Booking car rental WITHOUT insurance?

[Hilary]

I know this has been posted before, but I can't get the search to work at the moment

I'm trying to book car rental without any insurance but haven't been able to come up with any sensible rates! We have a few potential trips in the pipeline that mean an annual rental car insurance policy should make sense.

However, I only been able to get quotes without insurance that cost about the same as those with insurances (no advantage) or, once I enter my address in the UK, the insurances are automatically included in the quote.

Can anyone recommend any good sites to try for rental without any extras?

 

[edenlee]

Don't wish to be inquisitive, but why would you want to???

 

[Hilary]

Don't wish to be inquisitive, but why would you want to???

Because (theoretically, at least) it should be cheaper to book a rental exclusive of insurances. We plan to buy an annual rental car insurance policy which we could use for more than one trip, spreading the cost of the policy between the trips and making it more cost-effective.

We did this a few years ago and it worked well, but this time I'm struggling to come up with a rental-only price that would make it worthwhile.

 

[patdavies]

I don't thnkl that you can do this sort of booking via the consolidators (airline network, usrentacar, etc.). You will need to go direct to the car hire company (Alamo, Budget, Hertz, Avis etc.)

 

[alisonbestford]

I booked through www.Alamo.com, using the Walmart code, and saved quite a lot on a 7 seater mini van

£260 for 3 weeks rental and then £103 for my insurance4carhire annual policy

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi Hilary,
I have to say this is reason I always book a flydrive. I have insurance through my Amex card and when I have priced flight only with VA and car hire with Dollar.com every time a flydrive with VH comes out cheaper. Being a frequent Virgin I also get 10% discount and a free car upgrade. I suppose if your lucky enough to catch the companies when they have sales on this may change things. If you find a good deal I'd be interested to know.

Mick.



PS I writing this from our room at Saratoga Springs and we ended up with a Dodge Stratus for the 2 of us and the whole package cost £490 each for 19 nights.

 

[Hilary]

Thanks for the replies

We already have flights (wihtout car) booked for a trip to Toronto this summer, then DH is going on a fishing trip in Florida next May, and we might fit in another Florida trip for the two of us sometime within the year of a car rental policy.

Like you, Mick, lately we've gone for a flydrive to Orlando when the flight only prices have been no better, and I can see we'll probably end up doing it that way again, based on the prices I've found so far.

I haven't given up looking yet ...

 

[jns]

sign up for there e mail updates or what ever they are called on the us sites of the carhire companys and they will send out and special offers
you can book and change as much as you like
I done this for family living in the states last year

all i needed was an e mail address to reserve the car I think

BTW where do you get the annaual insurance from and what is the cost

 

[alisonbestford]

We bought ours from:

www.insurance4carhire.com

The cost was £99 plus tax (making it about £103 I think)

 

[jns]

Please keep us informed about the car hire
this sounds like a good way to save some money

at the moment we are paying £302 for our car hire for 13 nights
plus I was thinking of hiring a car in Tenerife
it all adds up

You learn so much on these boards Thanks

 

[Hilary]

at the moment we are paying £302 for our car hire for 13 nights
plus I was thinking of hiring a car in Tenerife
it all adds up

If you do go down this route, check the policy will cover USA and Tenerife - some are country specific. I think the insurance4carhire one Worldwide is about £120.

 

[alisonbestford]

If you do go down this route, check the policy will cover USA and Tenerife - some are country specific. I think the insurance4carhire one Worldwide is about £120.

Yes, the £99 policy is only for the US/Canada.
Worldwide cover is £119

 

[LoopyLoo]

we use Amex travel insurance family annual worldwide premium cover which includes hire car insurance in north america well worth a look

 

[penlanspice]

I just got back and used the insurance4carhire policy with no trouble, the only place I can find with no insurance added is the US companys, we used Alamo and used a discount code.
I booked about 3 months ago and got a standard SUV for 11 days at $117. Yes it was a good code. So we will end up paying around £70, and our 7 seater is booked for Setember, 2 weeks for I think £202.

 

[Red-Snapper]

I notice on the insurance4carhire site it now says "not recommended for use in conjunction with fly drive programmes in the USA and Canada"

Anyone who has used them know what this means ??

 

[alisonbestford]

Apparently most companies who provide the 'free' car with the fly drive rely on making their money back by charging extortionate insurance

Obviously, if you provide your own insurance, you're removing their means of profit

This was straight from ins4carhire last year when I called to query it

I used it myself (after the bit had been added to the home page) with no trouble as, theoretically, the policy should cover you if you can deal with the 'hard sell' at the desk

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Apparently most companies who provide the 'free' car with the fly drive rely on making their money back by charging extortionate insurance

Obviously, if you provide your own insurance, you're removing their means of profit

This was straight from ins4carhire last year when I called to query it

I used it myself (after the bit had been added to the home page) with no trouble as, theoretically, the policy should cover you if you can deal with the 'hard sell' at the desk

Its certainly a cost effective way of getting your car, but Im not sure about the answer ins4carhire gave you....If that were the case, it would be the car hire companies saying this type of insurance is not recommended (in order to try persuade you to get theirs), not ins4carhire themselves surely. What ins4carhire have told you directly just cancels out what their web site is saying....doesnt make any sense for them to try to put you off buying something from them. Maybe theres more to it than meets the eye.

 

[alisonbestford]

Maybe theres more to it than meets the eye.

Quite possibly There usually is

I spoke to Virgin at the same time and they agreed about Dollar and their insurance.
I just assumed that Insurance4carhire had received complaints from customers who had been given the 'hard sell' so were trying to cover their backs

I'd use the policy again but, if in doubt, it's always best to be safe than sorry

 

[penlanspice]

We just used this policy and din't get any hard sell from the counter, they did try and get us to upgrade. Why would they try the hard sell when you have an insurance policy? why would there be a need?