What extras do you add to your car rental?

[Tigger1]

I have only rented a few times. Wondering what Extras are needed if any, such as the insurance, gas, toll road...

 

[Disnydad]

I never add anything.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Depends on whether you have rental car insurance with your existing policy. So check that in advance. We don't add any extras, but, for our next WDW I am going to add the toll add-on because we do a combo Vero Beach and WDW stay in the summer and so we have a lot of tolls to pay. It is not worth it on a straight up cost basis, but I'm going to pay the extra $35 or so for the convenience of not having to search for change and pull off the road every few miles.

 

[MillauFr]

Don't add anything.

 

[sk!mom]

Nothing in the US. I added the insurance in Ireland last summer.

 

[EACarlson]

As long as you have your own personal insurance that covers you in a rental car, nothing is needed. The gas is a scam, the tolls are a bigger scam but sometimes you can't get away from them.

We don't add any extras, but, for our next WDW I am going to add the toll add-on because we do a combo Vero Beach and WDW stay in the summer and so we have a lot of tolls to pay. It is not worth it on a straight up cost basis, but I'm going to pay the extra $35 or so for the convenience of not having to search for change and pull off the road every few miles.

If you're flying into MCO, look at the www.visitortollpass.com No extra charges and tolls are half the price of almost all of the rental car services. If you're planning on 528 to 95, there are only two tolls.

 

[PalmettoPath]

As long as you have your own personal insurance that covers you in a rental car, nothing is needed. The gas is a scam, the tolls are a bigger scam but sometimes you can't get away from them.

If you're flying into MCO, look at the www.visitortollpass.com No extra charges and tolls are half the price of almost all of the rental car services. If you're planning on 528 to 95, there are only two tolls.

I'll have a look at that -- could be a good option. We do the BeeLine and then 95 south, two stops sounds right on the way out, but it feels like more on the return to WDW for week 2 (might not be). But either way, this could be a good alternative -- thanks for sharing!

 

[Tigger1]

Budget tried to sell us the daily package on tolls last year. Also was mentioned that we could pay the "If you use that lane that its charged to tag you would be charged an extra daily fee. I did not purchase, knowing just a couple tolls to Vero and back. Ended up that Florida was not charging for tolls that week anyway due to a hurrican (I think). I am sure Budget agent knew that they were not charging tolls. This is one reason of the reasons I may not rent from Budget again. In the state I live in you can not pay for tolls as you go, its a mail in thing now. That is why I asked about tolls with rental cars.

 

[Lewisc]

The gas plan, almost all agencies, is 100% scam. No credit for unused gas. You'll lose $ even if you liberally run out of gas as you pull up. The per gallon cost of fuel they quote is subject to taxes and fees; maybe 30% extra.

The price you see at the pump is the price you pay.

 

[Ralph&Pam]

I'll have a look at that -- could be a good option. We do the BeeLine and then 95 south, two stops sounds right on the way out, but it feels like more on the return to WDW for week 2 (might not be). But either way, this could be a good alternative -- thanks for sharing!

Yes, two tolls on the Beeline Expressway (528) heading east to 95. If you take I95 to 528 to 417 to get to WDW after your VB stay, there are two tolls along 417 when exiting at exit 6 (World Center Drive/International Drive). Also those two tolls between WDW and MCO using 417 to the airport exit (I avoid I4 due to unpredictable traffic, although there is currently some amount of construction along 417 that can cause traffic delays as well).

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

.

 

[Cheburashka]

Rental car insurance is always secondary to your own auto insurance. So if your auto insurance covers rental cars (which most do), you'd pretty much be wasting the money to get their insurance. They'll try to convince you to get the insurance, sure. They make a lot of money off of it because it's basically free money for them, as there are so few payouts when the customer's own insurance is still going to be primary (they'll never mention that during their sales pitch).

I never buy any extras.

 

[Lewisc]

Rental car insurance is always secondary to your own auto insurance. So if your auto insurance covers rental cars (which most do), you'd pretty much be wasting the money to get their insurance. They'll try to convince you to get the insurance, sure. They make a lot of money off of it because it's basically free money for them, as there are so few payouts when the customer's own insurance is still going to be primary (they'll never mention that during their sales pitch).

