Car Hire WDW?

[KECWDW]

Hi Fellow Australians
Are there any places in particular you look to hire cars in orlando? I thought it was just a case of searching to get the best deal.. but then I read about the LDW (loss damage waiver) which apparently is NOT covered by travel insurance, or our credit cards (like it is for many americans?) So we need to look for places that offer 'comprehensive' car hire, often provided by 'european companies'.. whoever they are.
TIA for any advice/thoughts!

 

[Andona]

We have used holidayautos.com.au for a few trips. Their rates were competitive and all the insurance waivers etc were included so we didn't get pestered at the desk by Rental car clerks wanting us to buy extra. You pay up front which is why they can offer such good rates compared with booking direct with a rental car company.


On our first trip to Florida we booked direct with Dollar - big mistake. Got the real hard sell at the counter and the car was a shocker. They were cheap but it wasn't worth it.

Andona

 

[baf65]

I booked my car hire through a UK based company as prices were great (due to amount of poms going to Orlando no doubt!) and including everything incl additional driver
website i used was www.floridaescapes.co.uk who link through to affordablecar hire who in turn used Sixt rental
It ws cheaper to do it this way than go direct to Sixt, I did a fair amount of research into prices before booking and this was by far the cheapest, for 19 days 478 pounds (so under $900) for a 7 seater
You could also try www.alamo.co.uk/brits who also incl everything and no limit on additional drivers
And neither of these companies apparantly do the hard sell on other stuff you dont need!

 

[KECWDW]

Great, thank you both very much! Will go and check them out :

 

[australiankaren]

I use them for the discount codes...

we either pick up from orlando airport or from DTD......and using these codes for budget in particular saved us $100's.....budget also do mco-port canaveral rtn....so great for wdw to cruise.

 

[KECWDW]

Thanks I guess you just look for the 'all inclusive' insurance options with them?

 

[marvel]

I have used carhire3000 for our last 4 trips on both sides of the US. I always check others but no-one has yet to beat them for any of our trips. Their prices always include all the insurances and you usually don't get the hard sell because they know its included. They use reputable companies, and we have had cars from both Dollar and Alamo with no problems.

In fact I had my one and only car accident, me against a pole at the HOJO in Anaheim, and when we returned the car it was not a problem, it was all instantly covered.

 

[slugguts]

We went to Orlando in May and hired a 15 seater van
We used traveljigsaw.com.au and got a very competitive price.
Was approx $650 per week including insurances-picked up @ Orlando Airport
Rgds
Slugguts

 

[marvel]

I believe traveljigsaw is the parent company of Carhire3000. When you book with carhire3000 you get billed by traveljigsaw.

 

[Sugarglider]

I'm another Traveljigsaw person (carhire3000) - and all owned by Priceline. For the type of car I am after they have won the comparison test two years running now. They have booked me with Alamo and came out about $50 cheaper than dealing direct with Alamo - on the special Aussie rate.

Yep - I agree - you need to buy your all inclusive rate in advance, on line, cause you will get a WAY better deal on the insurance. When you enter that you are Australian in the quote engine you'll be quoted the all inclusive rate.

In spooky coincidence I just did a post on this for the Zontians, showing a bunch of quotes I got. Didn't bother tagging it here at the time cause DIS-ers are already clued up!

And - re: Dollar and their hard sell - In researching the post I googled reviews of Dollar and the web is full of stories of people saying they got pressured and the Dollar sales rep telling porkies about how their pre-purchased insurance would not cover the car, and being misleading about the Sunpass toll road system. So perhaps take a bit more care with that company

 

[GrazingGoat1966]

Have used CarRental8 the last two trips to the states and havent had a problem. Worth a search with all-inclusive prices.

 

[KECWDW]

Thanks everyone, lots to go and look up.
Very informative article thanks Sugarglider.. I did not know you could buy the insurance separately, through another company.
Off to do some comparison pricing now!

 

[Sugarglider]

Thanks everyone, lots to go and look up.
Very informative article thanks Sugarglider.. I did not know you could buy the insurance separately, through another company.
Off to do some comparison pricing now!

Thanks for your nice words KECWDW!

Also a bit I left off that article was renting a GPS unit. If i had booked with Alamo as an Australian and gotten a good insurance deal - I still would have been charged $13/day for a GPS unit. Traveljigsaw.com.au only charged me $8/day

good luck with your research!

 

[slugguts]

I always thought I would just buy a gps @ Walmart when arriving in Orlando but ended up also hiring thru Traveljigsaw as well.
I also was charged $8 for gps - probably could have bought a good gps for what we paid to hire over the two weeks.
The price we pay for convenience
Rgds
slugguts