Rental car in Jordan - help please

Suzie

Level 2 Member
We don't use rental cars often and I am lacking knowledge of car rental bookings.

It was my understanding that in order for a successful reimbursement by my credit card company for collision damage to a rental - I had to absolutely decline CD insurance with the car rental company. I had a successful claim on a car that I had rented in Italy - drove to Switzerland (where the damage occurred) and returned to Italy. Citi AA Exec reimbursed us with little effort on our part. And nothing showed up on US driving record.

I'm having trouble finding a rental in Jordan (from Amman airport) that does not include CD in price. I finally called concierge for help. When they called back, they said all the rental cars included CD insurance.

I'm confused and looking for any suggestions. Has anyone rented a car in Jordan and have any insight?

Many TIA!
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
We don't use rental cars often and I am lacking knowledge of car rental bookings.

It was my understanding that in order for a successful reimbursement by my credit card company for collision damage to a rental - I had to absolutely decline CD insurance with the car rental company. I had a successful claim on a car that I had rented in Italy - drove to Switzerland (where the damage occurred) and returned to Italy. Citi AA Exec reimbursed us with little effort on our part. And nothing showed up on US driving record.

I'm having trouble finding a rental in Jordan (from Amman airport) that does not include CD in price. I finally called concierge for help. When they called back, they said all the rental cars included CD insurance.

I'm confused and looking for any suggestions. Has anyone rented a car in Jordan and have any insight?

Many TIA!
My resource for all things car rental is Stefan at Rapid Travel Chai. He rents cars out of the country a lot and has done good presentations that he has on his website. Why are you renting a car in Jordan? Not sure I would want to drive there, but I generally steer clear of renting cars abroad.
 

GetawaysRus

Level 2 Member
I agree with smittytabb. My wife and I did a private tour of Jordan a few years ago followed by an independent visit to Israel.

We did rent a car when we left Tel Aviv to travel around the rest of Israel, and we then returned the car promptly when we arrived at our last stop in Jerusalem.

Driving in Israel (once we were outside of Tel Aviv) was not difficult. But the roads were not nearly as well marked in Jordan and we were glad that our private tour included a private driver and car. I don't think this means that driving in Jordan is impossible, but it would have been much more difficult for us to drive there compared to Israel.

I was pleased with out private tour of Jordan and will be glad to forward you information on how we visited Jordan if you wish.
 

smittytabb

Moderator
Staff member
I agree with smittytabb. My wife and I did a private tour of Jordan a few years ago followed by an independent visit to Israel.

We did rent a car when we left Tel Aviv to travel around the rest of Israel, and we then returned the car promptly when we arrived at our last stop in Jerusalem.

Driving in Israel (once we were outside of Tel Aviv) was not difficult. But the roads were not nearly as well marked in Jordan and we were glad that our private tour included a private driver and car. I don't think this means that driving in Jordan is impossible, but it would have been much more difficult for us to drive there compared to Israel.

I was pleased with out private tour of Jordan and will be glad to forward you information on how we visited Jordan if you wish.
I toured Jordan with Gap Adventures/Nat Geo, and had a driver take me from the Dead Sea area to the airport after my tour ended. There is a good tourism infrastructure in Jordan and I agree that having a driver there would be a better experience than trying to do it yourselves. Also you have the local knowledge. I am still in contact with my tour manager and could ask for contacts for you if you like.
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
@smittytabb Thank you! I looked through Stefan's website and found his slide presentations and got some good tidbits - I've never checked Costco.

@GetawaysRus We already have the itinerary planned (we go in April) and have been planning on a rental car all along. We have hired private driver's before - one good (Morocco), one awful (India). So yes, I'd love the info on your private tour. Thank you very much!
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
I toured Jordan with Gap Adventures/Nat Geo, and had a driver take me from the Dead Sea area to the airport after my tour ended. There is a good tourism infrastructure in Jordan and I agree that having a driver there would be a better experience than trying to do it yourselves. Also you have the local knowledge. I am still in contact with my tour manager and could ask for contacts for you if you like.
Yes, thank you! We are generally not tour people, but are interested in a private driver. We don't mind the driving - we've had some great experiences that way. It's the actual renting of the car that is making me crazy.
 

thepaul500

Level 2 Member
We used an excellent private driver in Jordan after we saw the cost for car rental was almost the same as getting driven around. We didn't opt for a tour guide type driver, though he spoke great English. It made everything so much easier, we never had to worry about parking or the car in any way. We had a cell phone which worked there, so we just called him when we were done and he was there in minutes. I'd highly recommend this route, were generally cheap people when it comes to that and I love driving in foreign countries, but it took so much of the stress out of it.
 

