You will find five of the major car hire/rental companies based at the airport.  Conveniently, their desks are situated in the baggage reclaim area. They are Alamo at St Petersburg Airport - Avis at St Petersburg Airport - Budget at St Petersburg Airport and Hertz at St Petersburg Airport

Before you set off in your unfamiliar rental car make sure you check all the systems and know where everything is. Power steering is common, even on the smaller cars, and it is practically impossible to get a manual transmission car - they are all automatic.

You can get a free online car hire quote for your Florida Car Hire here

Fuel is sold by the US Gallon which is roughly 3.8 litres. All rental cars run on unleaded gas unless otherwise stated. At many petrol stations you will be required to swipe your credit card in the pump before filling your car up. It is also quite common to have a lever on the pump which you need to pull up before the petrol will flow.

Driving is on the right hand side of the road in Florida. Be careful at junctions as it is very easy to find yourself on the wrong side of the road when turning left or right.

You are allowed to turn right on a red light providing the car comes to a complete stop before starting to make the turn. Some intersections forbid the right turn on red but this will be clearly signposted. In the absence of a sign you are safe to assume right turn on red is allowed.

If you see a school bus (which are large bright yellow buses) stopped with its lights flashing you are required to stop immediately and wait for the lights to stop. This applies even if you are on the other side of the road.

Drinking and driving is not allowed under any circumstances and the limits for allowable blood alcohol levels are very low. It is also against the law to carry any alcohol in a car - put it in the boot.

If you are stopped by the police for any reason, remain in the car and wait for the police officer to come to you. Under no circumstances get out of the car and try and approach the officer.

Before parking your car make sure it is in a designated area as otherwise you may be liable for it being towed away. Do not park in front of a fire hydrant.

You will find most of the cars are a lot larger than in the UK but to compensate for this the car parks have much bigger parking spaces.

You can get a free online car hire quote for your Florida Car Hire here