Rent a Car in Langkawi (Malaysia)

Renting a car is the easiest way to explore Langkawi (Guide to Rent a car in Langkawi)

For most visitors to Langkawi, renting a car is usually the most convenient and cost-effective way of getting around the island. Here, we will touch on the things you should know and the procedures for renting a car in Langkawi. Go ahead and share this guide to rent a car in Langkawi with your travel buddies!

Langkawi Travel VLOG (2019) | Things to do in Langkawi

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Guide to rent a car in Langkawi

Langkawi is a relatively small island off the north-western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. With a low resident population, public transport options on the island are limited. Consequently, the most convenient and cost-effective mode of transport for most visitors is to rent a car (or motorcycle).

Easy to drive around Langkawi

Driving on Langkawi is easy. Traffic volume is low. Especially outside the towns of Kuah and Pantai Cenang. And the roads are in fairly good condition. The locals generally follow traffic rules/signs. And petrol stations are common. Being a small island, a typical drive from end-to-end will usually take 30 minutes.

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Rent a car in Langkawi Airport

Since most international visitors arrive in Langkawi via flight, we will focus on how you could rent a car in Langkawi Airport (LGK). Most of the information here is based on what we had experienced during our Jun-2019 trip.

Row of car rental companies at Langkawi Airport’s arrival baggage area (Guide to Rent a Car in Langkawi)

Car rental booths in Langkawi Airport

Renting a car in Langkawi Airport is extremely quick and easy.

All the car rental companies are stationed in a row of booths at Langkawi Airport’s arrival baggage area. The booths are just next to the baggage carousel (within the arrival hall). And the car rental folks will be touting their cars as visitors walk pass to collect their baggage.

The competition is great, so most visitors don’t bother to book online. One could simply approach the booths at the airport and compare prices. During most periods, there should be enough supply to ensure you’ll get a car.

Which car rental company

From what we read online, most visitors recommend the car rental companies “Indra” or “Kasina”*. However, it is always a good idea to compare prices while you’re at the airport.

During our trip, we ended up renting from Indra as the Kasina counter was not manned while we were at the airport.

*PS: We’re not associated, nor have any agreement, with any car rental companies mentioned herein. All reviews are purely our personal opinion.

We rented a Perodua Axia (1.0 litre, auto) at RM55/day (Guide to rent a car in Langkawi)

Pricing and car rental policy

Price depends on the season and obviously car make/model. It can start from as low as RM50/day.

For us (Jun-2019), we rented a Perodua Axia (1.0 litre, auto) (with 30,000km existing mileage) for RM55/day. We rented it for 5 days.

Deposit is a mere RM50. It is refunded when you return the keys at the end of your rental.

They did not ask for a credit card bond. And they did not attempt to hard-sell any insurance upgrades. The default insurance excess is RM3000. And the rental is on unlimited mileage.

Collect your car at this waiting area outside the airport (Guide to Rent a car in Langkawi)

Car collection

Once you rent the car at the booth, walk out (with the receipt) to the car rental waiting area outside the airport. Here, one of the car rental staff will drive the car over.

Taking over is simple. They simply ask you to take a video of the “before” state of the car.

They are only focused on looking for major crash/dents/scratches and not minor stuff. In fact, while I was collecting my car, the person seemed impatient that I was being too particular with all the minor scratches/dents.

Tip: When you’re filling up the tank, do it in small quantities. Given the short driving distances and assuming you rent a small car, chances are you shouldn’t need to fill up much. Making 1-2 more trips to the petrol station is better than over-filling.

Returning the car

To return, simply arrive back at the collection point and call the company.

For Indra, they were very easy on the checking during returning. The lady (whom we rented from) took less than a minute to check the car and swiftly returned us the RM50 deposit.