Fly drive question

[Madjock]

Am I right in thinking that you can book a fly drive via Virgin but not bother to take their car? Could someone please confirm.

Annmarie

 

[Hilary]

I haven't done this for a few years but, back then, there was a bit of small print that said they would charge (about £35 pp then) if you declined the car.

We always took the car but declined their insurance (took out our own). I'm not sure what would have happened if we'd said we were going to take the car and arrange our own insurance but actually just not picked up the car.

Hopefully some one else will have the up to date info.

 

[Goofyish]

I've done this twice with a Virgin flydrives and intend to do it again this December - have never been charged anything for not picking the car up.
As far as I'm concerned we have 'paid' for the car, so it's up to us whether we use it or not.

The main advantage of booking a flydrive like this is you can book your flight more than 11 months in advance, unlike a flight only booking.

 

[Madjock]

Thanks for your help guys.

The main advantage of booking a flydrive like this is you can book your flight more than 11 months in advance, unlike a flight only booking

Exactly why I want to do this, I can't wait any longer to get something booked

Just one other question when you booked it did you put the number of days car required down for your whole trip, i.e., if going for 18 days would you put car required for 18 days?

Many thanks for the help
Annmarie

 

[angel659]

We are going to be doing this in October when we go. We have no intention of collecting the car.

Has anyone actually collected a car, but refused the additional insurances?? I know its not worth risking, but are you actually allowed by law to refuse the top ups and stick with standard insurance??

 

[Strommie]

We have also booked a fly drive in the past and not bothered with the car. Never heard anything from them and didn't get charged anything

 

[HarriFfi]

Have also booked a fly drive - agreed to the car (with no extra days or insurance added to the base price). Never claimed the car and have heard nothing since. Have also done this with BA.

 

[wicket2005]

Really I think the cost of the car is in built with the insurance you have to pay. We booked with Airtours this year, the TA said she could save us money by booking separately with AVIS which did work out cheaper.

 

[snookhams]

again we have twice booked flydrives with the free car for 7 days and never collected it and never been asked to pay any extras by Virgin. I did however have a Virgin rep ask me this year, at MCO why I wasn't going to the Virgin Dollar desk to collect my vehicle (they did not know our names so did not know we had booked a flydrive), I told them I had just booked flights and that it was far cheaper to book a car independently, and could they match £424 for a 7 seater for 21 days all inclusive - to which she replied 'NO WAY we could do it that cheap' - and that's why we never collect their car!

 

[tartangirl]

We did this this year.

We booked a 21 night fly-drive with the 7 days free and never collected our car. We booked through uscarhire where we got a full size for less than the price of a compact with Virgin. When we went to Dollar the Virgin rep tried to direct us to their Dollar desk but I just said no and went to the non-virgin Dollar desk where we got upgraded from a full-size to a luxury SUV at no extra charge.

We plan to do the same next year.

One problem we had was that our travel agent didn't send out our tickets because they thought we had forgotten to take the insurance so it was a last minute rush to get the tickets (not Virgins fault). I have asked for a note to put on my booking for next year that I dont want the insurance to try and stop this happening again.

 

[Shooby doo]

We have never taken "their" car,lets face it how can it be a free car when you get a deal with car & all-inclusive insurance cheaper than their "free" car plus their insurance! You don't have to take the car I seem to remember that there is a space on the booking form that you can decline it-they have to ask you so that they can fill "own tranport or whatever" on the booking form. You also don't have to take out the extra insurance but to discourage this they would charge you an astronomical deposit plus it's not really worth the risk!
SD aw: