These are the assumptions made for each car hire advice page:

• Go against expectations – if the city or region has a particular reputation for a certain type of transport, especially larger cities with well-developed public transport systems, we take that as a given.

  For example, do you need a car for a long weekend break in the city centre of London, Paris or New York? Of course you don’t, so in these cities, the focus is more on places which can be visited within a day trip – in the case of London, we suggest a hire car might be a good idea, whereas in Paris and New York, we don’t – even for trips well beyond the city limits.

  On the other hand, in some of the most popular holiday destinations such as Malaga (Costa Del Sol), Tenerife or Orlando, it is easy to assume that a rental car is the best option for getting around, and many people don’t even consider looking at other ways. In fact, although we think a car is best in Tenerife, there are numerous reasons for not getting a car in both Malaga (excellent rail trips) and Orlando (car will spend most of the time in parking lots, so easier to use shuttle buses).

• Location relative — some countries are known for having excellent public transport, although the best systems usually come with a high pricetag. This is most obvious in Switzerland where trains, boats, trams, buses and even cable cars integrate perfectly, but you might need to take out a second mortgage to use some of the most famous mountain railway lines. However, even within Switzerland, public transport is better in some cantons than others, so whereas there are few reasons to even consider getting a hire car at Zürich airport or in Bern, a hire car in Geneva or Basel might be an option, depending on where else you’re planning on going.

  The standard of public transport in the USA is much more variable, but even if there are reasonably substantial rail networks on the east coast, in California and in and around Chicago, there are still a variety of reasons to consider either getting a hire car or not bothering, so we maintain a balance of 50-50 in the USA just as much as anywhere else.

•  City pairs — one way we maintain the 50-50 balance of yes and no is to compare two cities which are closely related to each other, and we will usually give a verdict of yes for one and over the other — for example we compare Glasgow (no) with Edinburgh (yes); Miami (yes) with Orlando (no), and Florence (yes) with Pisa (no).

•  Groups — a hire car becomes better value with more people in it, whereas public transport usually costs the same amount per person, regardless of group size, although some train companies do give discounts, especially for families. We generally assume that two adults are travelling together, as single travellers will almost always be better off without a car, whereas families or groups of three or more will usually find better value with a hire car.

•  Landscapes and architecture — there are many motivations to take a holiday, but the assumption for Carornocar.com is that a substantial amount of sightseeing is intended, and that the best sites are not so close together that they can easily be visited on foot, although when this is the case, we will always say so. Carornocar.Com founder James Avery studied architecture before developing websites, and maintains a strong passion for it, especially for modern transport buildings. Rest assured, these will always get a mention!