One of the questions I get asked the most is how to rent a car in Israel. But more specifically, can you take that rental car into the West Bank.
Let’s take a look at renting cars in Israel, where you can take them, and what things to consider when renting.
How to rent a car in Israel
Obviously, the easiest way to rent a car is to book one from the airport when you book your flight. Most of the major rental companies are in Israel. Avis. Budget. Hertz. Sixt. The main difference you’ll find is that you don’t get unlimited kilometers with your rental.
If you rent from Sixt, for anything less than 72 hours (3 full days) you will get allotted 250 Km per day. If you rent for 3 to 29 days you will get 4,000 Kilometers for the entire period. If you rent for 30 days or more you will get an additional 133.33 Kilometers per day. This is the prorated daily rate for 4,000 Km per month. Excess Kilometers are charged at 50 cents per kilometer.
Like any rental car in the US, in Israel you are asked if you want to buy insurance. Unlike the US though, your auto insurance policy back home most likely doesn’t cover car rentals overseas.
You can take the risk of not getting insurance, or using a third-party insurer, but I recommend buying it from the rental company. It’s anywhere from $14-$30 a day, it covers the car bumper to bumper and you get peace of mind. Israeli drivers are crazy. Particularly in Jerusalem.
One thing I noticed a lot of in Israel (Jerusalem in particular) were beat-up cars. It’s not like the states where people spend money on their cars and keep them up.
Use Israeli websites to book your car.
When booking a rental car, I recommend booking directly with the company’s Israeli website. I used Sixt, and liked it a lot. My friend was a Budget guy and stuck with them. These companies have websites you can go to and reserve directly. I believe the other major companies do as well.
For Sixt, I reserved on their sixt.co.il site rather than the sixt.com international page. Budget has a co.il web address as well. Not that I’m directing you to these companies, but they are examples.
I noticed that when I reserved with the co.il site everything was good to go when I picked the car up. When I made reservations with the .com site or a third-party travel website, the fees didn’t get translated up front, so I thought I was getting a deal, when actually I wasn’t. The front desk also had to search for my reservation because it wasn’t booked through the company’s co.il site, but rather the main company website.
What documents do you need to rent a car in Israel?
You will need your American driver’s license, your passport, and your visa. If you have a standard tourist visa (B/2), you will not have to pay VAT tax. But if you have any of the other types of visas, you will be required to pay the 17% VAT tax.
Is it worth renting a car in Jerusalem?
No. If you are planning to tour Israel on your own, using a car in Jerusalem will prove to be difficult. Jerusalem is crowded and the streets are narrow. Only a small portion of the Old City allows cars, and you need a special pass to enter. You either have to live or work there. Staying in a hotel there does not count. There is a gate leading up to Jaffa gate that routinely gets backed up with traffic by people thinking it’s a pay-to-enter turnstile, but it isn’t. It’s a pass holder’s entrance.
Everything you will do in Jerusalem is concentrated in and around the Old City, with the exception of the Israel Museum and the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial. Both of which are at the end of the rail line you can catch on Jaffa Street. So, you don’t really need a car anyway.
Your hotel may have parking, but it will most likely require you to pay for it. If you are planning to tour Israel on your own and intend to stay in Jerusalem for just a few days, it might be worth paying for parking so you can keep the car. But if you have a longer stay in Jerusalem and want to save on money, you may want to consider turning the car in when you arrive and picking up another one when you leave.
Although juggling rental cars may not sound appealing, there is another reason why you may want to open your mind to it.
Can you take your rental car to the West Bank?
Yes and No. But mainly, no.
Rental Car companies will NOT allow you to travel to any areas in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, or outside the country (i.e. Jordan). This means off the main highways. I don’t know if they track you with a GPS device or if they only find out if you get into an accident and have to report it.
You are allowed to travel through the West Bank on Route 60 which is the main north-south highway through the West Bank. You just can’t get off and wander. This means Jericho and Bethlehem are off-limits using a rental car. As well as Shiloh, Nablus, and Jacob’s Well.
You can also use Route 1 to get to and from the Dead Sea. When I traveled on Route 1, I did stop for gas and at a couple of scenic overlooks and no one said anything to me when I turned the car in.
The Dead Sea
Once at the Dead Sea area you are free to check out Qumran, and the three northern Dead Sea beaches (Biankini, Kalia, and Neve Midbar). As well as the Baptismal site on the Jordan River.
You are allowed to travel on Route 90, the main highway north-south on the Israeli side of the Jordan River Valley.
The West Bank ends at the southern end of Route 90 with a checkpoint. It’s a rather small checkpoint. Masada is to the south of that checkpoint. And then further south Is Ein Bokek, where the other Dead Sea beaches are at.
On the northern end of Route 90 where the West Bank ends, it’s a larger checkpoint. When going through any checkpoint, the guards may ask for your passport and visa, but not always. They are looking for specific things and will usually know if you are a tourist or not. DO NOT, for any reason, joke with them if they stop you. Nor give anyone a ride from the West Bank back into Israel that you do not know.
Even though Herodium is a National Park, it’s off the beaten path and I wouldn’t expect it to be within the rental car company’s limits. But it’s a grey area that could be stretched a little.
