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 /

Chaminda G

December 20, 2024

Destination: Sydney

7poor

They made me feel like I bought the service from the wrong middleman. They said my insurance cover is not valid for them

S.Nicoll

Destination: Port Hedland

10Excellent

Great experience

G.Beckett

December 19, 2024

Destination: Singleton

4Never again

No not at all

D.Paterson

December 17, 2024

Destination: Brisbane

10Surprisingly good

The car was very good and actually got what we booked which isn't always the case with other companies. Staff we very pleasant and helpful.

H.Grant

Destination: Melbourne

9All went smoothly with no ripoffs

The shuttle guys in both directions were great , they ran out of space so we had to wait for the next one but it was not long at all, it was a good system

S.Tipene

December 16, 2024

10Nice

Alpha were pretty good. Quick service

A.Wong

December 14, 2024

10Great car and service

Everyone there has done a good job

Phil Y

December 12, 2024

Destination: Ballina

10Will use them again.

They meet my expectations and I will not hesitate to use them again in the future.

r.edwards

Destination: Adelaide

10Good, positive, quick

Car supplied better than expectef

T.Baird

Destination: Canberra

10Easy car rental through Alamo

Car in as new condition, quick service and friendly staff member. Not pushy on extra insurance etc

Y.Orikasa

December 10, 2024

9Good experience with Simba

They provided a car that was a little bigger than the one I had planned on.

Paul Taylor

5The car did the job but not worth the money.

The car was well below par.. as mentioned earlier, it appears it was a car that had come in for repairs and was being loaed out.

It was well maintained and their instructions was very clear and easy to understand

N.Brown

Destination: Perth

10Vehicle in good condition and suited our needs.

Counter staff very pleasant. Had to point out that booking included my wife as second driver without any charge. One of the few companies I found that didn’t have restrictions for mileage based on 100km within Perth area. There is a map on their site showing boundary limits which is excellent. Pick up easy, drop off is literally that. Drop the keys and go. The only down side to this is they don’t look over the car or check mileage/fuel so you wonder if you will be contacted for anything in the days after. However this has been 8 days since drop off and no contact but there was’t a need for this as the car was returned in the same condition as pick up. I have used Apex in NZ and would use again. Only issue was trying to contact Apex before booking as there is only a NZ number.

A.Rios

December 9, 2024

10Easy Peasy Rental using QEEQ App

Very friendly and quick process.

D.Huang

December 8, 2024

5Unpleasant

The car was far below our expectations!! … and several issues during our rental significantly impacted our trip. Key concerns have listed above.

A.Onn

10Could have been better. Sore about the Insurance part.

Not too happy the Insurance coverage. Had to pay additional AUD$130 as the one bought from QEEQ was not comprehensive, according to East Coast. This was not highlighted in the QEES website during booking.

A.Brown

December 6, 2024

Destination: Hobart

10Great car and service. Pity about office hours. This is a service industry

The late opening of the office ment I was unable to catch a booked flight (also a second customer with same problem. Needs a drop off point at airport if there is a late opening. Will not rent Apex again because of this. Why as they are owned by Avis can’t they use their facilities for early dropoffs

S.SKINNER

December 4, 2024

Destination: Cairns

8Very good

All good.

E.Holloway

December 3, 2024

101.5 hour wait at the airport for my car

Nightmare. Never again. Get some more staff at the counter. The staff was super lovely and managed so well considering everyone was so angry at her

N.Burton

December 2, 2024

Destination: Launceston

Paperwork was ready at counter. Pleasant staff member. Car almost new and spotless.

December 1, 2024

Destination: Preston

10Smooth and easy

Smooth and easy

10Vehicle did the job well and East Coast Rentals are extremely good to deal with - highly recommend

Excellent service

A.Indoria

10Excellent.

Was nice. Would be using them soon.

Robert

9Clean and affordable.

Booked car was not available. Replacement was an ‘upgrade’ but was suitable. Long wait times to pick up seemed common.

3Renting old worn out cars is not a good idea.

