Australia traffic rules and self driving car rental tips

Speed Limit and Traffic Signs

Driving is on the left-hand side of the road. Do not overtake on the left-hand side and do not overtake if there are solid white lines. At roundabouts, you must give way to vehicles already on the roundabout and select your lane early.

Speed Limit

There are speed limits of 100-130 km/h on freeways and 50 km/h in built-up areas.

Traffic Signs

These are some specific signs you may encounter and be unfamiliar with when driving in Australia. Even though most of them are self-explanatory, it is strongly advised to make sure you can understand them before taking the road.

Australian regulatory signs have different shapes.

Give Way

Stop

No U-turn

50 km/h Speed Limit

Speed Derestriction

Warning signs are diamond-shaped and mostly with a yellow background.

Speed Limit Ahead (Used in Western Australia)

Steep Descent

Two-way Traffic Ahead

Pedestrians

Railway Level Crossing on Road Ahead

Railway Level Crossing on Road Ahead (Skewed) (Left)

Railway Level Crossing on Road Ahead (Skewed) (Right)

Information signs are rectangular with red or green backgrounds.

Exit	Reduce Speed Now

For a complete traffic and road signs, you may refer to this Australia road user handbook.

Seatbelt and Child Safety

Seatbelt Laws

All passengers are required to have their seatbelt fastened at all times when the vehicle is moving. Failure to do so can result in a fine of AU$250.

Booster Seat Laws

Babies up to 6 months must be installed on a rear-facing car seat, and children from 6 months to 4 years are allowed on both forward and rear-facing seats.

Please be aware that children up to 4 years old cannot travel on the front seat unless the car is a two-seater.

Finally, a booster seat or forward facing seat must be used for children between 4 and 7 years old. A child of this age is only allowed on the front seat if there is no other seat available for them.

Parking, Fuel and Toll

Parking

· Forbidden Parking

Cars are not allowed to be parked on the following spots as doing so can result in a fine:

- On the footpath or nature strip as these places are for people.

- On a yellow line.

- In a way that blocks other cars from entering or exiting the driveway. In an emergency, the car may be towed away.

- Less than10 metres (approximately 2 large car lengths) from an intersection so that other cars can safely pass without causing danger.

- In a place that has been marked with ‘No Stopping’ or ‘No Standing’. A ‘No Standing’ sign indicates motorist may not park a car unless they remain in the vehicle and for no more than three minutes.

· Parking Signs

Parking signs in Australia may specify multiple times, places, durations, restrictions and vehicle categories in a condensed form on a single sign. Letter P signs are 'permissive' parking signs where parking is permitted for the time specified. A guide to the most common parking signs is below:

- '1/2P', '1P', '3P': Vehicles can be parked here for half an hour, one hour, or three hours.

- '630AM-730 PM Mon-Fri': Vehicles may be parked here only at the specified times - in this case, between 06:30 and 19:30 from Monday to Friday.

- 'P'(no number): Permissive parking zone

- '15 minute', '20 minute', '45 minute': Vehicles may be parked here only for the specified number of minutes

· Paid Parking

There are municipal parking garages and lots, metered parking alongside the road and ticket machine parking in most towns and cities.

Australia Parking Metre (Image from alphaairportparking.com.au)

Fuel Prices

The average value for Australia gasoline price during July to October 2017 is AU$1.26, while diesel is 3 cents higher.

Toll

Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are the only three cities in Australia featuring toll roads. Toll roads in Australia use free-flowing tolling, with no toll booth along the entire length of the system to optimize traffic flow. An electronic toll collection system is usually used instead.

If you plan to use toll roads in Australia, we suggest you rent an e-toll/e-pass device from the car hire company, enabling an automatic payment of the toll fee directly from your credit card. Please note that e-toll/e-pass devices are subject to availability at the rental desk. Australia E-Toll Device (Image from australiahereandnow.com)

If you have any question related to your toll fee billing, feel free to contact QEEQ' 24/7 customer service team for assistance.

Traffic Violation

DUI Laws

In all states of Australia, the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for drivers is below 0.05%. Drink driving is treated as a major offence and any person driving a vehicle over the legal limit may face penalties ranging from the suspension, disqualification or cancellation of their licence, fines to imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the offence.

Traffic Fines

Failure to pay the road or parking violation fines can have some long-term consequences, especially for international travellers. Not paying fines could affect your next visit to Australia as infringement notice are inserted into the Police Central Names Index (CNI) and the National Names Index (NNI).

