Car rent experience

April 2009. Just back from Jordan where spend more then two weeks. 4 persons. Rented 4WD car for two weeks...

Our trips always starts with following steps:
1) taxi from airport to hotel in downtown (booked for first night only)
2) buy prepaid mobile phone card
3) spent next morning calling around for best rent-a-car deal
4) get car and be free...

Everything is much cheaper on-site. Avoid international bookings!

We rented Hyundai Tucson 4WD for 50 JD per day for two weeks. Other similar offers were Mitsubishi Pajero for 55 JD and Mitsubishi Outlander for 45 JD... We rented from Days Inn Car Rental in Amman.
I will not mention prices on site for economy class cars... 20 JD per day is highest any should pay!!!

Our car was fine. We drove it in Wadi Rum desert where spent 4 days in own camp. Luckily didn't stuck in sands even for once. It's not so difficult actually if you have little experience and use common sense. Just deflate tyres for little and keep momentum... Sounds easy :)))... Total distance covered in sands was around 200 km. Also did 50 km desert track from Rum to Aqaba...

Some info about Rum prices!!!
Permission to drive rental car in Wadi Rum costs 25 JD/day (10 JD for locals). And it's cheap considering that shortest guided tour in local pick-up (30 min; 10 km and back) will cost you the same 25 JD (price per car). Full day excursions in Wadi Rum costs around 75-100 JD... They are ashamed to publish actual prices even on official website...
Everything is highly overpriced in Wadi Rum. Beautiful place and greedy bedouins. Even water bottle in visitors center shop will cost you triple of normal price...

.............................
Cheating with prices is common stuff in Jordan. To avoid it, first learn numbers in Arabic! It's easy. Use supermarkets with fixed prices for first days to get accustomed with price level. Eating out is little more tricky, it takes more time to learn some tricks to avoid "tourist menu" with tripled prices.

And finale.... JORDAN IS GREAT PLACE
Have a good time!

PS. Outdoor camping is fun thing. We met only two scorpions and three snakes... :)

Hello Manparchu,

We are very glad because you had good prices & enjoyed staying in Jordan.

Thank you for your experience :)

Have a nice day.

Hello Manparchu.
First where did you meet the scorpions and snakes? Oh my God ... I'm already in panic. I am terrified of snakes.
I am also thinking to rent a car, the taxis tours are expensive and I will have more freedom to go anywhere .
But I am in doubt whether this is a good solution because I will be traveling alone.
Is it easy to drive in Jordan, the roads are well signposted? It's easy to find the tourist sites?

All snakes were met in wadis. First one going canyoning in Zarqa Main gorge, lower end, sleeping on stone. Two snakes we met in Wadi Afra upper end. Creatures were lazy swimming in stream next to our camp. All snakes looked different species, places were with dense bush, and they quickly run away from us.

Scorpions we found in our camp under stones near Little Petra (used to camp outdoor a lot, had tents, sleeping bags). Friendly bedouin from near settlement uproached us to welcome and warned that scorpions are common in area. So we started check stones by curiosity and found two - yellow (said to be the most poisonous one) and big black. Send them away from camp place...

The only place I'm going to spend the night at campsites is in Wadi Rum ... now with the possibility of meet snakes and scorpions I'm less enthusiastic.
I also booked Wadi Mijib and Dana trails , I was just fearful about the climbs difficulty ... thinking that I will meet snakes ..... I think I will want to stay in Amman for more time.