8 driving apps to help you make the most of your hire car
Planning a road trip in a hire car? Discover how to enhance your rental experience with 8 apps that assist with navigation, parking, music and more.
These days, they say, there's an app for everything. From menstrual calendars to "K-blockers", which remove all Kardashian-related content from your online experience, there's no shortage of weird and wonderful apps.
Driving is no exception. App stores are saturated with products – the good, the bad and the ugly. This plethora of options can be as hard to navigate as a city you've not driven in before. Which ones are worth installing?
In this article, we run through eight of the best. We hope that one or more of these will enhance your next car hire experience!
But before we begin, a word on safety.
How to use driving apps responsibly
In the UK, it's illegal to hold and use a phone, sat nav or any other device while driving. And with good reason: using devices while driving can cause fatal accidents.
When using apps in your rental car, make sure that your device is 100% hands-free. Ideally, you should also turn off push notifications so you don't get distracted when following your app's instructions. The alternative is to lose focus and potentially lose control of your vehicle.
Always bear in mind that you're in control of around 1.5 tonnes of metal. Drive responsibly or don't drive at all.
With that out of the way, let's dive into some of the best driving apps on the market.
1. Waze
Waze is a free navigation app. Like
Google Maps, you set your destination and get guided there, either by verbal directions or by following the arrow.
Waze can also be used to find nearby amenities. Need a hotel for the night or a petrol station to pull into?
Waze will give you a list of options.
Music lovers can link Waze with Spotify, meaning you don't have to juggle the two apps. As well as being convenient, this helps you keep safe by stopping you from switching between apps while driving.
2. Smart Dash Cam
When you hire a car, you're responsible for keeping the vehicle safe. One way to protect yourself in the event of an accident is to use a dash cam. By documenting your driving, they massively reduce the likelihood of a fraudulent insurance claim.
Some rental cars come with dash cams fitted, but not all of them.
Smart Dash Cam is much cheaper than buying a physical dash cam. It comes in free and paid versions and has a clean, uncluttered user interface.
3. JustPark
Parking! The thorn in every urban driver's side. If you're taking your rental car out for a spin, you want to know that there's a convenient parking space waiting for you.
JustPark allows you to just do that.
It lets you search for both public and private parking spaces, grouping them into categories such as "Best deal", "Shortest walk" and "Closest to me". You can book your space ahead of time, reducing stress at the end of your journey.
4. Find My Parked Car
If there's one thing worse than not being able to find a parking spot, it's finding one and then forgetting where it is.
Find My Parked Car isn't perfect – it's filled with ads, for one thing. But it's an easy way to make sure that you get back to your rental car with a minimum of fuss.
5. TomTom Go Navigation
Dutch multinational TomTom has been putting out sat nav devices since the early 2000s – and its flagship product is now available as an app.
After a free trial, you have to pay for a subscription. Why, you might ask, would you join the TomTom club when
Google Maps and
Waze are free? The answer is that, in many locations,
TomTom Go Navigation offers more detailed traffic data than its competitors.
This makes it ideal for the driver who's taking regular journeys in a hire car. It enables you to plan more effectively and re-route with ease.
6. MileIQ
Your hire vehicle will have a mileage limit. If you go over it, you'll have to pay extra. One way to ensure that this doesn't happen is to use
MileIQ. This handy free app, which has been described as a "Fitbit for driving", measures and logs your mileage.
As well as keeping you in your hire company's good books, MileIQ can be useful as a way of recording expenses on business trips.
7. Citymapper
Does your road trip involve more than one form of transport? Then
Citymapper can help you optimise your journey. It's a comparison tool, allowing you to quickly decide on the best option for travel by giving you a real-time bird's-eye view of the city's transport links.
It's important to note that
Citymapper doesn't work everywhere. In the UK, it covers most but not all of the major cities. You can see a full list
here.
8. Spotify
Music can enhance any road trip, especially a long one – and with more than 100 million songs to choose from,
Spotify is an obvious choice. And it's not just music, either – it also features audiobooks and podcasts.
Spotify comes in two main versions: free and premium. The free version has the same content but subjects you to regular adverts. Premium gives you a smooth ad-free experience.
As with all these apps, remember to set up your device to play and then leave it alone. Only a passenger should pick songs mid-journey – never the driver.
Ready for the road?
Driving can be an unpredictable experience. You're never free from the whims of bad drivers, roadworks and snarl-ups. But by choosing the right app for your journey, you can make your car hire experience that little bit better. We hope you enjoy your trip!
Are you looking to
rent a car in Newcastle or the North East?
Get in touch with MVH Rental today for a quick, competitive quote.
