Asked often, answered plainly

The insurance excess. It is the amount you carry after any incident regardless of fault, it ranges from a little over a thousand dirhams on a modest car to twenty thousand or more on a premium one, and it is almost never mentioned aloud at the counter. Find it, write it down, and then decide whether the optional daily waiver that reduces it is worth its price for your hire.

It is worth it when the excess is large relative to the hire cost, when the car will sit in public car parks, when anyone else will drive, or when the hire runs beyond a few days. It is worth less on a short hire of an ordinary car with secure parking and one driver. Either way it is a calculation, not a matter of principle, and the numbers are on your agreement.

Usually because a hold is released rather than refunded, and a release is invisible on a statement. The company's side is normally same day or next working day; the bank's side can take from two working days to a full statement cycle. Where tolls or fines are outstanding, part may be held deliberately for several weeks. Ask at return what is being held and why, and ask for it in writing.

Past roughly two weeks, yes, and the gap widens quickly. A month is commonly priced at ten to twelve days of the daily rate, and it usually includes servicing, road assistance and a replacement car if yours goes in for work. The mistake to avoid is booking a fortnight and extending it, since extensions are charged at the daily rate and two of them cost far more than one monthly agreement.

Not without permission, and in the case of unsealed roads usually not at all. Both restrictions appear in every agreement, both are enforced, and breaching either can void the insurance entirely rather than merely reducing it. Cross-border use requires written consent and separate cover arranged in advance. If a dune drive is part of the plan, it needs a vehicle and an operator arranged for that purpose.

Rather than naming anything, look for five things: vents that are genuinely cold ten minutes after a cold start, real airflow through the seat rather than a chilled surface, outlets for rear passengers, factory tinted glass, and a lighter interior if you will park outside. Test the first of those at the collection bay before you sign, because it is the one that ruins a week if it is wrong.

It is better than one. A showroom drive is short, supervised and on a route chosen for the car. Three days on your own roads, with your own luggage and your own passengers, answers the questions that actually decide ownership: the seat after two hours, the boot lip, the turning circle in a multi-storey, and whether the cabin is quiet enough for conversation.

Usually within one working day and always within two. The form collects only what is needed to answer you, the details are used for nothing else and are deleted within twelve months, and nothing is passed to any hire company. If a matter is urgent, telephoning during opening hours is considerably faster than writing.