MyWheels review (+ promo code): flexible car rental in the Netherlands

To get a €25 promo code for MyWheels, accept my invitation by clicking here.

After visiting the famous Keukenhof park using public transport, we thought it would be super cool to be able to rent a car the following weekend to admire tulip fields with fewer crowds and more freedom.

Problem: we’re doing this at the last minute. We discover that car rental agencies are only open on Saturday mornings during the weekend, and it’s impossible to return the vehicle outside of agency opening hours.

Only option: go pick up a car at an Amsterdam airport agency open 24/7. Since we’re in The Hague, that’s not very convenient.

Just as I was about to give up, I discovered the MyWheels service. For those who know it, MyWheels is a service similar to what Autolib was for a few years in Paris (I was a customer, and I loved that service!).

I discovered this service on a Friday, hoping to book a car for Sunday. I wasn’t sure my registration would be validated in time.

The registration itself is fairly simple, you’ll need to:

• Receive a validation SMS (OK with a French number)
• Enter your address in the Netherlands (OK with our hotel address)
• Take a photo of your driver’s license (French “pink” old-style license is OK)
• Take a selfie to prove your identity.

My registration confirmation came very quickly, just a few minutes later, I thought the hard part was done!

Additional issue: to book a car, you need to have your bank account verified so the rental amount can be debited from your account. Card payment is not offered.

Account verification:

• Happens instantly and automatically if you have a Dutch bank account
• Requires sending a 1-cent transfer to MyWheels, and takes up to 10 days to be verified if you have a foreign account.

Lucky break: I see that Revolut is among the banks eligible for instant verification. Indeed, Revolut is no longer a British bank since Brexit, but a Dutch one.

Additional issue: I closed my Revolut account several years ago. I then thought I’d just open a new one. Registration takes 5 minutes flat, the process is truly impressive.

So I opened a bank account to rent a car, I was motivated, but the tulip field spectacle was worth the effort!

To open a Revolut account with my referral bonus, click here.

MyWheels is a rental service available 24/7, available almost everywhere in the Netherlands.

The service has a fleet of both petrol and electric vehicles.

Pricing is made up of:

• An hourly rate: €3.25 / hour for the vehicle we had
• Plus 37 cents per kilometer

The per-kilometer rate is quite high, but it includes fuel. The tank will be at least 3/4 full when you pick up the vehicle. If you need more fuel, there’s a card and code in the glove box to pay (I didn’t get to test it).

MyWheels has a mobile app, but it’s only in Dutch, so I recommend using the website directly, which is available in English and offers the same features.

I booked a lovely Citroën C1 the day before, choosing the closest available car to my hotel. I could easily have done it 5 minutes before using the car if it had been available.

Cars are located:

• Either in a specific parking spot
• Or in a zone

For me, this is the only real flaw of this service: you’ll need to return the vehicle to the same place you picked it up, either at the exact spot or in the zone. It’s impossible to pick it up in The Hague and return it in Amsterdam, for example.

To pick up the vehicle, go to the indicated address. First, MyWheels shows you known damages on the vehicle on the site and asks you to take photos of any unreported damage. Since you can never be too careful, I photographed every tiny scratch and emailed it to the address provided.

Once that’s done, you click “start rental,” which automatically unlocks the car. It’s magic!

All you have to do is grab the key from the glove box.

The car’s cleanliness was average, but we’re not going to be picky. A GPS mount is available for your phone.

Otherwise everything went smoothly, and the tulip fields in April are stunning!

Only small issue to report: the car’s central locking didn’t work. I figured out how to lock the doors manually, but not the trunk!

The rental ends when you park the car in the designated spot or zone and click “end rental” to lock the car. Don’t forget to put the key back in the glove compartment beforehand!

Note that if you book a 4-hour rental and return the car after 2 hours, you will still be charged for 4 hours.

In the end, 6.5 hours of rental and 93 kilometers cost me €60.34, fuel included. For a vehicle picked up on a Sunday a 5-minute walk from my hotel. One unpleasant surprise: an extra line of €3.99 that seems to be for insurance, I’m not sure where that came from.

My only alternative for a rental that Sunday was a round trip from The Hague to Amsterdam airport by public transport, for a rental of over €100 a day (gas not included). You’ll understand that I’m thrilled with my MyWheels experience and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

Enjoyed this post? Check out our other articles on the Netherlands here

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