insurance4carhire.com

[gavvy]

Hi
Has anyone bought this policy, and what was their experence of hireing a car at MCO, Did you have problems getting the car company to accept it, was a block put on your credit card etc.

Hope someone can help as i am thinking of buying this as it will save me a lot of money, esp if i make more that 1 visit this year!

 

[alisonbestford]

We used it with our 'free' Dollar car last year, at MCO, booked through Virgin

Absolutely no problems whatsoever at the desk.
From what I understand they're more likely to try to get you to part with extra cash if you have a 'free' car but this is not because the policy isn't valid - it's purely because they make their money back by selling overpriced insurance (from the guy at ins4carhire)
Dollar have you leave a $1500 credit card imprint but at no time was the money debited from my account.
I just took a card we never use for this

Taxes etc at the desk came to around £52 for 17 days if I remember rightly so we definitely saved a heap of money

I will be re-newing this year to use with a 'mini van' we've hired through Alamo
Quite a few people on the boards have used them with no problem so it might be worth doing a search

 

[gavvy]

That sounds great, Ive found a good deal with alamo on the american web site for a 4x4 for $300 for 12 days including all taxes and a tank of gas, as I am hoping to go back later in the year I think i will save even more.

Is it right to say that you can only book a car without the insurance at the american version of the web sites such as alamo.com and dollar.com?

 

[alisonbestford]

Is it right to say that you can only book a car without the insurance at the american version of the web sites such as alamo.com and dollar.com?

That's been my experience but not sure if that's right

I've booked through the US Alamo site and just put my country as United Kingdom in the drop down box

I managed to find a 7 seater minivan, £225 for 21 days

 

[gavvy]

Well i have gone ahead and done it

£99 for the insurance for a year, and just under $300 for a SUV 4x4 for 12 days, the total cost is about £30 cheaper than the cheapest all in quote i could find, plus I can use the policy again within the year, so I think the savings will be quite High!

Just hope Alamo dont give me the 3rd degree at the airport!

 

[Hilary]

Just hope Alamo dont give me the 3rd degree at the airport!

We haven't used this particular policy, but have used something similar a few times (Nat West), and the car rental desk clerks have never shown the slightest interest! I guess they must be presented with so many different policies they can't possibly go through them all and are just happy to take a cc imprint and leave the rest of it to you.

And, yes, we've always booked through the US websites as the UK ones won't usually give you the option of declining the insurance.

 

[gavvy]

And, yes, we've always booked through the US websites as the UK ones won't usually give you the option of declining the insurance.

Well hopefully I have done it right the only way I could get a quote without insurance was to say I was from the USA!

 

[alisonbestford]

Oh, did you book through www.alamo.com?

I booked through them and there's a drop down box on the front page that lets you select UK

Can you maybe double check?
I've cancelled and re-booked my car rental with Alamo - at no cost - so many times as a result of price changes

 

[gavvy]

the problem is if i select I am from thr uk it then bundles in all the insurances which i dont want and cant take them off, am i doing soemthnig wrong?

 

[alisonbestford]

the problem is if i select I am from thr uk it then bundles in all the insurances which i dont want and cant take them off, am i doing soemthnig wrong?

I just selected UK and then put in the Walmart code from Mousesavers:

Wal-Mart Customers (i.e. anyone) can get up to 20% off rentals at Alamo. Use Rate Code BY and ID# 430710. MouseSavers.com reader Jennifer B points out that "the Wal-Mart codes for Alamo include a free additional driver."

I just tried it again.
Prices have increased since we booked but it just shows Florida surcharge, tyre fee, concession fee, state tax and license recoupement fee
No CDW fee or extended recovery.
Exactly the same as if I left US in the box

You definitely booked through the .com site, rather than the .co.uk?

 

[gavvy]

I just checked again and used the code BY and that number, i did not use them before, not only will it now allow me to use the UK as my country, its also $50 cheaper than before- so a tank of gas for nout!

Thanks for that,

 

[alisonbestford]

You're welcome

Brilliant news

 

[rosiejo]

I've just checked out the alamo site with the BY code and the C4 comes out at £205 for 13 days... I've managed to find a quote of £210 (incl insurance and a free upgrade to I4) at floridacarhire.net. Just thought I'd let people know this - as it seems to only be a decent saving if you can use the annual policy more than once in the year. Unless of course the savings are more for a larger car.

 

[alisonbestford]

I found Florida car hire to have good all inc prices, with the free upgrades too but they jumped up for the minivan so we're sticking with Alamo

You never know, maybe we will get to use that annual policy again.........

 

[gavvy]

Alamo's pricing does seem to be odd, for my dates in may the cheapest car is a 4x4 suv, Useing the code alison gave me last night! other smaller cars seem to be a lot more expensive, I dont know why this is!

My quote with alamo works out about £110 + the £99 for the policy, that is still almost £100 cheaper that the best price I could find for an all in deal.

I suppose it depends on the time and dates you want to hire, but for me I may save 100s on this!

 

[princess jackson]

Can i just ask, if we have a fly drive with a rental car from dollar, can we purchase this annual insurance.

Will Dollar accept it for a fly drive.

Apart from petrol is there anything else to pay for at the desk

 

[gavvy]

From what I understand insurance4carhire say they do not recommend it for fly drive on their web site because this is how dollar/alamo make their money, and you may get pressured into taking additional insurance, which you wont need. However if you call them they say that it is valid, and it can be used.
All cars in America come with the legal miniumn insurance, so they cannot refuse to let you hire a car on the basis you wont take their extra cover. (howver the legal miniumn in far from enough to protect you in the event of an accident)

If you have free car hire through your tour operator all you would have to pay are local taxes, these come to about £35 a week i think.

This is how I understand it, im sure if im wrong someone will come and correct me

 

[disneycymru]

I have taken a Fly-dive with Virgin using Dollar and used annual insurance with no problems. In fact the insurance company provided me with a letter to hand to Dollar clearly stating the legal position and containing a contact number if there remained any issues. Fortunately however there was no problem and you are only asked to sign to say you have declined their insurance. No fuss either when dropping off the car which I thought might have been the case! The only difference was the requirement for the credit card imprint and the payment of the taxes for the rental and any extras! I've done this now at both MCO and LA.

Kind Regards

 

[alisonbestford]

I called both Dollar and Ins4carhire, before our last trip, to check the cover

Okay, so the Dollar car wasn't theoretically a 'flydrive', but we booked the accommodation separately to the flights and carhire through Virgin.

Absolutely no problems at all .
The guy at the ins centre explained, how the 'free' rental companies make up their cash by selling extortionate insurance to us unsuspecting Brits ...........