I've rented many times in Taiwan, but have always had to use local sites / apps, or oftentimes have to call the company directly. I've never had luck with the usual OTAs such as rentalcars.com, expedia, trip.com, or the like.

Local rental agencies I've used include Easyrent, Car-Plus, and Pony but I've found them hard to use and not that cheap.

Am I missing something? How have you rented in Taiwan?

I did a 24-hour rental in Hualien via Klook, picked up car near train station, had a great drive to Taroko

Picked the cheapest option, it was fine

Klook is something I've yet to try, though it did come up in my search as a more reasonably-priced option. Next time I'll try it out.

I rented a minivan for 2 weeks direct from Avis (reserved in their app) this past a January. Picked up in Taipei and returned at TPE. It was straightforward and rates were competitive for other minivan options I searched.

I had to have a relative do the reservation for me. Was not cheap, and also had a hefty one-way surcharge when driving from Tainan and dropping it off in Taidong. Much more expensive than hire cars in Europe. But beats cross-island train travel, as the public transports for east-west travel are poor/time-consuming.

If you don't have a local licence to drive, also don't forget the international driving permit (IDP). They checked and photocopied when I picked up the car.

In the East I used Toyota rent a car because they met me at the train station or airport and walked me to their office. Rates were similar and the service was really good.

Yes, Klook has good deals unless you know someone really local who can call the local rental car office and negotiate. Like your company's local office if you have one.

How did your trip go? We gave you some suggestions but did not hear back. Hope it all turned out well!

I see a few others have chimed in with some other options too. Klook and renting directly from Avis or Toyota seem like they could work well.

Have you tried Gogoout? It's a local OTA specialized in rental cars in Taiwan

Thanks, it looks promising! Reasonable rates too.

Welcome to Flyertalk!

How difficult is the driving in Taiwan? I've read some horror stories, but others say it's okay. I'm thinking of renting a car at TPE to drive to Sun Moon Lake and Alishan, and then return it to Tainan. Public transit seems time consuming and hiring a driver is expensive. I have extensive mountain driving experience. I don't like driving in crazy foreign cities (like, say, Jakarta), but I can drive in normal cities. We've never been to Taiwan, so we really don't know what to expect.

Driving in Asia is much more hectic than the US (guessing your location based on your username). You have to be used to two wheeled vehicles and pedestrians all around you at any given moment, in between lanes and on road shoulders. Road regulations are controlled frequently by radar and camera, something you guys in the US don't have much of.

If you are confortable driving in southern France, Italy, etc.... then you are fine. But if you are used to just the USA, I would reconsider.

It's not that bad. The two most difficult places I have run into are certain areas of Taipei where you need to know which lane to be in to turn right or left, in some stretches the central lanes go straight and you are not allowed to switch to the side lanes (called slow car lanes) which allow right turns. Taichung has one main road like this as well, but just the one. Most car navigation will indicate which lane to be in when it becomes important so you need to pay attention to which lane the navigation is directing you to. If you have driven in Melbourne before you have seen something like this. But unlike Melbourne, no streetcars in Taiwan.

The second difficult situation is mountain villages with inches of clearance on both sides of the car. Pray no one inside the buildings opens their door. But I don't think you'll end up in such a place with your itinerary.

I have been to Jakarta over 100 times, I would never drive there. It's not just the scooters, if you have the slightest accident as a foreigner you are in for a decent amount of trouble whether you are at fault or not.

Just follow the rules and practice defensive driving in Taiwan. Watch out for scooters some of who will illegally pass on the right or left when they can. Off the main roads yield and stop signs are not often used, they are painted on the road as you come to an intersection.

Having a car opens many more travel options outside the main cities. You can PM me if you have more specific questions.

Thanks for all the help. I've now made a Klook reservation. I think I will return the car at the TPE airport because we are a party of 4 and I can see that taking the high speed train from Tainan would be relatively expensive. We're likely headed into Taipei then. I assume I'm better off returning at the airport then trying to drive to "downtown" and returning the car there?

FWIW, I did pay Klook the extra $10 or so a day for their complete insurance package, something I don't think I've ever done before. It seemed worth the piece of mind.

Absolutely easier to return the car at an airport than downtown.

You may want to email your hotels that you need parking. Most have it or some parking arrangement nearby but a few small hotels may not. Whichever car service klook hooks you up with make sure they have enabled etag for highway tolls. They should also help you set up Carplay or whatever navigation you use on your phone. Hsinchu to Taipei highway traffic picks up at rush hour, especially weekends as people leave Friday and come back Sunday. If returning to Taoyuan on Sunday allow extra time.

Drive safe and have fun!

The only time we needed to book a rental car in Taiwan, we had zero problem doing so via Expedia (for a Hertz rental). Looking back at the email confirmation now, we picked the vehicle up at Arrival Hall Pillar 18, Taipei Songshan. I recall the process, to include pickup, being smooth.