Cristobal Galilea
Co-founder, Carz
Cristobal builds Carz alongside the operators who use it — fleet software for independent car-rental businesses leasing weekly to gig drivers in Australia.
Local Car Rental in Geelong
Cristobal Galilea · 5 November 2026 · 5 min read
- car rental businesses compared in Greater Geelong
- 4
- have a Google rating. 0 have none.
- 4
- have 15+ ratings and at least 4.3★
- 3
- Australian average across 677 independents
- 4.43★
Yachts and boats moored at the Geelong marina under a blue sky. Photo: Mark Direen, Pexels
We compared four car rental businesses in Geelong, and ModernCar Car & Truck Rental is the one on the list. Below is what its own site says about bond, minimum age, overseas licences and kilometres, including where the site contradicts itself. The international brands in Geelong and at Avalon Airport are not on the list. To ask it for a quote, send one request.
The short answer
ModernCar Car & Truck Rental is the only operator on Carz’s Geelong list. It publishes no weekly rate.
Only true independents: Australian-owned, Geelong-local, no international franchises and no networks of three or more branches. Built for anyone renting by the week or the month.
The list, by Carz score
The Carz score is the Google rating, weighted by how many people gave it. We add 50 ratings at the Australian average (4.43★) to every business, so a few perfect ratings cannot beat hundreds of near-perfect ones.
Bar: Carz score. Dashed line: Australian average.
The one on the list
- Place 1
ModernCar Car & Truck Rental
4.4★ from 95 Google ratingsCarz score 4.411North Geelong
The one independent in Geelong that passed the floor and every check.
Weekly from
Not published
- Bond
- $200 on credit, $400 on debit
- Min age
- Site says both 21 and 25
- Kilometres
- Printed as 20 km a day, then .25 cent/km
Read the full review
A car and truck rental at 35 Rodney Road in North Geelong. Its site also runs a tyre and mechanical workshop at the same address, and its About page mentions a Werribee location. The fleet on its site runs from economy hatches and sedans to an SUV and a Ford Mustang, with vans and trucks alongside. Its home page offers free pick-up from Avalon Airport and doorstep delivery.
Its age rule is stated two ways. The booking form on the home page says “Age 25+ and have full Licence”, while the terms say all authorised drivers are over 21. The terms refuse learner and provisional licences and ask for a full licence held for at least 12 months in the same category as the car. A licence must be in English or come with a translation.
The deposit is $200 on a credit card or $400 on a debit card, refundable in 5 to 15 business days. Its What We Offer page prints “Free 20 KM Per Day” with 25 cents for each extra kilometre; a line on the home page gives 200 km a day on commercial vehicles, so check the figure for a car when you call. About says a day can cost “as low as $29”. No weekly price is published; the terms set the minimum charge at one day.
The site itself carried a warning. On 5 November its home page showed a notice that the website was under maintenance and that availability and prices shown online are not guaranteed, with a phone number to call instead.
Who it’s for: a renter who wants a local counter in North Geelong or a car waiting at Avalon, and will confirm age and price by phone. Who it’s not for: a P-plater, or anyone who needs a firm online price.
Just outside the list
Kangaroo Rentals at Avalon Airport (4.6★ over 102 ratings) and Turnbulls Hire (4.7★ over 28) have a higher Carz score than ModernCar and are not listed. They share a phone line, and their sites list counters at Avalon, Hobart and Melbourne airports and depots at Pakenham and Traralgon. That is a network of three or more branches, the same reason they are left off the Hobart list.
Geelong West Car & Van Rental (5.0★ over 17 ratings) also scores higher. Google shows it as temporarily closed, and it has no website to read. Guru Autocare and Rentals in Grovedale (4.8★ over 22) is a mechanic: its site offers servicing and repairs, not car hire.
The rest with a higher score are international brands. Budget in Geelong (4.7★ over 446) and SIXT in Geelong and at Avalon (4.6★ over 1,024 and 1,224) lead them.
Quick comparison
Six things decide whether you can rent: what a week costs, how long you must commit, what you have to put down, how far you can drive, how old you must be, and whether an overseas licence works.
- Published
- Partly published
- Not published
| Operator | Weekly from | Min term | Bond | Kilometres | Min age | Overseas licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1ModernCar Car & Truck Rental | Not published | 1 day | $200 on credit, $400 on debit | Printed as 20 km a day, then .25 cent/km | Site says both 21 and 25 | English, or with a translation |
| Publish it | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 1 of 1 | 0 of 1, 1 in part | 0 of 1, 1 in part | 1 of 1 |
ModernCar clearly publishes three of the six. The bond, the overseas licence rule and a one-day minimum charge are stated. Age and kilometres are printed but unclear, and a weekly price is not published.
How the Carz score treats a rating
Hollow is the Google rating, solid is the Carz score. The fewer ratings a business has, the further its score drops towards the Australian average.
How we ranked these operators
The Carz score starts from the Google rating and counts how many ratings stand behind it, so a 5.0 from 15 people cannot beat a 4.8 from 256. We took the car rental businesses Google Maps lists in the Geelong urban area on 2 November 2026, plus text searches, and scored them this way.
