TRAVEL CITY DIRECT. Lots of help please.

[JANNYANS]

They sound like a gem -I would hang on to them if I were you then DF

 

[nige]

TravelCity are definitely cheap and cheerful, usually the cheapest but you get what you pay for. They're no real problem but no-one ever seems to go with them twice.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by nige
One tip for your car, pay everything you can here before you go, DON'T just take basic insurance like cdw, ldw etc. and pay the rest over there. Get Gold or platinum comprehensive.
If you don't, I GUARANTEE you'll wish you had, I promise!

Hi Nige

I'd love a more detailed explanation of why you think the all-inclusive policies are essential. As regulars on this board will know, I offer exactly the opposite advice becuase I think the all-inclusive policies are extortionately expensive and for an extra little bit of effort visitors can save loads of money.

Also, a friendly piece of advice - check with the board moderators to see if advertising your (no-cost) service is frowned on. I have no problems with it, but the people who manage this board might.

Regards

Rob

 

[matty624]

I agree with you Rob. Nigel might simply have good intentions, but do we really want to see adverts from people with clearly vested interests. Personally, I'd rather keep the boards clear for good advice without ulterior motives.
Ian

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

I'm quite relaxed about commercial interests making occasional posts, providing it is not blatant, it is a genuine offer and is based on sound advice. For example, I wouldn't mind if Richard Branson started weekly posts offering half-price fares to us DISers!

However, I don't make up the board rules so I'm sure that a friendly mod will be along any time soon to offer advice.

Regards

Rob

 

[WDWfan uk]

Hi folks

Just to clarify matters and in case new posters are not aware of them, please check out the Board Guidelines

http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

 

[nige]

I've now been to Florida 5 times, and each time learned more about what's best for ME and MY family. Maybe it's not the same thing that you are all looking for, and maybe the deals that I can get through my work as a travel agent AREN'T as good as those you get yourself;
However, I have booked car hire in Florida and paid little or nothing for the car here before I left, and realised that in America you HAVE to protect yourself against being sued for millions of $$ by taking LDW, CDW, top-up legal cover and extended medical insurance cover as well as third party. I know soemone who was forced to sell their home to raise the money to pay for a US court judgement against them for a very very minor accident that led to major major costs. The insurance is necessarty and DOES cost less if you pay it all here before you go, avoiding Florida sales tax, and the other taxes they whack on top if you pay at the point where you collect your car.
The reason it might seem cheaper to do it there is if you are quoted high rates here and do not shop around properly. I offered to give independent price quotes to anyone to give them a starting point, which I will do now anyway. As a guide to anyone who wants to know, I have booked (for September this year) One 7 seater minivan with a totally comp package (no excess, no extra supplements, no need to fill up the petrol) for
£167.50 per week and one intermediate (Focus size) car for £121.30.Divide those by the day, and if anyone can beat the price by paying it in Florida cheaper for the same package, I will buy them a free holiday. Yes, basic hire with CDW is half that price, but would YOU risk that sort of cover??

 

[Grumpy John]

Returned last Sunday from 2 weeks in Orlando using Travel City Direct. Have always used Virgin but TCD came very high recommended. Price we got to a 2 centre holiday plus upgrading to Sunshine First was very competitive.
Your very own check-in is great, especially when you walk into Gatwick and see 200-300 people waiting to check in.
You do get on first and get off first. Luggage allowance of 40kg per person is brilliant - especially if your married to my better half
We had a 5 hour delay at Gatwick which included having to disembark after sitting on the plane for 2 hours. We were not treated very well whilst sitting around the area by the boarding gate. A few cans of soft drink and bottle of water were put on the tables used for the security checks prior to boarding. The food consisted of packs of 6 apple pies that arrived in big boxes and also put on the tables. Those hanging around that area got the lot. You would have thought they had not eaten for weeks. Service back on board was very good in Sunshine First although my wifes TV screen was broken. Arriving at Sanford nearly 5 hours late meant that we got the worst of the cars. We had upgraded via TCD but the car we were allocated was very poor. Did not complain as all we wanted to do was get to the hotel and sleep. First week in Orlando was very good. Second week was at the Hilton Clearwater Beach Resort. First of all they had no record of our booking. Eventually allocated what they said was the room booked by TCD. We soon changed that room after opening the door. Only window was covered on the outside by a concrete grill. Second room looked out on a main road that was busy 20 hours per day!
Called TCD Saturday afternoon but got a recording. Left our name and phone number. Had no called back by 11 a.m. on the Sunday and with the wife still upset drove back to Orlando and booked into a hotel we had stayed at a couple of years ago. Prior to checking in for the return flight we filled in a form at Sanford. As we were complaining the TCD rep at the desk kept leaving us to sort out other questions. It seemed that she did not want other people hearing our complaints.
We flew with them once. We will not fly again. Extensive letter on the way to TCD but do not expect much of a reply. Sorry to go on a bit and hope it has not put anyone off.

 

[matty624]

Sorry to hear you had a bad time with TCD. The two times we've been with them, were both disasters.
The first time we couldn't get into the villa, the management company were useless and we had to sleep in a hotel the first night, with two verrry grumpy toddlers!
The second time they changed the villa location we'd paid extra for, for a villa in what seemd in the middle of no-where... (Westridge actually!)
I've learnt by our mistakes, we won't be booking with them again.
I hope others have more luck...
Ian

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by nige
if anyone can beat the price by paying it in Florida cheaper for the same package, I will buy them a free holiday.

You seem to be unaware of another option - buying cover from other companies, at a cheaper price tha the tour operators, here in the UK.

I agree whole-heartedly that it would be madness not to top up the basic insurance which comes with your hire car. I am NOT advocating that at all. I am simply saying that there are cheaper ways of buying the same level of cover than the rip-off prices that most tour operators charge. Here's my example, from the last holiday I took to Orlando (August 2002).

