Should I sort car hire separately?

[Hodglim]

Hi all,

Starting to get very excited now as we fly out on our next trip in 2 weeks time! However I have been reading a lot of threads on here regarding car hire and am starting to get a little anxious about our current arrangement.

Our holiday is booked with Jetsave which includes "free" Alamo car hire and basic third party liability coverage, but as there are 8 of us going (6 adults, 2 children) our package includes 2 x intermediate cars which we wanted to upgrade to an 8 seater SUV or minvan.

From what I have been reading, it is highly advised that we upgrade the car insurance so that it includes CDW, 3rd party cover etc. but the thing I am worried about is getting over there then having to fork over some insane amount to upgrade the vehicle and insurance.

I have just got a quote for an 8 seater minivan with U.S. Rent A Car and it has quoted me around £600 with fully inclusive insurance. Would we be better off going for something like this, or is there a chance the upgrade cost when we get to the Alamo desk will be less than this?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[dixonsontour]

Don't do it there you will pay a fortune.

Jetsave offer all inclusive insurance and upgrades - price them up. See what price you can get elsewhere.

We've booked flights and car with jetsave the first time this year - paid for the all inclusive insurance. Jetsave were willing to price match so worth a haggle with them. We normally book flights and car seperately but it worket out alot cheaper for us combined this year.

 

[kristieuk]

Definitely don't wait to get there to pay all of the extras, that is likely to be the most expensive way of doing it.

I recall there being an insurance company who you can pay to upgrade your insurances, it is about £100 I think. I know a lot of people used to book this with fly drives. There used to be a lot of discussion here about it, but not seen any for a while. I can't recall their name, but I will have a hunt around and let you know. I know lots of people used them in the past, maybe someone can remember?

 

[kristieuk]

I think this is what I am talking about! Scroll down, and annual cover for CDW and SLI in the US is £109. I think if there was an accident, you have to pay, then make a claim under your policy which I suppose is the only disadvantage as compared to booking a separate car with cover included. But there is a £500 price difference!

I am pretty sure people here have bought this type of insurance before without any problems at all. Hopefully someone will confirm.

Oh, and just checked, go through Quidco for 20% cashback!

 

[Hodglim]

Thanks for the advice! I will definately be giving Jetsave a call to find out what my options are and how much the upgrades will cost.

The insurance4carhire option looks very interesting too. It might make sense to use them to cover the insurance and just pay for the car upgrade via Jetsave.

Gonna give them a call and discuss my options.

Thanks again for the tips!

 

[Hodglim]

Okay Jetsave are quoting us £453 to upgrade the 2 cars to an 8 seater minivan with all inclusive insurance or £630 if we want to keep the 2 cars and upgrade to fully inclusive insurance on both - Ouch!

Looks like our cheapest option is going to be to stick with the 2 cars provided and either risk just having the basic 3rd party insurance that is included, or get the insurance separately from insurance4carhire @ £109 per car.

I'm a little apprehensive about the warnings regarding fly drive holidays on the insurance4carhire site though. Would our booking with Jetsave be considered a fly drive? (it includes villa accommodation) and are we likely to get a hard time at the Alamo desk if we took out this policy, or even worse have the policy rejected?

 

[kristieuk]

I am not sure whether you may need to post a separate question, or even do a search, but there were some detailed discussions about this a while back. The concensus was that this insurance is fine, but they offer some provisos to cover themselves. I think the gist of it is you will get the hard sell from the rental company at the desk as they make their $$$ from the add-ons. Because you have to settle any claim yourself before claiming back from insurance4carhire, I think some rental companies insist on blocking your credit card for so much - they don't take the money, but just make sure they could put the transaction through if they needed to. I guess the answer is to just give them a card you might have with nil balance you take just for that purpose?

To me, the insurance is specifically to top up car hire insurance, why would it not be appropriate? Whilst it does seem odd they suggest this may not be appropriate for fly drives, I am certain that the outcome of many discussions here on the topic was resolved by someone speaking to a rep at insurance4carhire who confirmed it was just a cover-all for them if people were to complain about the credit card issue.

I hope someone can recall perhaps better than me!

 

[Hodglim]

We decided to keep it simple and just go with the 8 seater upgrade with fully inclusive insurance via JetSave.

Even though it will mean a couple of trips to get everyone plus cases to the villa when we arrive we would rather that than be left driving a bus for the remainder of the holiday.

Funny this is that when I called to book the upgrade, it actually came in at £384 and not the £453 I was originally quoted!

Just glad to have it all sorted and now I can get back to getting all excited for next week when the fun begins

 

[dixonsontour]

Glad you are sorted - price seems fine.

Can you let me know when you get your tickets/car rental voucher etc with jetsave. It's our first time with them this year.

 

[The Hope's]

Hi

Although we take a fly drive package, we never take the free car, as the insurance normally is more expensive than hiring a car with full package direct

Its worth taking the full insurance package, better safe than sorry.

Check out uscarhire.com its a uk company that normally have the best prices, we have used each year since 2004 and never had any problems