Virgin Car Hire

[gavvy]

Hi
Has anyone had any experence of using the free virgin car hire and your own insurance such as insurance4carhire?

Also Virgin tell me I cant upgrade to a 4x4 suv. I know Dollar stock them, so has anyone managed to upgrade to one at the desk, and how much did if cost?

Thanks

Gav

 

[alisonbestford]

I've used the free Virgin car hire (provided by Dollar) with ins4carhire with no problems

 

[gavvy]

Thanks!

I am def going to reuse my policy I bought earlier this year, all I need to do now is work out how much a SUV will cost!

 

[alisonbestford]

I upgraded to a 'Dodge Caravan' MPV, at the desk, several years ago but no idea about SUVs.
Sorry

Have you checked out the 'normal' Dollar site?

 

[gavvy]

I cant seem to get a good price for a SUV off dollar or Alamo at the moment. Both are coming up at over £300- I may as well buy from a uk broker with all insurance included at that rate.

Hopfully the prices will come down and I can ditch the dollar car altogether.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I thought you 'had' to take Virgins insurance for cars and no alternative insurance was allowable. So are you able to do this?

 

[Frances999]

Remember that the SUVs vary depending on the company. We have had an SUV from Alamo before and it was awful. Conversely, the one we had from Dollar was much nicer. Can't remember names sorry (not very good with remembering car models!).

 

[mushumadness]

Hiya

we are getting the car with virgin, is it better to buy the insurance seperate?

also what policy should I be buying?

thanx anna

 

[tartangirl]

We had a full size car booked with Dollar through uscarhire last year and were upgraded free of charge to Premium car which was a SUV - a Chrysler Pacifica.

It was fantastic - really comfy. The only drawback being it didn't have a boot but as there were only 4 of us we could put the back row of seats down so we weren't short of room although everyone could see what was in the back so not good for security.

We've booked a full-size again and am hoping for another upgrade - DH reckons they keep all the full-size cars for the people who book their cars through Virgin and will be arriving on the same plane as us.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I bok with Virgin usually have a full size but have upgrades to Luxuary this time, see what its like.

 

[alisonbestford]

You don't 'have' to take Virgin's car insurance but Dollar prefer you to as that's how they make the money back on the 'free' car offers................

When you book online there's an option to not take insurance.

We've bought annual, US, insurance from Insurance4carhire two years running now at the cost of £103, and have used it with the 'free' Virgin car and also a car booked through the Alamo US site

No problems either time.
The only disclaimer that insurance4carhire have is on their 'Home page' where they state that it isn't recommended for use with a 'FlyDrive' programme

 

[gavvy]

I am more than willing to do battle at the rental desk again with dollar, last time it was Alamo and I managed to dust them off with their demands that I took their insurance.

I have booked an economy car with dollar, through virgin this time which will porbably be a Neon, to be honest If I cant get an upgrade with them for a sensible price then I will keep the Neon, theres only 2 of us anyway.

Virgin will tell you that dollar only accept their own insurance- this is rubbish, its not up to them if they accept your insurance or not, at the end of the day the car comes with the basic insurance that is needed by law- even if it is totally patethic if you have a crash.- Im glad Alison has used them with Virgin though, makes me feel a bit better !

 

[alisonbestford]

Alamo tried to get me to buy their insurance and made a big deal of scrutenising the insurance certificate
When they realised they couldn't make any money out of me with the insurance they went all out to get me to upgrade.
I refused but ended up with the car they wanted me to upgrade to (at the cost of an extra $210) for free as it was actually in our rental row to be chosen...............

Dollar (arranged through Virgin), on the other hand, never batted an eyelid, merely glanced at the insurance certificate and were quite happy to wave me on my way
And there was I all set to do battle

 

[gavvy]

Thats good to hear.
I think its very underhand the way these car hire firms work, it all seems a bit seedy almost trying to get you to buy expensive insurance, then pressureing you to upgrade to a car which they know they are going to give you anyway as yours is out of stock.

Last time after telling Alamo I did not want any of their insurance he then printed up the contract with LDW and SLI on it, hoping I would just initinal and not query it, I was fit for him though and riped the contract up!
He also tried to say a SUV may not have enough room for 2 adult and 2 cases! he suggested a 7 seater to me! Have you seen the size of an american SUV you can swing a cat in there!

I think if your a first time visitor and have not read some of the posts on here it could become very expensive!-its all very wrong.

 

[Julia Ann]

Very interesting - i have booked our car through virgin and opted for their insurance but the balance isn't due until august, do you think i can cancel their insurance and book through someone else, i paid 280 quid for it??

 

[gavvy]

have a look at the policy on insurance4carhire website, I am not sure if virgin will charge you £25 for altering the booking, even if they do it will still save you. Bear in mind that you will have to pay local taxes when you pick up the car, these are about £30 a week, as well as petrol.

 

[spm23]

gavvy,

I have a 3 week break in August, I have opted to not take Virgin insurance and am getting the insurance 4 you or whatever one, how do I pay the local taxes for each week, will Dollar charge me for that?

Thanks

 

[Julia Ann]

Also i noticed that Virgin's insurance include UHI (i think those are the initials? Underinsured something) for incase you are hit by a person with no insurance and i couldnt see this through the insurance4carhire website (maybe i didnt look close enough). Think i am going to stick to Virgins insurance even though it is 280 quid for the 2 weeks. I saw the quote for about 119 quid and if i add on the 25 that virgin charge plus 60 quid taxes, probably save 80 quid but if it doesn't include the Underinsured bit that could be why.???

 

[gavvy]

gavvy,

I have a 3 week break in August, I have opted to not take Virgin insurance and am getting the insurance 4 you or whatever one, how do I pay the local taxes for each week, will Dollar charge me for that?

Thanks

Dollar will charge your card when you pick up the car for local taxes and for petrol if you opt to pre-pay for it.
The takes depend on the size of the car but I beleive will be around £30 a week.

Julia
As far as I am aware Insurance4carhire will cover you for Uninsured motorists as part of the policy, I dont think they call it UMP though in their policy, if your in doubt give them a call- they are very helpfull.

It dors say on their website that you are covered for everything you need and you dont need any further insurance.

 

[Julia Ann]

Thanks Gavvy - got till august to decide - that's when i have to pay the balance.