Skip to main content

Booking.com car rental Coronavirus (COVID-19) update

Hiring a car from Booking.com and wondering how your booking may be affected by Coronavirus? Here’s the latest information on what you can do if you want to rent a car, or if you need to change or cancel your travel plans.

For up-to-date Coronavirus information and the latest travel advice, please consult your national government website or the World Health Organisation.
For information on what car rental companies are doing to protect customers and staff, see our car rental safety guide.

Already booked a rental car?

You can change your booking at any time

If you’ve already made a booking, you’re free to change the time and/or the place.

  • You can go later – postpone your rental.
  • You can go somewhere else – choose a car in a different destination.

Whatever you decide, you can change your booking online, or by contacting us.

You won’t pay any admin fees for changing your booking, although it may affect the rental price.

You can cancel your booking

If you – or your rental car – are in an area that’s affected by travel restrictions, we’ll do everything we can to help. Please just get in touch before your rental is due to start.

If you’re not directly affected by the Coronavirus:

  • You can cancel the vast majority of Booking.com car rental bookings for free, as long as you give us at least 48 hours’ notice.
  • If you paid a booking deposit, or booked a Dollar/Thrifty car, the rules are a bit different.

For details, please see your rental terms: just access your booking, enter your email address and car reservation number, then scroll down and click the rental company’s ‘Terms and Conditions’. You’ll find the cancellation policy under ‘Important Information’.

To cancel, just access your booking online, or contact us.

If Coronavirus has you rethinking your travel plans, remember that you can change the timing or location of your car rental free of charge.

Thinking of booking a car?

With the vast majority of Booking.com car rental bookings, you can cancel for free up to 48 hours before you pick up the car. So if you’re thinking about renting a car, you can always book it now, and change or cancel your rental later on.

Bought Full Protection Insurance?

Cancelling your rental will automatically cancel your Full Protection Insurance, so you’ll get a refund of the insurance premium you paid.

  • If you cancel before your rental is due to start, you’ll get your premium refunded in full.
  • If you cancel after your rental is due to start, you’ll get a partial refund (as long as you’re cancelling less than 14 days after buying the insurance). For example, if you cancel 4 days into an 8-day rental, you’ll get half your insurance premium back.

Driving licence expired or about to expire?

Renewing a driving licence during Coronavirus can be difficult, which is why various governments have agreed to extend lots of licences that expire in 2020. When you pick your car up, the counter staff will apply the following rules when they check your licence.

If you have a driving licence issued by the UK or any EU country except Italy:

  • If your licence expired between 1 February and 31 August 2020, it will remain valid for 7 months after its expiry date.

If you have an Italian driving licence:

  • If your licence expired before 31 January 2020, it’s no longer valid
  • If your licence expired in June, July or August 2020, it will remain valid for another 7 months after its expiry date
  • If your licence expired/will expire on any other date in 2020, it will remain valid until 31 December 2020.