Freedom Car Rental, Hakuba

03/10/2025

📢❄️ Winter 25/26 Announcement ❄️📢

We’re excited to share that we’re officially OPEN for the 25/26 winter season! 🚗✨
Bookings are now available with a 6-day minimum rental.

freedomhakuba.com

Secure your ride early and make this winter one to remember!
📅 Book now and lock in your dates.

29/09/2024

2024 Update
We are excited to announce that our restructuring is complete, and we are now accepting bookings for the 2024-2025 season!

22/09/2024

Driving In Japan

Visit the post for more.

24/12/2019

A Very Merry Christmas to everyone in Hakuba! Unfortunately we don't have a lot of snow, but the lifts are running and it finally looks like we'll get the big fall we need to get the kids sledging and snowman-building on Friday. To celebrate Christmas and give you more leisure options until the ski resorts get fully operational,we are running a promotion on the cars we have available. To get 15% off, please book a car for two days or longer through our website, https://freedomhakuba.com/ and use the promotion code "MERRY XMAS" in the comments on our booking form. The discount applies only to bookings made direct via our website and is valid for all bookings up to 10 January 2020.

(Please note that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Honda CR-V may be out delivering presents)

17/12/2019

There's good snow on the hills now in Hakuba and the mountains have been looking beautiful. The photo is from yesterday, Dec 16th. As you can see, there is no snow at town level, but there is good accumulation higher up and the lifts are moving. About half of Hakuba Goryu/47 is open for skiing, making it the pick of all resorts in central Japan. ⛷🏂Other ski hills in Hakuba are yet to open or have very limited operation 🙁. With a mild week ahead, this looks likely to continue, so it's fingers crossed for a White Christmas... 🎶 just like the ones I used to know 🎶

When it's wet like today, there isn't much to do in Hakuba. Please shoot us an email if you have an international driving permit and would like to hire a car. We have some cars available this week and then over New Year. If the Japanese New Year break, starting Saturday December 28, arrives with few courses open, ⚠️expect very long lift lines ⚠️ Limited snow in Hakuba means no snow at all in other regions, funneling lots of Japanese families to Hakuba. As a car rental company, we would like to remind you that hiring a car is cheaper than paying for lift tickets to stand in a line. If you have transport, there are many other ways to enjoy our area.😉

16/12/2019

Pre check-in

December 16, 2019December 16, 2019freedomhakubaLeave a Comment on Pre check-in Pre check-in Name of Main Driver *FirstLastHome AddressHome TelephoneEmail *National Driving License NumberNational Driving License Country (select "Other" if not listed)Choose International Driving Permit or TranslationA...

22/11/2019

Hello everyone! The upper ski slopes in Hakuba have started to see some snow this week, and winter is definitely on the way! I'm still cycling, but doing it in nearly freezing temperatures isn't for everyone. Now they're gleaming with snow the mountains look bigger and tower over us down here at the bottom.

In readiness for the season to come, we've bought in all our cars for the season and have twice as many as Winter 2018/19. Our booking chart is filling up nicely, but we still have some availability for December as the season starts, in early January, and from mid February onwards. If you'd like a car or to know more about driving in Hakuba, please see our website and send me an email.

https://freedomhakuba.com

Regarding transport here, as of today, November 22, the winter shuttle bus schedule has still not been announced. We would caution visitors coming in December that last season, there were no shuttle buses at all on weekdays until December 24. While we hope for an early and solid start, we advise that there will be very little for early arrivals to do in Hakuba until the snow comes. We know from experience that ski-unfriendly weather leads to many people suddenly trying to rent cars. If you are committed to accommodation in Hakuba, a rented car will at least let you get to other tourist attractions in Nagano and Matsumoto, or indeed to other ski areas like Shiga Kogen that may see snow before Hakuba. Skiing on manmade snow is already available two hours' drive away in Karuizawa. A 2019 price rise now means you'll have to pay 2,000 yen each way per person just for the bus to Nagano City. There are trains to Matsumoto, but they are infrequent and very slow.

If you have a car booked with us, please check our website and ensure you understand how to get the proper permit you'll need to drive in Japan. We're now in the process of locking everyone in, and if you've not heard from us, please send me an email.

12/02/2019

Hi everyone. Thanks for the fantastic response to our new business. We've been blown away! Just a quick message to say that we now have a proper website set up at www.freedomhakuba.com.
The price list has links to photos of the actual cars we are currently renting out.
https://freedomhakuba.com/pricelist/
I've also put up a page of webcams where you can see what is happening in our part of Nagano.
https://freedomhakuba.com/2019/02/09/hakuba-road-cams/
We also have our own Instagram account, also called "freedomhakuba" and are slowly putting together a collection of great places you can visit by car from Hakuba. If you are an Insta fan, please check us out!
https://www.instagram.com/freedomhakuba/
Many of our cars are out at the moment, but we do have some availability in the coming weeks. Feel free to drop me a line to see what we have. Thanks again.

Fully licensed, fully maintained car rentals. In Hakuba, no car, no life!

10/01/2019

In case it doesn't show up under Services, here's our price list as a post.

Winter 18/19 Price List (in yen).

Five-seat Compact (Toyota Passo)
Same day 4600 Per 24 hours 6000

Five-seat SUV (Subaru Forester)
Same day 7000 Per 24 hours 8200

Seven-seat Minivan (Toyota Isis)
Same day 9600 Per 24 hours 11300

Eight-seat Premium People Carrier (Toyota Alphard)
Same day 11600 Per 24 hours 14100

We have an extended rental discounts.
10% off from the eighth day onwards.
30% off from the fifteen day onwards.

Example Calculations
Compact for 10 days = 7 days at 6000, 3 days at 5400 (10% off).
Minivan for 20 days = 7 days at 11300, 7 days at 10170 (10% off), 6 days at 7910 (30% off).

All cars have 4wd, snow tyres, snow wipers, ski racks, and drive recorders. See the post pinned at the top for more information.

I will post in detail about the insurance later, but as a basic primer, the standard insurance is unlimited for all personal injuries but has a 50,000 yen excess for damage to third-party vehicles and a 50,000 excess for damage to the rented car itself. This can be reduced to zero with a Collision Damage Waiver, which costs 1100 to 1300 yen a day depending on vehicle size. Damage to the rental vehicle in single car accidents, like hitting a guard rail, is not covered by the insurance, but the maximum liability is low. Serious damage to the car that puts it out of commercial operation incurs additional Non-Operating Charge whose level depends on whether the car can be driven back to our rental site.