Rental cars - with "cigarette lighter" power outlet or USB?

I used a Garmin with a lighter plug in Italy (mainland) this year. I'm pretty sure the cars I've rented in Europe in recent years have had both. I believe the lighter plug is still standard.

The new Citroen we rented in Norway last month had both types.

I don't know anything about rental cars, but my new Honda (UK spec) has two round plugs but both are hidden. One is under a spring loaded cover near the gear shift lever and the other is inside the centre console and also under a further spring loaded cover, between the USB plugs and HDMI plugs. In both cases you need to look carefully. I think that the UK spec is identical to Europe spec except for the driving position.

all the cars I have hired in the last few years have had both the cigarette lighter socket and usually a couple of USB ports but as other have said they are often hidden under a flap.

Most cars are still equipped with 12v socket. Many new cars are also equipped with inbuilt GPS. Even the basic Renault Clio I had in France a couple of weeks ago was equipped with one.

it will have one and probably both, the fun part is finding them!

The 12v socket is what some of us remember as the cigarette lighter socket. That was easy to see, you took the lighter out and plugged in what you wanted to use. But most makers don't supply lighters anymore, so they would have a hole near the gear stick. To satisify the designer that will probably be covered. And the USB sockets are even harder, I've just bought a new GM Astra, it's inside the storage bin under the armrest, how long would it take a renter to find that?

I was in Sardinia last September and rented a Ford Focus thru AutoEurope. It had both a power point (aka cigarette lighter with no lighter) and a USB outlet that integrated with the car's audio system. I stopped dragging my Garmin GPS around and now use Google maps on my smart phone instead. In some rural and mountainous areas of Sardinia there is no cell service. I downloaded the map of the island for off line use and the app seamlessly switched between on and offline as needed.

For my Spain trip, I brought along this charger for charging multiple devices during long drives. Worked great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HHT9FL2?psc=1

Thanks all.

FWIW, I've tested my GPS (a Garmin) and despite the dire warnings of the error messages that appear on the screen, it will draw enough power to run perfectly well using any USB cable I have tried - shame on you Garmin, spooking people to try and get them to buy your over-priced, "special" USB cables (what a shock...). It runs fine - with no scary error messages - using the Garmin-branded "round plug" power cord that came with it, too. So I think I should be covered either way (and worst case, if there's no power port of any kind in the car, which seems super unlikely, it will run for hours via standard USB from my portable power bank - I tested that, too).

Thanks again for helping me cross off that item "what happens if the rental car has the wrong kind of power port?" off my list of things to worry about.

One thing that was mentioned in an old thread on this subject: before leaving the rental car lot, make sure the "cigarette lighter" or USB port is working! One poster found out on the road that theirs wasn't, and their GPS died en route.

another reason why I love paper maps......

Yes, I have leaned (and re-learned) not to rely on any single source of info for critical navigation decisions. I'm all about nav redundancy.

For this trip we will have along our GPS (brought from home, has current European coverage/maps/database), a good Michelin paper map, an iPad and iPhone with connectivity (two ways to access cellular network/internet), with multiple power cords/adapters for all potential connections, plus a large powerbank that'll keep any unit alive for at least a few hours.

If the rental car comes with a second GPS, that's great, we'll use both, cross-reference all available sources, and use our brains + common sense - the ultimate navigation tools - to suss out what's actually true (no driving off cliffs or into the ocean by following a GPS for me).

I think we have this covered. :)