💥Langkawi Car Rental: Avoid These Big Mistakes When Booking🚗

For our 4-day, 3-night adventure in Langkawi, we decided against pre-booking a car, having heard that it would be more economical to rent one on the spot.

Upon landing and clearing customs, we were greeted by someone promoting car rental services. After a quick inquiry, we found the rates reasonable and opted for a 5-year-old Vios at RM 270 for the duration of our stay, with the understanding that we would cover the fuel costs.

When picking up the car, we meticulously inspected it and took photos with our phones, never imagining that we would encounter a tire sidewall crack.

We picked up the car early in the morning, and by 3 PM, disaster struck. Everything seemed fine when we arrived at our lunch spot, but as we were about to leave, we noticed the tire issue. We had only driven from the restaurant to its entrance—a very short distance.

We immediately contacted the rental company, and the person in charge was less than helpful, accusing us of knowing about the tire problem and driving anyway. I was furious and confronted him, but he dismissed my concerns, leaving me speechless.

The representative checked the tire and then attempted to replace it with the spare. However, the spare tire was flat and needed to be inflated at a nearby gas station. One of my friends accompanied him.

To our dismay, the spare tire couldn’t be inflated and was likely unusable.

With no other options and an undrivable car, the representative let us use his personal vehicle to return to our accommodation and rest. He promised to bring our car back once it was fixed. Before leaving, we also pointed out that another tire appeared to be in poor condition, with no tread and very old, and asked if it could be replaced.

(The entire ordeal took about an hour.)

About two hours later, our car was returned, but several issues remained:
💥 The front tire was still a used one from around 2017, and the other side was not replaced. They simply advised us to be cautious and contact them if any problems arose…
Who wants to waste precious vacation time dealing with transportation issues?

If there were more problems, it might take another hour to resolve.
💥 When the car was returned, the fuel gauge had dropped from two bars to empty. The location where the car broke down was just a 10-minute drive from our accommodation. Even if they had to fix the car, they wouldn’t have driven far.

How did they use up those two bars of fuel?

💥 In the end, we had to pay compensation, originally RM 100, but my friend managed to negotiate it down to RM 50.

The humorous part was, after that, every time we got into the car, we would check the tires like we were taking a driving test. “Left and right front tires in good condition 😆”

While I’ve heard of reputable car rental companies, I want to remind everyone to be cautious and avoid becoming guinea pigs.

In the end, I hope everyone has a wonderful journey and truly savors every moment of their trip ❤️.

Langkawi is known for its winding mountain roads, making tire tread absolutely crucial for a safe and enjoyable drive!

After this experience, I gained a wealth of knowledge about tires and their importance 😅.