Renting a car in Israel is a popular and convenient way of getting around and seeing the country at your own pace and on your own time-scale. Car rental companies can be found across the country, ranging in size, from the major international car rental firms including Sixt, Avis, Budget, and Hertz, as well as a large number of local firms including the largest, Eldan. All of these companies offer car rental at Ben Gurion Airport, as well as in major towns and cities across Israel.
Hire cars in Israel can often be older and more heavily used than you might find in Europe or North America because the cost of cars here is so much greater. They are, however, up-to-date models, especially when renting a car from a larger company. Typical rental cars in Israel are the Hyundai Getz/i10, Mazda 3, and Mazda 6. As well as renting the car, it is possible to rent GPS navigation systems which can make travelling far more easy.
Car rental at Ben Gurion Airport is directly operated by Avis, Budgt, Hertz, Sixt and Eldan, all of whom work from a site about a five minute bus ride from the airport terminal. The shuttle bus runs regularly and is shared between the companies (all are next door to each other). Other car rental companies will often enable you to rent a car at Ben Gurion Airport by dropping it off/meeting the client there.
All the major car rental companies in Israel have offices in the main cities – Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Eilat, and between them, they cover much of the interim and periphery with one or two companies having offices in smaller towns and cities.