GetawaysRus

Level 2 Member
We used Jordan Direct tours. I had found favorable comments about their services on TripAdvisor. I have no personal relationship with this company. Their website: http://www.jdtours.com/

On the home page, you will see that they offer "Tailormade Jordan Tours." Also on the home page, look for a link (on the lower right side) to the 8 day "Jordan Classic Tour."

Basically, we started with the Jordan Classic Tour itinerary. I purchased and read (and brought along) a Jordan tour book, and I found a few things (primarily Christian sites in Jordan, such as the St. John Baptismal site) that would interest us. So I worked with the tour company to make some modifications in their Jordan Classic Tour that we felt would suit us better. We used some of their hotels, but I also had my hotel reward accounts available. So they allowed me to make my own hotel reservations (using points) in several places rather than use their hotel. Using my hotel reward accounts reduced the overall price of the tour.

Jordan Direct provided the driver and car. The driver was just that - a driver. He was not a tour guide. So at some of the locations we visited, there was a short private tour with a guide arranged. At others, we were on our own (but I had my Jordan tour book to follow). For example, in Petra, they provided a guide for several hours and then we spent the rest of the day exploring on our own. I remember that the driver was a young man named Ibrahim. He had lived in the USA for a number of years and spoke flawless English. He was enthusiastic about showing off his home country to foreigners and we enjoyed him very much. This was back around 2010 or 2011 as I recall, so I have no idea if he still works for them or not.

One funny story: our original itinerary (similar to their Jordan Classic itinerary) proceeded from northern to southern Jordan. We were then to return to Amman for an overnight and fly on Royal Jordanian to Tel Aviv to begin the Israel portion of our trip. This is one of the ways of crossing from Jordan into Israel. Well, RJ cancelled our flight a few months before our trip, leaving us high and dry with no good alternative flight on the same day. I already had everything set up in Israel and did not want to change all of our reservations in Israel to a later date. (And I definitely did not want to screw up our 2 award seats in J returning to the US from Tel Aviv on El Al.) So we worked with Jordan Direct and asked if they could drop us off at the border crossing from Aqaba to Eilat. Our Jordanian driver could not take us across, but we could walk across. And that is exactly what we did. Walking across the border from Jordan to Israel was like being in a classic spy movie where the Western spy is being released from a prison behind the iron curtain. First you go through Jordan customs (and make sure to have enough Jordanian money to pay the exit fee). Then I rolled our luggage across no man's land between the two countries. The Israeli border guards had nothing else to do, so our luggage was thoroughly searched. Fortunately, a taxi was waiting on the Israeli side. We took a hotel for one night in Eilat and then flew the next day from Eilat to Tel Aviv to being our Israel itinerary.

Going through Israeli airport security is an interesting experience. I have another story, but that will be for another thread.
 

heavenlyjane

Level 2 Member
We also used a Jordan-based company (http://www.jordanbeauty.com/index.htm) for our 3-night trip to Petra and Wadi Rum. We were picket up at the Eilat border and had a private driver the whole time (not the same driver). Our trip was economical and we felt well cared for by our Bedouin travel-agency hosts. They helped us out of a bind, when we got scammed by a horse owner, who told us the ride was free and then took way too much money as a "tip".
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
We used an excellent private driver in Jordan after we saw the cost for car rental was almost the same as getting driven around. We didn't opt for a tour guide type driver, though he spoke great English. It made everything so much easier, we never had to worry about parking or the car in any way. We had a cell phone which worked there, so we just called him when we were done and he was there in minutes. I'd highly recommend this route, were generally cheap people when it comes to that and I love driving in foreign countries, but it took so much of the stress out of it.
Thank you so much. We're cheap (I mean frugal) travelers, also. Do you have a recommendation?
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
We used Jordan Direct tours. I had found favorable comments about their services on TripAdvisor. I have no personal relationship with this company. Their website: http://www.jdtours.com/

On the home page, you will see that they offer "Tailormade Jordan Tours." Also on the home page, look for a link (on the lower right side) to the 8 day "Jordan Classic Tour."

Basically, we started with the Jordan Classic Tour itinerary. I purchased and read (and brought along) a Jordan tour book, and I found a few things (primarily Christian sites in Jordan, such as the St. John Baptismal site) that would interest us. So I worked with the tour company to make some modifications in their Jordan Classic Tour that we felt would suit us better. We used some of their hotels, but I also had my hotel reward accounts available. So they allowed me to make my own hotel reservations (using points) in several places rather than use their hotel. Using my hotel reward accounts reduced the overall price of the tour.

