car hire costs

[alisonbestford]

£250 is a little more than 'a few pounds' at our house
Taking out independant insurance was the only thing that made it affordable for us
True, Dollar swiped my card but there was certainly never anything taken out of my account / on my statement.
Amex still do car ins but I have no experience with them.
I don't think the issue is with rental companies who do the 'whole package' - it's the free rental companies who take the mickey and bully visitors into taking out extra, unecessary insurance- excuse the pun
We saved over £250 by using independant insurance, with no problems at all.
Elles sounds interesting. I'll have a look into it for the next time we go (if..... )
Alison

 

[seashoreCM]

Each car rental company has its own rules (policies). Some require that non-citizens purchase one or more of their (expensive) insurance packages. You will have to check on each rental company;'s web site to find out its rules.

Do not use Pricelline or Hotwire, you may end up with a company that requires that you buy extra coverages not included in the quoted price.

If you don't have your own insurance, either on your own car or from a credit card (check carefully to see that rental cars are covered) you should buy insurance at the time of rental or slightly before. Here you should b eshopping around for who has the best rates.

Car rental hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/carrent.hrm

 

[martina857]

M

 

[alisonbestford]

So it would seem

We took the 'free' car for 18 days. Insurance for £103, so that was a big difference in price (Virgin wanted over £350 for insurance)

$113.45 for surcharges, state tax and fuel in total (exchange rate was $1.94 at the time so that was very good)

We had a free upgrade as we're Frequent Virgins (I refused anything else) and I'm the only driver as DH can't drive for medical reasons so no extra expenses there.

They must have just changed the credit card rules then as we only came back on the 17th of last month and, on last week's statement, there were no deductions from Dollar other than the £70 we owed for taxes, fuel and an extra days rental that we had to pay for as we were delayed 36 hours.

A total of £173 in all, weighed against the £350 plus a full tank of fuel and the cost of an extra days rental fee that Dollar / Virgin wanted. Okay, so my maths isn't the best but we certainly enjoyed spending the money we saved

As I said, we had no problems whatsoever and saved quite a bit but, if there are going to be problems using your own insurance in the future then I'd recommend anyone to look into a full package deal from a rental company (especially if they can find discount codes on the DIS ) before taking advantage of the 'free deals' with ridiculous insurances offered by the package holiday companies

Alison

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I have used Amex car and travel insurance for at least 3 years and never had any bother at the Dollar desk. All they ask is that I initial the rental agreement to decline their insurance. I also checked my "available balance" on my credit card online and at no time was it reduced by $1500 as is suggested. I had a minor accident on my last trip and all I had to do was get a claim reference from Amex and the car was exchanged no money was paid "upfront". The biggest "sell" I get is to upgrade the car which I never do as often I get the upgrade anyway free of charge because they have no vehicles of the grade I paid for left. Got a really nice PT cruiser last trip for the price of a c2 compact.

Mick.

 

[alisonbestford]

Crikey, so pleased to read that Mick .
I was beginning to think I must have imagined all the benefits.
I guess it really only is worth doing though if you're not going to spend loads of time worrying about what could happen.
In those circumstances no savings are worth the worry and you should always go with whatever makes you most comfortable
Alison

 

[laudan14]

Thanks for all your information.
I have cancelled the whole package with Direct and I am going to book a car and insurance package with a rental firm direct in Florida. Hoping to save at least £100.00

 

[alisonbestford]

Good luck
Don't forget to check out some of the discount codes on the Mousesavers site, in the transportation section.
Alison

 

[Red-Snapper]

If you don't have your own insurance, either on your own car or from a credit card (check carefully to see that rental cars are covered)

UK car insurance will NOT cover you for a hire car in the US, and standard travel Insurance will NOT cover the use of a motorised vehicle.

It has to be a specific policy covering US hire car cover like the ones mentioned elsewhere in this topic.

 

[DisneyBB]

I have used all methods of hiring cars. The last 5 holidays have been with our own insurance, first Amex then Natwest. I have had no problems with the car rental company. We let our credit card know that $1500 will be requested by the car rental company, but not actually taken unless there is a problem.

