the scores only as a guide to the kinds of comments that have been collected.
5 How We Would Choose
We will not pick one company and call it “the correct answer.” The choice changes with your travel conditions.
You want to compare prices side by side → Search booking sites under the same conditions. This time, Economybookings was the easiest to line up because its results showed a total including taxes and fees. Tabirai also included tax and 免責補償. When checking ToCoo!, add tax and the mandatory T.A.S. before comparing.
You want to reduce as much as possible what you pay at the rental location after an accident → Book somewhere you can arrange coverage as a rental location product. For example, on some rental car companies’ official sites, you can add a plan at booking that also eliminates NOC charges (Nippon Rent-A-Car says that if you add full coverage on its own site, there is no additional coverage to add on the day). Booking-site coverage, such as Economybookings’ Full Coverage or ToCoo!’s T.A.S., is separate from the rental location’s plans.
Your plans may change → Choose by the cancellation rules. Rules differ by company and may change. For example, Times Car Rental describes its cancellation rules differently on its Japanese and English pages. That is why we will not list numbers here. Before pressing the booking button, check these four items on the booking screen.
- Deadline for free cancellation
- Cancellation fee after the deadline
- How changes are handled (whether you can change the booking or must book again)
- How a canceled or delayed flight is handled
If you are concerned that your flight may not operate, you will want to know before booking that ToCoo!’s rules do not waive the cancellation fee even when a flight is canceled.
You want a single contact point if there is a problem after booking → If you book on a rental car company’s official site, the same company handles both the booking and the car. If you use a booking site, check whom to contact (Economybookings handles changes and cancellations itself; Tabirai says to contact the rental car company or travel agency after booking).
You do not understand Japanese → This time, we reached the search stage in English on Economybookings, Tabirai, and ToCoo! (we opened rentalcars.com in Japanese this time). Tabirai says on screen that an English-language display audio system or navigation is included, depending on the car. Whether English is spoken at the rental counter differs by location, and we did not confirm it this time.
You want to book in Traditional Chinese → ToCoo! has a Traditional Chinese screen (we did not confirm whether you can continue in Traditional Chinese until the booking is complete). Economybookings’ Chinese screen is Simplified Chinese only.
6 What to Check Before Booking
Before pressing the booking button, check just these items.
□ Does the price include tax?
□ Will mandatory coverage be added on a later screen?
□ What will you do about NOC coverage? (Buy a plan from the rental location, or do not add it. Booking-site coverage is separate from the rental location’s plan)
□ The cancellation rules (free-cancellation deadline, cancellation fee after the deadline, how changes are handled, and how canceled or delayed flights are handled) and whom to contact to cancel
□ Is the rental location inside the airport, or do you take a shuttle bus to it? (For the shuttle stop and what happens after arrival, see “The First 30 Minutes at the Counter and Parking Lot”)
□ Emergency contact details for an accident or breakdown (Check the emergency contact details on the booking confirmation or information you receive when renting the car. For what to do when it happens, see “If Your Rental Car Stops｜Three Steps, in This Order”)
□ Did you request an ETC card at the same time? (“ETC Card｜Request It When Booking”)
□ If booking with Economybookings, a credit card for the security deposit (Economybookings says the rental location places a hold on the card for the deposit)
All other checks are in “Before Pressing the Booking Button” in “Why the Same Car Has Several Prices,” and situations in which you pay even with all-inclusive coverage are in “When Even All-Inclusive Does Not Mean Zero Yen.”
Once you have checked the four points and decided, the next step is what happens on pickup day. Read “The First 30 Minutes at the Counter and Parking Lot” to see the day’s sequence in advance.
※The prices are examples from one search per company under the conditions above on October 17, 2026. They do not guarantee the lowest price. What displayed prices include, coverage, and cancellation and change rules vary by booking source and plan, and may change.