However, paying fines is not a challenge for renters since the car hire company will pass on the offence information to the authorities and a post or email notification will be sent to you if some traffic laws have been breached. Note that the fine usually comes with a service/administration fee as well.

It is advisable for you to contact EasryRentCars' 24/7 customer service team if you have any question on this matter.

Driving Licence and Age Requirements

Foreigners on short-term visit may rent a car and drive with a valid foreign driving licence for up to 3 months in Australia. Longer than that, you need to get an Australian driving licence from an Australian state. To drive in Australia, the licence should be a full driving licence held for at least 2 years with no major endorsements.

To hire a car in Australia you must be at least 21 years old (age may vary by car category). If you are 21-25, you are likely to have to pay a young driver fee. There is no maximum driving age in Australia.

Guest reviews

1 /

S.Johnson

February 7, 2023

Destination: Sydney

10Excellent experience!

Excellent service! Needed vehicle for an additional day and was able to do it quickly over the phone.

K.Hughes

Destination: Gold Coast

9.3Excellent car (free upgrade

Free upgrade “excellent”, & excellent car. Good service

9.7No issues, car & APEX excellent, definitely reuse

Car excellent, no issues, APEX excellent throughout

Marc

Destination: Hobart

8.7Very slow check in experience

Very slow checkin counter to collect the rental - expect delays!

W.Mitchell

February 3, 2023

8.7Fine except for wind screen issue

Bargain claim the vehicle had a crack in the windscreen when they inspected it after I dropped it off at 5 am ine morning when they were not there. I certainly did not notice any such crack or I would have reported it to them by email.I have refused to complete a claim report as I know for certain I did not cause any crack in the windscreen..I am awaiting further correspondence from them..do you have any advice for me?

J.Gindy

6.3Reliable car but well used and old. Will not use again.

The car was older than expected with many scuff marks and some unrepaired damage. For a $5200AUD excess I would have expected a clean and modern vehicle without blemishes. The car was more than 3 years old and had over 70,000kms on it. This is what I would expect from a tier 3/4 service provider. Based on this, the day rate seems high and is not representative of age.

February 2, 2023

Destination: Perth

10Positive customer experience.

Great service, will use again.

L.Grant

Destination: Canberra

10Do yourself a favour look them up

What can I say but excellent as usual

Destination: Darwin

9Unlimited kilometres in NT

It was not clear if it was unlimited kilometres or pay per kilometre . These daysd most rental cars are unlimitied but in Darwin many were pay per kilometre

H.Shah

February 1, 2023

Destination: Cairns

10Easy Rental process

Car was great, worked perfectly. Service was great, the airport shuttle is very convenient and all staff is friendly. Would recommend.

D.Moulton

Destination: Brisbane

9Excellent

Very easy pickup, regular shuttle buses.

Isabelle

January 31, 2023

Destination: Adelaide

8.3God experience

Staff helpful. Good vehicle.

Destination: Sunshine Coast

10Quick and reliable

The service was quick, and the car was as described.

January 29, 2023

10Excellent

Staff is friendly and we managed to get a big car

D.King

January 22, 2023

Destination: Launceston

9Very straight forward even for simple people like me.

Excellent customer service beyond my expectations. Quite smooth & courteous. Can't fault.

J.Kennedy

January 21, 2023

Destination: Melbourne

10Amazing

A wonderful experience from start to finish - staff at office and bus driver were terrific.

S.Graham

10Great car rental experience

The car went well and was reliable. It met my needs.

J.Davis

January 19, 2023

6.7Painful pickup in MEL. Painful drop in SYD. Pricewatch worked and saved some money

Horrible pick up experience. Dialled the qeeq provided number. Phone tree maze. Connected me to hertz. Restarted, same rubbish. Had to answer a bunch of ‘confirmation’ questions instead of a simple “we’ll be right there”. Manager on site was too busy for me, so waited until he called an employee in.

N.Wenman

8Good experience

Got upgraded to hybrid. Was excellent and smooth

A.Nikam

9.7Good Service!!!

Great service... Very good customer service.

January 18, 2023

8Good thanks.

The pick up point was confusing. It said Fyshwick Downtown rather than Canberra airport. It would help to fix that.

A.Cartner

8.7Relatively simple and trouble free but could improve.