While allowing for low cost rentals by using old cars with high odometer readings might sound good, but in the final analysis, not such a good idea, especially for longer rentals of 3 weeks like we had

November 27, 2024

Destination: Townsville

5Un vrai vol avec du personnel sans respect

Le service a été très lent et long. De plus, on nous a chargé deux jours au lieu de 1. La réservation était pour 9h00 am mais notre avion est arrivée tôt. On nous a donné l'auto vers 8:35 am mais on ne nous a pas dit de retourner pour avant 8h35. Nous avons retourné l'auto à 8:40am le lendemain. Et malgré tout, u e charge de 2 jours. Un vrai vol. De plus, nous sommes retournés au comptoir pour discuter de la situation et la personne ne voulait même pas nous parler et a manqué de respect. Aucun changement ni remboursement. Europcar, c'est fini et nous ne recommanderons jamais.

T.Fusi

10It truly was the best, better than any car services I have used. I'll be using their services again.

Loved the customer service, I did a mistake in booking but they helped settle it on the day.

KP Soo

November 26, 2024

9Very satisfactory experience.

The counter staff was pleasant and efficient. Process was fast and simple. Easy to find the car that suits me...there were lots of choices. The car I got was almost brand new, so I'm very happy with that. Price was good value for money.

A.Ryman

10Bargain rental. Great experience.

Very happy with the car. Easy to drive. The process to pick up and drop off the car was very smooth at the counter and finding the car was easy and so was the drop off. Very smooth. We allowed 30 minutes for the drop off and we did it in less than 10!

Donna McAskill

November 25, 2024

East Coast reached expectations with car, customer service on pick up and return. The negative Deposit of $1000 can be held for up to 2 months. Other hire companies hold for usually 3 to 5 days after vehicle return.

10Overall is good

Overall is very nice

Nick Cattermole

November 24, 2024

8No problem

Car was MG3, not inspiring but adequate for the purpose. Agent tried hard to upsell additional insurance which we did not want.

G. L.

10Fantastic.

Car met expectations. The customer service during pickup and drop off vastly exceeded expectations. Cannot remember having dealt with such lovely people at a car rental desk in a very long time.

Sayuri

November 23, 2024

9ケアンズ空港でのレンタカー手続き

指定していた車種(日本車)を借りることができたので、安心した。

November 22, 2024

10Superb

So easy to book. Wouldn’t hesitate to use again or recommend

D.Robins

10Awesome.

The car rental company was fantastic . And i really can’t say enough about the staff . I can’t remember the young ladies name but she really made the whole experience a breeze . I would really recommend this company to any .

t.Passfield

November 21, 2024

10It all went smoothly

Everything went very smoothly

S.Taylor

November 20, 2024

10Great car and overall good booking experience

Car different to that booked however alternative was great no problems with qeeq or supplier apex

November 18, 2024

10No thrills, but excellent value rental

Very fast and efficient front counter. Got us the keys and ready to go in a few minutes

10No thrills, but great value car rental

They were excellent and fast at both pickup and drop off. Free shuttle to/from airport is A+

Kent A.

Destination: Darwin

10A car rental with the customer in the centre.

From the moment you walked in until you returned the car, the customer was at the center. They solved a problem caused by me quickly and easily. The car I received was in very good condition.

JMG from USA

10Best prices and easy rental pick up.

The car and the Budget rental staff exceeded my expectations. I provided the Budget Rental confirmation code from my QEEQ voucher, and everything went very smoothly.

9Pleasant experience

My vehicle was a much bigger and better car than I expected. Very comfortable and easy to drive. The only draw back was it didn’t have speed control. Very friendly helpful staff and smooth pick and drop off.

Darryl Bassett

10trouble free and affordable

The car was a bit of a up grade which was unexpected but good. Staff were courteous and help full. Still waiting on my deposit return but I am sure it will come as vehicle returned in same condition as picked up and tolls or traffic infringements

N.Halliwell

November 15, 2024

Loved the free upgrade

November 13, 2024

7Good experience.

The car itself was great. Drop-off was very quick and professional. We were early for the pick-up and we had to wait for 1,5 hours, because there was no flexibility on the booked time. The mail I sent a week before to announce the earlier arrival was ignored.

p.andrews

November 12, 2024

4Good car , but disappointed re quality of exterior

Nil navigation system working

M.Meni

Best service

November 11, 2024

Destination: Ayers Rock

10New car and excellent staff

The car and the counter staff exceed our expectations. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful, given us a lot of good tips

Australia Car Rentals

The Complete Australia Driving and Rental Guide