Jordan Direct provided the driver and car. The driver was just that - a driver. He was not a tour guide. So at some of the locations we visited, there was a short private tour with a guide arranged. At others, we were on our own (but I had my Jordan tour book to follow). For example, in Petra, they provided a guide for several hours and then we spent the rest of the day exploring on our own. I remember that the driver was a young man named Ibrahim. He had lived in the USA for a number of years and spoke flawless English. He was enthusiastic about showing off his home country to foreigners and we enjoyed him very much. This was back around 2010 or 2011 as I recall, so I have no idea if he still works for them or not.

One funny story: our original itinerary (similar to their Jordan Classic itinerary) proceeded from northern to southern Jordan. We were then to return to Amman for an overnight and fly on Royal Jordanian to Tel Aviv to begin the Israel portion of our trip. This is one of the ways of crossing from Jordan into Israel. Well, RJ cancelled our flight a few months before our trip, leaving us high and dry with no good alternative flight on the same day. I already had everything set up in Israel and did not want to change all of our reservations in Israel to a later date. (And I definitely did not want to screw up our 2 award seats in J returning to the US from Tel Aviv on El Al.) So we worked with Jordan Direct and asked if they could drop us off at the border crossing from Aqaba to Eilat. Our Jordanian driver could not take us across, but we could walk across. And that is exactly what we did. Walking across the border from Jordan to Israel was like being in a classic spy movie where the Western spy is being released from a prison behind the iron curtain. First you go through Jordan customs (and make sure to have enough Jordanian money to pay the exit fee). Then I rolled our luggage across no man's land between the two countries. The Israeli border guards had nothing else to do, so our luggage was thoroughly searched. Fortunately, a taxi was waiting on the Israeli side. We took a hotel for one night in Eilat and then flew the next day from Eilat to Tel Aviv to being our Israel itinerary.

Going through Israeli airport security is an interesting experience. I have another story, but that will be for another thread.
This is a great story. Thank you for sharing. I hope I didn't wait too long to book something. I got rental car quote of ~$300 for 9 days. We had a fantastic experience in Morocco with a private driver who also spoke perfect English. He took excellent care of us. So we were enthusiastic about doing so in India. Not so much. Our original driver had a family emergency after 2 days and "hooked us up" with someone else. But he wanted us to pay him in full and then he would pay the second driver. Hahaha - no. The second driver was nasty. One morning in Jaipur we came out of the hotel to find him screaming at a cart vendor and causing a rukus in the street. We were very uncomfortable with him.

I have all the rooms booked already, also using points for every night, which doesn't usually happen! But those IHG and Marriott points are coming in handy on this trip.

Did you do the Bedouin camp? We did a camel trek, Bedouin camp in Morocco and were feeling that once might be enough.

Thank you so much for your reply.
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
We also used a Jordan-based company (http://www.jordanbeauty.com/index.htm) for our 3-night trip to Petra and Wadi Rum. We were picket up at the Eilat border and had a private driver the whole time (not the same driver). Our trip was economical and we felt well cared for by our Bedouin travel-agency hosts. They helped us out of a bind, when we got scammed by a horse owner, who told us the ride was free and then took way too much money as a "tip".
Thank you for sharing your good experience. Did you do Petra at night? I've read many pros AND cons.
 

thepaul500

Level 2 Member
We used Jordan Select Tours, and basically made our own itinerary, told them what we wanted, and then booked all our own hotels and such. I don't remember the exact cost as its been over a year, but it was very reasonable compared to a rental car. I do not remember our drivers name, but the company comes very highly recommended on FT.

If you are going to the dead sea, there is an IHG hotel there that was absolutely fantastic. It was almost empty (as most of Jordan was...) of tourists, but they treated us fantastic.

Ask around for quotes also, never hurts.
 

heavenlyjane

Level 2 Member
Thank you for sharing your good experience. Did you do Petra at night? I've read many pros AND cons.
I didn't go because I was exhausted from a long day of hiking in the park. My husband went back for the candlelight program and thought it was beautiful. The criticisms seem to mostly center around the noisy participants who break the rule of silence and ruin it for those who want to experience Petra in silence. I'm sorry I didn't have the energy to experience it.