I never buy any extras.

It's overpriced. Very few need it. It covers your insurance deductible, FWIW. Some might say it your deductible is good enough for your personal auto It's good enough for your rental. I agree with that opinion.
It covers lose of use.
I
Some, I think most, are primary. They avoid having a claim against your personal auto policy.

Again I think very few renters need the waivers, even though i don't agree with your points.

 

[nekonekoneko]

The gas plan, almost all agencies, is 100% scam. No credit for unused gas. You'll lose $ even if you liberally run out of gas as you pull up. The per gallon cost of fuel they quote is subject to taxes and fees; maybe 30% extra.

The price you see at the pump is the price you pay.

This is the only thing I do add on. I know it's a bit of a bad deal, but it's one less stop I have to make before dropping it off, so I'm ok with that. And I've found myself, more often than not, returning the car almost on fumes.

I also had a time, before buying their fuel, where I filled the tank at the last gas station before dropping it off. The guy checking my car back in had the audacity to charge me for a gallon of gas, at $10, without even giving me time to protest. You can be sure I immediately called their corporate number the moment I got home. They were nice and reversed the charge, but dang, that guy was just .

 

[Lewisc]

This is the only thing I do add on. I know it's a bit of a bad deal, but it's one less stop I have to make before dropping it off, so I'm ok with that. And I've found myself, more often than not, returning the car almost on fumes.

I also had a time, before buying their fuel, where I filled the tank at the last gas station before dropping it off. The guy checking my car back in had the audacity to charge me for a gallon of gas, at $10, without even giving me time to protest. You can be sure I immediately called their corporate number the moment I got home. They were nice and reversed the charge, but dang, that guy was just .

Nothing wrong with paying for convenience.

Last time I did the math you lost even if you returned the car with a gallon or less.

Last time I checked you came out ahead returning the car with half a tank and paying the penalty price for the gas. That assumes you're properly charged

 

[easyas123]

We don't take any of the add-ons.

 

[CarolynFH]

We don't add anything. We use a credit card that provides primary insurance, we bring our own SunPass, and I navigate via cellphone app, telling DH where to turn.

 

[kerry34]

As long as you have your own personal insurance that covers you in a rental car, nothing is needed. The gas is a scam, the tolls are a bigger scam but sometimes you can't get away from them.

If you're flying into MCO, look at the www.visitortollpass.com No extra charges and tolls are half the price of almost all of the rental car services. If you're planning on 528 to 95, there are only two tolls.

I second the visitor toll pass. Very easy to get, no fees for it. Pick it up at kiosk on lower level near rental counters. Just have to return the tag to the drop box at airport when you are done.

 

[JulieBeeRN]

Paying tolls through the rental car is a bad idea. There’s a daily surcharge that isn’t worth it.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

It's wise to verify with your personal auto insurance what your coverage is while paying for a rental car. Most will definitely have you covered for collision and comprehensive, should anything happen. But in recent years, some of the major car insurance companies have been backing out of what the rental companies call 'loss of use' coverage - meaning paying a per day penalty while their car is being fixed (and not rentable) because of an accident you might have caused. Right or wrong, it's definitely better to get clarification from your own agent before being surprised by assumptions. Our insurer warned us earlier this year, they're not covering loss of use any longer. But our agent did make a recommendation to check with our credit card company, though, as some of the better credit cards still do cover something like that. Again - just something to keep in the back of your mind that we've been warned about. I don't want to be paying an extra $35 per day for the rental company's insurance, so we made sure we're covered a different way should something happen.

As for the tolls and gas? We got ourselves our own SunPass that we use just for rentals in Florida - the up-charge by the rental companies for something similar is crazy. And that 'empty your gas tank' thing always seems like a gimmick to us, so we never take it. It might cost me a couple dollars more to fill it myself, but I don't want to be trying to see how low I can get the tank on my way back to the rental car return! But I know some folks who love that option, as they don't need to worry about gas on the way to the airport. I love the fact that they've recently put a gas station on Fuqua Blvd on the way into the Orlando airport - so convenient - except 2 years ago when I was planning to stop there before our flight home, and the electric was out - so no gas! That turned out to be an expensive tank of gas! So I guess it works both ways!