What happens if you get caught taking a rental car into the West Bank?
If you drive a rental car into the West Bank and get into an accident, you will most likely incur all the costs of repairing or replacing the vehicle, as well as paying for any injuries to other people and property damage other than the car.
Although the rule is that you can’t go anywhere in the West Bank, it’s really the areas under the Palestinian Authority’s jurisdiction. To provide finer detail, some areas of the West Bank are controlled by the Israeli Government. Others are controlled by the Palestinian Authority. And some are controlled by settlement laws. The problem is that it’s not broken up into three distinct areas. It’s a hodgepodge, polka-dotted landscape that is in constant flux.
The issue at stake is jurisdiction. If you get into an accident, the rental car company can’t appeal to the local authority about the incident. Also, because these areas tend to be less developed, the rental and insurance companies would be taking on a greater liability.
At the end of the day, the rental companies say you can’t go into the West Bank for legal reasons. Legally they have to tell you not to go there so they have the legal authority to take you to court if need be for violating the contract. But I’m sure they are fully aware that people go into the West Bank anyway. From a tourist and honest Christian perspective, I recommend another option, which I’ll get to in a moment.
Ultimately it would be more than inconvenient to have to deal with legal and financial issues surrounding a rental car if you got into an accident.
Can you rent a car in the West Bank?
There are a couple of rental companies in East Jerusalem, north of the Old City, that rent cars exclusively for traveling in the West Bank. One of my classmates from Jerusalem University College used to rent a car from East Jerusalem all the time because her program had her going to a village near Bethlehem.
The first company is Dollah Rental Car. Yes that’s spelled correctly. The other company is Jerusalem Rental Car. Both cover you for the entire West Bank. Their vehicle availability is not as robust as the standard rental car companies, but it’s not bad.
https://www.jerusalemrentcar.com/
http://www.dallahrentacar.com/locations.shtml
Use the links provided as the Dollah website does not load directly to its front page, but its locations page does. Neither of these companies are on Google Maps because they are in the West Bank, but you can find their locations on their websites.
Is it difficult to drive in Israel?
Driving in Israel is not difficult, but it has it’s frustrations like any other location in the world does. If you drive on the East Coast of the United states or in Los Angeles you are used to stop and go traffic. If you drive in California, you are used to driving 80 miles-an-hour and having people cut you off or pass you. If you drive in Texas you are used to people getting road rage.
In Israel, traffic goes off of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which is the international system you see in Europe. All of the signs have Hebrew, Arabic, and English on them. You will drive on the right-hand side of the road.
Israeli cities are like Europe and Japan, which are not built in a typical grid system like most cities in the US are. So, if you rent a car, I highly recommend you use google maps, or a GPS device.
Frustrations with Israeli Drivers
Before you get a green light, the red traffic light will turn yellow momentarily then Green. If you are first in line, the people behind you will start honking at you to ‘GO’ as soon as the light turns yellow. One of the frustrations I had driving in Jerusalem was that people just didn’t care if I wanted to get over. Turning my blinker on wasn’t enough, I had to force my way into the lane. But this is similar to driving in Southern California, so I didn’t mind too much. It was just more pronounced.
Something to be aware of, is that compared to the United States, where people mainly only honk if they are mad at you; Israeli drivers honk their horns constantly. They will honk at you for not moving fast enough, for slowing to make a turn that they are not going to make after you, or basically for doing anything that is not convenient for them. I think they just like the sound of a honking horn.
Outside of the city, driving is not as crazy. The highways are like highways in the US. When you are on a two-lane highway where you have to cross the centerline to pass a car, it can get a little dicey. The nice part though is that in most places around the country, you will be able to see far enough ahead to know if you have room. It’s like driving in Arizona or Texas in that respect.
What is parking like in Israel?
Outside of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, parking is like the United States. Strip malls have free parking lots. National Parks have large parking lots that are free as well. In places like Haifa, near the beach, you might find a parking lot for beach goers that’s free. Usually, they are dirt lots. If you have to get street parking it’s either free or there will be a meter next to the spot for you to pay.
In Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, you will be paying for everything. And parking is hard to find.
How much does gas cost in Israel?
The average cost of fuel in Israel over the last few months (March -August 2023 has fluctuated between $7 and $7.18 per gallon. In New Israeli Shekels (₪NIS) per liter that comes out to about ₪6.50 to ₪7.00 NIS per liter.
Something to note about fuel grades. In most countries outside the US, the fuel grade is higher, usually in the 90s (93, 95, or 97). Whereas, in the US it’s in the 80s (87, 89, 93). In Israel, 95 Octane is what you get at the pump. There isn’t much of a choice. This means the fuel has been refined more and therefore more expensive.
When buying fuel, the screen on the pump will be in Hebrew only. If you download Google Translate to your smartphone, it can translate it for you. Before you can pump gas though, the screen will ask you to enter the car’s plate number. It is a 7 or 8-digit number. If you have trouble entering the number, try entering 1234567, 1111111, or 9999999.
Next, the screen will ask you for your Israeli ID number. You don’t have one because you are not a resident. The Israeli ID number is 9 digits. Try entering 123456789, 111111111, or 999999999.
For more on getting gas, check out this video from Oren at TravelingIsrael.com.