 

[Hilary]

Sorry to hear you encountered problems with the Amex policy in the past, but there are others here who have successfully used this and other US rental car policies with no trouble at all. It's always good to hear both sides of the coin so that we can choose our options based on a variety of experiences.

I can't believe that for the sake of a few pounds you take such a risk on a holiday of this type

If it was a case of "a few pounds", then I'm sure no-one would contemplate declining Dollar's own insurance. However, when a fly drive includes car rental but you're then asked to pay upwards of £300 to insure the car, I think you can understand why the idea of cutting that cost by half becomes attractive.

I don't consider taking alternative insurance to be "a risk", (after all, I am still insured) but I accept that it could lead to more hassle at the rental desk. Fortunately, we've never had any problem at all using our NatWest policy - so far we've used it with Dollar in Orlando and Miami and with Hertz in Vancouver.

 

[Bekki]

Hi All

I’ve booked a car through uscarhire.co.uk. I’ve been reading about what you have been saying about them swiping your credit card. I don’t hold a credit card so could this cause a problem when I get there? I have received my voucher from them and it does not mention anything on there.

Thanks
Bekki

 

[alisonbestford]

Hi Bekki,

I honestly have no idea but think I'd have to give them a call just to put my mind at rest.

I'm pretty sure that, for most things, they can't just assume everyone has a credit card
Some of the US car rental sites I've looked at online mention a $100 deposit per week but surely they must have alternative arrangements than a credit card?

Sheraton Safari?
We stayed there last month and had a great time.
We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite for free as it was before the main season started which was cool.
Only complaint was from DD (6) who didn't like the 'decorations' - African masks etc

Have a great time.

Alsion

 

[disney13]

Hi All

I’ve booked a car through uscarhire.co.uk. I’ve been reading about what you have been saying about them swiping your credit card. I don’t hold a credit card so could this cause a problem when I get there? I have received my voucher from them and it does not mention anything on there.

Thanks
Bekki

Bekki,

You can use your normal bank debit card (if you have one!) for the deposit. That's exactly what we did last year.

Andy

 

[CHEEKYGIRL]

Hi, Sorry to be a pain but we are travelling to Florida on the 28/4 for the 1st time and the Car Hire seems to be the most complicated part of the holiday.

Ive checked out the mousesavers and am going to book with Dollar but get my own Car Insurance. Do Dollar have any problems with this??

Also how much credit do you need on your credit card to proceed with the hire?

Thanks

 

[martina857]

M

 

[mickg7dyd]

Hi,
I sometimes wonder if these companies actually have any set polices to deal with customers who use their own insurance company. As I have mentioned on several occasions I use Amex insurance and had a minor accident last December in Miami. I did NOT have to pay any money upfront I just got a claim number from Amex and the car was exchanged. Also during no part of my holiday was the "available credit" on my card reduced by $1500. My biggest problem was that Dollar had nobody available to come to our aid and I had to get the car roadworthy again myself, not impressed.

Mick.

 

[alisonbestford]

Like Mick I've also taken independant insurance with Dollar with no problems at the desk - as recently as last month.
No money was taken out of our account, other than the taxes and an extra days car hire I needed to purchase due to a delay.
I admit that I purposely used a credit card for the deposit that I don't use so that, whatever happened, I knew what money was where
I'd certainly do it again.
Just to add a little more thought to it all, I've also heard of people taking the whole insurance package with Dollar and still getting atrocious service in the event of a problem!
I, personally, would suggest that, if you are not taking up the 'free' Dollar car, that you rent from another company who doesn't rely on the ins payments to make up their shortfalls and is more comfortable with alternative insurances!
Alison

 

[laudan14]

Hi back again with more car hire queries.
Have just been on the dollar site and registered for fastlane. Do you book on the main site and pay in $ or click for the Union Jack for the English site. For example an intermediate car paying in $ seems a lot cheaper to the price they offer in £. Or am I doing something wron g

 

[allie5]

I think they assume US citizens will be driving under their existing insurance policies, which is why it is cheaper. Im not 100% on this though, just something I read somewhere.