The technical name is a Bayesian average, the method IMDb uses for its Top 250. Every business starts with 50 notional ratings at the Australian average, and its real ratings are added to those. The Australian average is 4.432★, measured across the 677 rated independent car rental operators in our national census. The Carz score is printed beside every entry, on the same star scale, so the order can be checked without trusting us.
The floor is at least 15 ratings and 4.3★. We excluded international brands, networks with three or more branches, accident-replacement fleets and businesses that do not rent cars. 4 car rental businesses in Geelong were compared, from 5 Google listings because two of them share one company; all 4 have a Google rating; 3 passed the floor; 1 was published. Of the other 2 that passed, one is a network and one shows as temporarily closed.
Some listings Google files under car rental are something else, and their own sites say so. Guru Autocare is a mechanic, Fair Go Access supports people with disability, and Compass Cars supplies accident-replacement vehicles. Text searches also turned up two truck and ute hire firms, which were not compared.
Prices, bonds, ages, kilometre allowances and licence rules were read from the operator’s own website on 5 November 2026, never from a directory, an aggregator or a booking site. Where an operator publishes nothing, the table says Not published; it never says “no”. Where its own pages disagree, we say that instead.
Compiled by the team at Carz, which also builds the software some of these operators run on. We say it here rather than bury it. Nothing on this page is paid for, and no operator can buy a position on it.
Geelong operators can read about Carz’s car rental software. Using it has no bearing on the order above.
What you need to rent weekly in Geelong
Age
21 or 25, depending on which page you read. ModernCar’s terms say over 21; its booking form says 25+. Ask which applies before you book.
Overseas licence
Accepted in English, or with a translation. The terms also ask for a full licence held for at least 12 consecutive months in the same category as the car.
Bond
$200 on a credit card, $400 on a debit card. It is refundable, and ModernCar says the refund takes 5 to 15 business days.
Debit card
Accepted, with a bigger bond. The terms ask for a debit or credit card in the hirer’s name, and the home page sets the debit bond at $400.
P-plates
Not accepted. The terms refuse learner and provisional licences.
Rideshare
No rule published. ModernCar says nothing either way about Uber or DiDi. Ask before you book.
Weekly vs daily in Geelong
ModernCar prints no weekly rate. Its About page says a day can cost “as low as $29”, a headline figure with no car attached, so a week in Geelong is priced on request.
Ask for a quote on the car and dates you need, and confirm the daily kilometre allowance, since its pages give two different figures.
What the list says about Geelong’s rental market
Our census found 23 places Google files under car rental in the Geelong urban area. Most are chain counters in the city and at Avalon Airport, and Google shows three of the listings as closed. The rest include a workshop, a disability support service, a car subscription business and a trailer hire firm. Four are car rental businesses that are not international brands, and one passed every check.
ModernCar’s 4.4★ is lower than the Budget and SIXT counters in Geelong. It is the only one that passed every check. Compare with Melbourne, the nearest city on these lists, or see every city on the rankings hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much is weekly car rental in Geelong?
The operator on this list does not publish a weekly price. ModernCar Car & Truck Rental says on its About page that a day can cost “as low as $29”, but its pages print no weekly rate. Quotes come by phone, on 03 5200 0803, or through its booking form.
Can I rent a car in Geelong under 25?
It is not clear. ModernCar’s booking form says “Age 25+ and have full Licence”, while its terms say all authorised drivers must be over 21. Call before you book. The terms say learner and provisional licences are not accepted.
Can I rent a car in Geelong on an overseas licence?
ModernCar’s terms say the licence must be in English or come with a translation. They also ask for a full licence held for at least 12 consecutive months in the same category as the car.
What bond do Geelong car rental companies ask for?
ModernCar takes a refundable deposit of $200 on a credit card or $400 on a debit card. It says the refund takes 5 to 15 business days to show in your account.
Why is there only one operator on this list?
Our census found four car rental businesses in Geelong that are not international brands, and three passed the floor. Kangaroo Rentals (4.6★ over 102 ratings) and Turnbulls Hire (4.7★ over 28) share a phone line and have counters at Avalon, Hobart and Melbourne airports, so they are left off as a network, as they are in Hobart. Geelong West Car & Van Rental (5.0★ over 17) is shown by Google as temporarily closed and has no website. Budget, SIXT, Hertz, Avis, Europcar and Thrifty are international brands. Hire firms that only rent trucks and utes were not compared.
How was this ranking calculated?
We took the car rental businesses Google Maps lists in the Geelong urban area on 2 November 2026, plus text searches, and scored them on a Bayesian average, the method IMDb uses for its Top 250. Every business starts with 50 notional ratings at the Australian average, which is 4.432★ across the 677 rated independent car rental operators in our national census, and its own ratings are added to those. We required at least 15 ratings and 4.3★, and excluded international brands, networks with three or more branches, accident-replacement fleets and businesses that do not rent cars. Prices and rules were read from the operator’s own website on 5 November 2026.