Shuttle pick up could have been quicker, a little disorganised. Car was fine for our needs

Apex Car Rentals is fantastic! Ryan and Adam were incredibly helpful and made my rental experience a breeze. Highly recommend.

T.KIM

January 17, 2023

Friendly service

D.Chapman

9.7Excellent

Ace Rental staff in Brisbane were extremely quick and efficient and we were ready to go within 5 mins of arriving. They also give essential advice about how to get set up for auto payment of road tolls. Dropping of the car in Sydney was equally efficient and we were all done within 6 mins of arrival. The car was spotlessly clean when we picked it up, inside and out. I cannot fault Ace Rental. Excellent service.

January 16, 2023

7.7Fair

Budget staff mixed up my identity with another. When I returned the car they told me, and spent more than 30mins to fixed it. The staff English accent. I heard flight number but she want to say “Phone Number”

M. Vieira

10Very Good

Excellent experience! Smooth process. Hybrid car with suprisingly low fuel consumptiom

10Love Qeeq! Can't find fault with them!

It was a great experience!

Destination: Ipswich

10Great experience

Quick and easy. My car was available on arrival.

Adelaide904

9.3Fair price.

All good.

b.roberts

January 13, 2023

7Good

after hours service could be better

D.Lloyd

January 12, 2023

10Awesome

Very good service and nice cars

9.7New and excellant condition car ! Excellant service

excellant condition of the car and upgrade a brand new car for us 。excellant service!

5Old car

poor condition of the car and provide the different car show in picture(Hyudai Kona was show in picture )。Different level of the car The car was old (Mitsubitsu ASX )and it use a lot of gas。Car power poor。although we are late to return car，but the staff do not remind us the closing time of the drop-off location ，we drive to there, was closed, the hotline is busy, finally we need drive to city drop-off location to return the car，Yes，I know it is my false, but if the staff remind us the closing time, we can save more time.

Paxson Fong

10New and excellant condition car ! Excellant service

excellant condition of the car and provide the same car was show in category，excellant services。

Steve Barson

10Seamless & pleasant

Pickup would have been less but my licence needed to be renewed. That was my bad the staff there were very patient

January 10, 2023

8.7Very Good

The car was quite small, and cramped.

2Bad

Gave us a beaten up car

Sharon Ale

January 9, 2023

9.7Awesome experience and will rent from them again.

The car exceeded our expectation. Very fuel efficient due to being a hybrid. Hadcthe car for 3 days but only paid $12 to fill up car. The staff were friendly and helpful. Very easy puck up and drop off.

Julian

January 8, 2023

9.7Great experience and how all car rentals should be like

No birds is how all car rentals should be. Easy processes, collection and drop-off. Great staff, easy to find and good selection of cars

A.Sukprokob

9.7Impressive international car rental

Car’s capacity and cleanliness exceeded our expectation. Now we want to buy same car as we rented lol

Mr CHOM

10Easier than I expected and higher quality car.

It was my third time to rent an Alamo car and so far so good. I can definitely recommend Alamo car hire to my friends and family.

Bhavin Shah

January 6, 2023

6.3Not so great experience

There needs to be better staffing at the parking so multiple customers can be serviced at the same time. Process is very very cumbersome and needs to be improved significantly.

H.KAPADIA

January 5, 2023

9Awesome

Good

9.3Great communication, easy, hassle free, quick car pick up and drop off.

The fastest car rental pick up and drop off. I love that you enter your details online and only need to verify on the day, rather than provide them again (which seems to be the case with many other rental agencies).

A.Hughes

January 4, 2023

8.7Very smooth.

The staff when picking-up the car were very welcoming, friendly and efficient. The drop-off could not have been smoother and the person who checked over the car even got the courtesy bus to wait for me. Excellent customer service all round!

I.Sharipova

10Great experience, great customer service, price was good too. Thank you

I still have the car, decided to have it for few more days.

Hafiz

10Wonderful!

Fast pickup and smooth registration when collecting. Drop off was hassle free as well. Appreciate the complimentary transport back to the airport.

Destination: Parramatta

7.7Nice staff, comfortable car with cleaning issues.

The car was not clean when we picked it up. We ended up cleaning it by ourselves one day before we our trip.

A.Best

10Smooth and easy

Vehicle was a joy to drive and good on fuel economy.

Australia Car Rentals

The Complete Australia Driving and Rental Guide