We booked a Virgin Flydrive through Worldwide Travel/the Virgin Travel Store. The difference in price between a flight only and a flydrive deal (economy grade car) was £10 per person. As there was two of us the effective cost of car hire (before insurance) was £20 (economy grade car, for 14 nights). If I had taken the Virgin insurance it would have cost me £22 per day (totalling £308). But I'm not prepared to pay rip-off prices, so instead I bought American Express Premium annual travel insurance. This INCLUDES cdw, sli, personal accident, etc, etc. It is the best mainstream travel insurance policy that I have come across (I like to be well covered!). This policy (at £280 for a family) is about £140 more expensive than other insurance products in the same bracket, but includes insurance for car hire. Therefore I can politely decline Virgin's rip-off policies safe in the knowledge that my cover is at least as good as that provided by Virgin.

If you decline the inclusive policies offered by your tour operator you still have to pay local taxes and surcharges at the airport. These come to about $30 per week. So the cost of my car hire was £20 (increase in price above flight only) plus £140 (increase above other travel insurance policies) plus $60 (for local taxes). That works out at approximately £100 per week!

But there's more. My Amex travel insurance is an annual policy, and I'd already used the car hire part of it to cover our Orlando holiday in August 2001. So that extra £140 or so that I paid for an amazing well specified insurance policy covered me not for 14 days of car, but 28. This brings down the daily cost of car hire even further than the price I gave you in the preceeding paragraph.

Just for the record I'll restate my position. You MUST have top-up insurance if you hire a car in the States. You SHOULD make your insurance arrangements before you travel. You SHOULD NOT automatically buy your tour operators car insurance as it is likely to be wildly expensive. And finally, DO NOT listen to travel agents who urge you to buy the inclusive policies without at least comparing prices of the alternatives.

Sorry if this comes across as a bit harsh Nigel, but all travel agents and tour operators I've dealt with have tried to persuade my that inclusive policies are the only way to cover yourself for car hire in the USA. This is nonsense, and as regular readers of this board will know, I try to highlight the alternatives as often as I can. If you want more details of the Amex policy, or similar offered by Natwest, please feel free to ask.

Regards

Rob

 

[cjc]

I am growing very concerned with the amount of TCD customers who havent been happy with the service.

Has the company grown too quick and now standards are slipping?

Previously read glowing reports which prompted me to book my Feb 2004 with them (sunshine first with weeks onsite WDW and US) but now having second thoughts since hearing the horror stories.

HAS ANYONE BEEN LATELY AND WOULD RECOMMEND THEM?

cj

 

[nige]

How much is the excess you pay if you make a claim for car damage, theft or accident with your policy? On mine it is ZERO.
Second, you criticised me for naming a company prepared to shop around for you, yet name two yourself.
I'm going to leave this thread now to let anyone draw their own conclusions, THANKS for the discussions.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

The excess on the Amex policy is also zero. As I said, this is the most highly specified insurance policy I've come across. For example, if you are confined to hospital and are unable to use the hire car the Amex policy will reimburse you up to £210 in any one holiday for loss of use of the car!

I didn't criticise, I offered friendly advice. The main difference between me recommending American Express and you recommending your services is that I have no financial interest in whether readers of this board use Amex or not. I have no shares in the company and I don't work for them. You, on the other hand, work for (or own) a travel agency and therefore will benefit financially from any business you generate by recommending products here. As you will see if you re-read the thread, I said I'm relaxed about commerical intersts posting here if it is not too intrusive, but I full understand and respect why the Board owners do not want that to be the case. I'm sure that you intend to offer good advice (and a no direct-cost service), but there is a clear difference between a personal recommendation from a satisfied customer, and somebody who makes a living from the commission derived from selling products. Hope this is clear.

I also hope that people will draw their own conclusions after reading this thread. That's all I ever intended in my replies to you. My contributions on car insurance (and there have been many!) have always been to point out all the alternatives I know, and then to recommend that people calculate the cost of each option to see which best fits their needs. The reason why I jumped in with two feet was that you recommended just one option, especially the one which I consider to be over-priced.

Regards

Rob

 

[DisneyAli]

Oh crikey what did i do, i only asked for some answers to a few questions and seemed to have started a mini war. Sorry if my questions have caused this.

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Alison, I'm the one who should say sorry as I think I may have hijacked your original question!

So: "I'm sorry"

Regards

Rob

 

[DisneyAli]

Thanks Rob, it has made interesting reading.....

 

[SimonV]

I think we can safely return to the main topic of this thread now, folks. I'm sorry that your query 'wandered off' a little there Alison, but credit to Rob for being so patient and even-handed with his replies.

 

[nige]

I hope everyone now knows how to get a car in Florida comprehensively insured and hired with no insurance excess or taxes or surcharges to pay for less than I can, I'm pleased that you manage to get it cheaper! I was quite happy with the costs I showed above, and didn't realise there's a better deal! I'm still not clear how to get it, but it must be good.
Good car insurance should, as Rob says, cover the cost of not being able to use the car if, for example, you are taken ill on holiday which happened to one of us in September 2001. We were lucky and had this cover.

 

[nige]

Alison - have just spoken with someone who had a BRILLIANT time when they stayed on Hampton Lakes, they recommended the villa they had their firstly for it's location, but also for everything about it's facilities; if you end up there, you'll be rather happy I gather. I stayed about half a mile from there three years ago and we were pleased to be able to get everywhere so easily and quickly from there by car.

One point for Rob - I wouldn't ever recommend a tour operators car insurance package, I still think independent ones like ours beat theirs every time.

I would love to see posts from anyone with good price deals for car hire with insurance, it's useful to compare deals, (like for like only of course).