Melbourne has some genuinely Melbourne-specific things to know before you rent a car here, hook turns, tollways that don’t take cash, a CBD where trams share your lane, and speed camera enforcement that’s stricter than most other Australian cities. None of it is complicated once you know it’s coming, but it catches visitors out more than in most other cities. Here’s what actually matters when comparing car rental in Melbourne, plus how to pick between the airport and a city pickup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melbourne Airport (Tullamarine) has rental desks for every major provider right in the terminal precinct, and for most visitors flying in, this is the simplest option, no need to get into the city first before you’re on the road. The airport sits about 25 minutes from the CBD in light traffic, longer at peak times, and there’s no train line directly to the airport terminal itself, so most people either drive straight out in a rental or take a SkyBus into the city first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A city pickup makes more sense if you’re not flying in, if you want a day or two in Melbourne without a car first, or if you’re chasing a specific rate that’s better through a CBD branch. Worth comparing both before you book, airport locations sometimes carry a small airport-facility surcharge that a city branch doesn’t, and CBD branches can be a genuinely better option if you’re planning to spend your first few days exploring on foot or by tram before heading out of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you’re picking up in the city, keep in mind that many CBD rental branches are on side streets with limited or no on-site parking for drop-off, worth checking exactly where you’ll be returning the car and how you’ll get from there back to your accommodation or the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melbourne’s CBD has intersections where you turn right from the left-hand lane, not the right-hand lane. This exists because trams run down the middle of many CBD streets, and a normal right turn would mean sitting in the tram’s path waiting for a gap. Signs at these intersections say “right turn from left lane only,” and if you miss one, you’ll find yourself blocking a tram, which the driver will let you know about, usually with a horn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The actual technique: move into the left lane well before the intersection, wait at the intersection (not in it) until the lights for the cross street go green, then turn right. It feels backwards the first few times. Hook turns are a CBD-specific thing, they apply at a limited, signed number of intersections within the central grid. Once you’re out of the immediate city grid, normal turning rules apply everywhere else in Melbourne, including the inner suburbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melbourne’s two main tollways, CityLink<\/a> and EastLink<\/a>, don’t have toll booths, they’re both fully electronic, using overhead cameras to read your number plate as you pass. There’s no way to pay a toll on the spot even if you wanted to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most rental companies handle this through their own toll pass system built into the car, and charge you afterward for whatever tolls you actually used, usually with a daily service fee added on top of the toll itself for any day you drive on either road, regardless of how many times you use it that day. This can add up if you’re not expecting it, particularly if your trip involves multiple short trips on CityLink across separate days rather than one longer drive. It’s worth asking specifically how your rental company handles tolls before you drive on either road, including what the daily service fee actually is, rather than finding out via an unexpected charge on your final invoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your Melbourne stay is entirely within the inner city and inner suburbs, you can often avoid CityLink and EastLink altogether using arterial roads instead, worth checking your specific route before assuming you need to use either tollway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Victoria runs one of the strictest speed and red-light camera networks in Australia, both fixed cameras at known locations and mobile cameras that move around without warning. Fines are issued to the registered vehicle, which for a rental car means the rental company, and the rental company will then pass the fine on to you along with an administration fee, sometimes a meaningful one. It’s worth being genuinely careful about speed limits in Melbourne specifically, since the enforcement approach here is noticeably stricter than in some other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSpeed and Red-Light Cameras<\/h2>\n\n\n\n