On this note, if you stay in Wadi Musa, the town that abuts Petra, and want to do the night time program, it helps to choose lodging that is walking distance. Our hotel was near but not near enough to walk (distances were tough to estimatewhen we were booking). However our hotel (Amra Palace) offers a shuttle bus for the evening program, which was really nice. If I did it again, we'd make sure we were walking distance. Wadi Musa is not pedestrian friendly (no sidewalks, crazy traffic, dusty).

I strongly recommend staying overnight so you can experience Petra in the early morning hours, before the crowds arrive. We had the place to nearly ourselves.

Don't forget to include Wadi Rum in your plans. It was eye-popping beautiful, worthy of national park status.
 

thepaul500

Level 2 Member
As someone with a vague interest in photography, Petra at night was fantastic. We basically skipped the show, walking slowly along the path taking pictures. We then hung around after, gave the staff member 5 JOD (what....bribes work.) who was kicking everyone out, and had the place to ourselves to take pictures and enjoy for about 15 minutes.

We stayed at the Movenpick, which is the closest hotel to Petra, for less than $100 a night. Hotel was great. Going early is worth it certainly to avoid the tour buses from Amman/Israel, but tourism numbers are down so low if really won't be an issue.

In Jersah (awesome ruins and worth a half day if you have time) we had the tour guide who gave the tour to the british royalty when they came. We spent a long time walking the site, and then spent hours afterwards smoking cigs and discussing politics. It was one of the most interesting conversations I have ever had.

The company we hired the driver through setup the tour guides as well per our request.
 

heavenlyjane

Level 2 Member
Take away message here: Jordan is a beautiful country. It's heart-breaking that their tourism industry has taken such a blow due to troubles beyond their border.
 

GetawaysRus

Level 2 Member
I would add that not only is Jordan beautiful, but the people are very hospitable. It is their custom to be kind to guests.
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
I didn't go because I was exhausted from a long day of hiking in the park. My husband went back for the candlelight program and thought it was beautiful. The criticisms seem to mostly center around the noisy participants who break the rule of silence and ruin it for those who want to experience Petra in silence. I'm sorry I didn't have the energy to experience it.

On this note, if you stay in Wadi Musa, the town that abuts Petra, and want to do the night time program, it helps to choose lodging that is walking distance. Our hotel was near but not near enough to walk (distances were tough to estimatewhen we were booking). However our hotel (Amra Palace) offers a shuttle bus for the evening program, which was really nice. If I did it again, we'd make sure we were walking distance. Wadi Musa is not pedestrian friendly (no sidewalks, crazy traffic, dusty).

I strongly recommend staying overnight so you can experience Petra in the early morning hours, before the crowds arrive. We had the place to nearly ourselves.

Don't forget to include Wadi Rum in your plans. It was eye-popping beautiful, worthy of national park status.
Thank you. I've been wanting to go to Petra just about my entire life. So I'm going to do the night tour. We will get to Petra around 2-3 in the afternoon and will go the first night. We then have then next two days to explore during the day. I just can't wait.
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
As someone with a vague interest in photography, Petra at night was fantastic. We basically skipped the show, walking slowly along the path taking pictures. We then hung around after, gave the staff member 5 JOD (what....bribes work.) who was kicking everyone out, and had the place to ourselves to take pictures and enjoy for about 15 minutes.

We stayed at the Movenpick, which is the closest hotel to Petra, for less than $100 a night. Hotel was great. Going early is worth it certainly to avoid the tour buses from Amman/Israel, but tourism numbers are down so low if really won't be an issue.

In Jersah (awesome ruins and worth a half day if you have time) we had the tour guide who gave the tour to the british royalty when they came. We spent a long time walking the site, and then spent hours afterwards smoking cigs and discussing politics. It was one of the most interesting conversations I have ever had.

The company we hired the driver through setup the tour guides as well per our request.

Thank you - and thank you for the tipping tip! I'm not opposed to bribing either. And for the pointer about the show. Think we will follow your advice on this.
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
@heavenlyjane

That is a beautiful photo. If we stay in the camp, it will have to be the 4x4 route. We rode camels in the Sahara to and from the camp. It was a fantastic experience, but our rear ends were so hurting. Husband was ready to get off and walk back. I won't convince him to do that again!
 

heavenlyjane

Level 2 Member
Honestly the camels were a big mistake on my part. It was my idea to do it but once I was aloft, all I could think about what how the h*ll was I going to get off this creature. In the end, I was flung into the arms of the camel herder, which was probably a big cultural faux pas. I felt like an idiot gringo.
 
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