Car rental in Nashville

Car Rental in Nashville: a real taste of the American South

Nashville is an excellent city to visit to taste the real flavors and experience the ambience of the American South. The city has a comfortable small-town feel, while also offering visitors excellent food, almost constant live music, and beautiful natural surroundings. Make the most of your visit to Nashville, Tennessee by staying mobile via rental car, and make a point to take some road trips into the Tennessee wilderness. Book you rental car today.

Nashville doesn’t witness the extremes of seasons like other cities do in the United States, making it fairly comfortable to visit year-round. Winters rarely freeze for long, though snow does fall from time to time December through February. The hottest months are July and August.

The de facto national language of the United States is English, which is also the language spoken by the vast majority of Nashville residents. About 5% of the population also speaks Spanish as a native language. Shawnee, a language in the Algonquin family, is the indigenous language primarily spoken in the Nashville area today.

Nashville is in the Central Standard Time Zone, UTC-6.

The currency is the US dollar. Currency exchange is readily available at airports and popular tourist destinations, and credit cards are accepted at the vast majority of businesses. ATMs are also easy to find throughout the city.

Automobile hire is available in 14 locations throughout Nashville, including at the Nashville International Airport (BNA) and in the south and northeastern parts of the city.

There are a lot of great road trips to take from Nashville, whether you head out to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Knoxville (about 200 miles eastward) or take a day trip to nearby historic town Franklin (20 miles to the south). 

Visa Regulations

38 nationalities can enter the United States as tourists without applying for a visa, though if you are among these nationalities, you are still required to fill out the ESTA in advance. Visit esta.us for more information. Visitors to the United States will be fingerprinted and biometrically photographed upon entry. If your nationality is not included in the visa-waiver program, you will be required to apply for a B-1 or B-2 visa in advance of your arrival.

Driving in Nashville

With wide roads and frequent parking spots, driving in and around Nashville is fairly comfortable, especially if you stay off the road during morning and evening rush hours.

Right-Hand Driving

• Traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road throughout North America.

Speed Limits

• In the city: 25-30 miles per hour (40-48 km/h)
• On freeways: 70 mph (112 km/h)
• On rural highways: 55-65 mph (88-105 km/h)
• To optimize your travel time, avoid driving in Nashville during rush hour, between 7 to 9 in the morning and 4 to 7 in the evening.

Other Regulations

1. Parking is plentiful in downtown Nashville, whether you choose street parking, private parking lots, or municipal parking lots. Most of the parking spaces regulated by the city are free after 6 pm and on Sundays, though make sure you double-check regulations before you leave your car. It is also prudent to carry cash and coins to pay for parking in Nashville.
2. You can drive on your domestic driver’s license as a tourist throughout Tennessee without additional certification.
3. There are no toll roads in Tennessee.
4. The minimum driving age in Tennessee is 18 years, though most rental companies will require that you are at least 20 years old to rent a car, and you are likely to face young-driver surcharges until the age of 25.

Cheap Car Rental in Nashville

Automobile hire in Nashville typically starts at around $30 a day. Here are some of the best deals in Nashville:

• Kia Rio or similar (economy class) – $31/day
• Nissan Note or similar (compact class) – $32/day
• Hyundai Elantra or similar (intermediate class) – $34/day
• Volkswagen Jetta or similar (standard class) – $35/day
• Ford Fusion or similar (fullsize class) – $37/day

Note that prices vary depending on the availability of each specific car and the season in which you rent. For the most accurate offers, use the search bar above.

Tips for Renting a Car Inexpensively in Nashville

There is some seasonal variation in price for rental cars in Nashville, where cars typically rise to around $50 a day in the popular summer months. However, regardless of when you plan to travel to Nashville, you may find that you get the best deals on rental cars by booking just one or two months before you arrive.

For the most availability and diversity of rental cars in Nashville, book your car from the Nashville International Airport, where car rental companies such as Dollar and EuropCar compete to offer visitors the lowest prices.

Regardless of from where you rent, moreover, if you’re planning on renting a car for over a week, rental car prices in Nashville become substantially cheaper, dropping to between $24 and $30 a day! Keep an eye out for the occasional discount of 8% and more that makes automobile hire in Nashville especially cheap.