If you are considering renting a car in Israel, Eldan is the most recommended car rental company on TripAdvisor Forum. Why? The price is good, and there’s no hidden fee. I just tried their service, so let me share my experience!
Booking &Eldan Car Rental Fees (2019 Feb)
Simply go to Eldan’s Website to make a reservation：https://rent.eldan.co.il/en
The price was really good! For 4 days in February, the cheapest option starts at $96! So that’s $24 a day… including CDW insurance!
We chose a car from Group E. The rental fee for 4 days was $112, which means $28 a day.
By the way, the rental system is based on 24 hours. My contract started from Sunday afternoon at 5:30 pm till Thursday afternoon at 5 pm, and this is considered 4 days instead of 5 days!
This is our voucher, this email was immediately sent after making the reservation:
Eldan Car Rental Office
Eldan’s office is located on 24 King David～ Keep in mind that while it’s easy to find this office, it is super hard to find the parking…
No, it is not in the same place… Car rental office and parking garage are separated… 
Finishing Document Procedure at Eldan’s Office
You need to provide the staff with the following documents:
1. Your Reservation Number (from the booking voucher)
2. Driver’s License AND International Driving Permit
3. Driver’s Passport and the blue entry card
Money Saving Tips: Don’t lose your blue entry card!
You’ll receive a blue entry card when you arrive in Israel. And you will not have any problem leaving Israel if you lose it…. BUT, if you don’t have this blue entry card with you when renting a car or staying in a hotel, you will likely be requested to pay Israeli’s 17% VAT!
After the staff scans all your documents, you’ll see the contract, and you’ll sign it. You’ll go over some reminders, and maybe the staff will ask you whether you’d want to purchase SCDW. (Read more about CDW and SCDW in Israel here)
I bought my insurance from a third party insurance company, and instead of paying Eldan $68 extra for SCDW, I only spent $12… (leave me a message if you want to know which company it was)
Picking Up Your Car (Return Your Car Here too)
You’d receive the instruction on finding the parking garage over email, but… unless you already know what you are looking for, I found it hard to read this instruction.
The location is sort of behind YMCA, but there are some stairs… just look around and ask someone there.
Once you found the entrance to the parking, go down via elevator. And look to your right!
There’s this tiny office. Well, that’s Eldan.
Our car group was Peugeot 208 (E), and we got this car. This was their “cleanest” car! The staff here would go over the check-up with you, and she/he would “describe” the dents and scars with words, and then she/he would circle the damages on a tiny form. Even with the cleanest car, I think she marked pretty much all places…
You can put on the English subtitle to watch my vlog 🙂
When you return the car, you need to come back here. The drive lanes in this parking are tiny… it’s okay because we are from Asia, and my aunt could manage this. But if you are used to driving in congested cities, well, I don’t know what you’d do. Just keep in mind that Israeli are not patient and they are generous in using horns.
I didn’t have any problem returning the car 😉 It was quick and easy!
By the way, if you use the only toll road in Israel, you have to pay the toll and service fee to the car company. The service fee is normally $18-$20. And I got the bill from Eldan after 3 weeks.
