US hire car suggestions

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PS. BA , Avis partnership has always worked well for me. I use Insurance4carhire.co.uk. Have done for years. Had one claim, they paid out almost instantly.
 
We went to Florida and had pre-booked a large ‘sedan’ as we had two kids and 4 cases and the booking referred to this.

Got to the hire desk and they said our choice was not available. Surprise, surprise. They asked if I wanted to pay for an upgrade.

Stupid, stupid move as I deal with this crap every day as part of my job.

Pulled out my booking form and my phone. Asked them if they wanted a problem with our company lawyer in Manhattan as they were duty bound to give me what I had booked . Not that we had one there or I actually had the facility to call on one .... :)

So they tried to appease me with, wait it or not, a Sebring convertible.

A car that you couldn’t fit a gerbil in the boot let alone our luggage.

Back to the desk and a demand to see the duty manager to see if he could explain to us where our luggage was to go.

Needless to say, we ended up with a fully funded Escalade and a fuel card for the duration of our trip.
 
Every single time I've booked a hire car in the US or Canada they have played the same game of offering an upgrade. It got so I would deliberately book a smaller car because every time I refused the upgrade I got a larger car anyway for no extra payment. One time I booked a small car and they gave me a brand new Chrysler 300C with the 5.7 V8.
 
PS. BA , Avis partnership has always worked well for me. I use Insurance4carhire.co.uk. Have done for years. Had one claim, they paid out almost instantly.

Thanks - that's a good tip.

I have used my regular insurance in the past and upgrade cover - but its more expensive.

All you really want is cover for the threat of ridiculous excess generally applied to the hire's basic insurance.
 
Whenever I rent a car, I add the cost for zero excess and also tyres and glass cover if they offer it etc.

This way, I know I just drop-off the car at the end of the journey and I don't need to worry about hearing from them again... (apart for toll road charges which are applied to my card).

Might not be the cheapest way of doing it, but it does buy me peace of mind.
 
FYI I've decided to book a 'select/elite' level vehicle - most likely from Budget. Depending on what is available on the day and supplement, I may upgrade - but at least it insures a fairly high initial level of vehicle. There often doesn't seem to be a lot of logic to some of the rates - e.g. a 'Luxury full size' vehicle is significantly cheaper than a 'small' or 'economy' vehicle.

With AVIS/Budget (basically the same company with the same vehicles) - when you select residency outside the US, there is a premium on AVIS not applied on Budget website.

In addition, I'm waiting for a Virgin Travel Credit card to pre-pay the booking. You get the live market exchange rate in dollars without having to pay a foreign currency fee - usually 3%.
 
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FYI I've decided to book a 'select/elite' level vehicle - most likely from Budget. Depending on what is available on the day and suppliment, I may upgrade - but at least it insures a fairly high initial level of vehicle. There often doesn't seem to be a lot of logic to some of the rates - e.g. a 'Luxury full size' vehicle is significantly cheaper than a 'small' or 'economy' vehicle.

With AVIS/Budget (basically the same company with the same vehicles) - when you select residency outside the US, there is a premium on AVIS not applied on Budget website.

In addition, I'm waiting for a Virgin Travel Credit card to pre-pay the booking. You get the live market exchange rate in dollars without having to pay a foreign currency fee - usually 3%.
 
@mark44 I have just booked a car in the US using Turo. Have you considered it before? It's my first time, and I'm curious how it compares to Avis/Hertz etc. - I've booked a Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD - It's a last minute booking and with everything included, including zero excess insurance and 200 miles a day allowance, it's coming to $175 per day all inclusive, and I don't have to worry about cleaning it before return or bringing it back with full charge.
 
Whenever I rent a car, I add the cost for zero excess and also tyres and glass cover if they offer it etc.

This way, I know I just drop-off the car at the end of the journey and I don't need to worry about hearing from them again... (apart for toll road charges which are applied to my card).

Might not be the cheapest way of doing it, but it does buy me peace of mind.
The worst thing you can do, it's a waste of money. If you like giving away money and you can afford it..fair enough. And you are correct, it's not " the cheapest way of doing it"...Its the most expensive way.
 
FYI I've decided to book a 'select/elite' level vehicle - most likely from Budget. Depending on what is available on the day and supplement, I may upgrade - but at least it insures a fairly high initial level of vehicle. There often doesn't seem to be a lot of logic to some of the rates - e.g. a 'Luxury full size' vehicle is significantly cheaper than a 'small' or 'economy' vehicle.

With AVIS/Budget (basically the same company with the same vehicles) - when you select residency outside the US, there is a premium on AVIS not applied on Budget website.

In addition, I'm waiting for a Virgin Travel Credit card to pre-pay the booking. You get the live market exchange rate in dollars without having to pay a foreign currency fee - usually 3%.
Be a bit careful with this in the USA, I accepted my usual upgrade only to discover ...it was a VW Passat ! when I asked them WTF ! they said it was from their 'Euro' range as European cars are perceived to be classier. The same has happened to me in Europe on more than one occasion. Got 'upgraded' from a fully loaded Opel Astra to a poverty spec A class Mercedes Benz...just because it (would have) cost about 5 euros a day more than the Opel as the MB was seen as an 'executive' brand.
 
OP Available upgrade on the day vary wildly, but in my experience the bigger the airport the bigger the choice of car (obviously) Avis LHR have many many more cars than Avis in Bristol airport for example.
 
Numerous trips to US with family. In my experience the best cars have been the largest SUV you can afford.

The large ones are massive inside. Can while away hours and hours on the road with kids happy. All luggage on board and loads more space to buy stuff etc etc.

US roads are just made for the SUV experience.
 
Yup, my wife actually likes me to book SUVs in the states - roomy, and good viewing platform - can see across the barriers
 
Yup. Cant go wrong. I loved the Ford Explorer we had a few y ago and returned back to uk W ordering why it wasn’t sold here.
 
Whenever I rent a car, I add the cost for zero excess and also tyres and glass cover if they offer it etc.

This way, I know I just drop-off the car at the end of the journey and I don't need to worry about hearing from them again... (apart for toll road charges which are applied to my card).

Might not be the cheapest way of doing it, but it does buy me peace of mind.

I’m with you on this. I’m a fairly request renter for work and I don’t fancy the huge excesses and don’t really trust the after market excess insurers.

Few weeks ago I had a fiesta for 4 hours in Dublin. Returned it and guy asked what had happened. Big scrape all down the other side of the car. No idea where it happened and the photos were not clear as to where starting at the beginning. I had not even walked down that side of the car... I’d have been stressed if an excess was at stake.


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Hi all,

I'm back from holiday (incredible) and thought I'd give an update.

My pre-paid 'Mercedes E350' was not available at SF, instead a Jag XF supercharged 3.0 V6 was offered. I had the rep fish around, but the Jag was IMO the best option - most of the alternatives were 4 cylinder Volvo SUV's and the like. The car was a pleasant enough road-trip companion - but in true jag style was huge with not much internal space or luggage capacity.

Where Budget get zero marks was something I should have been more weary of, but having just got off an 11 hour flight with 2 young children was less than sharp.

I took Pete's advice and purchased an International CDW policy from insurance4carhire and told the rep I had cover. Having returned to the UK I saw an additional charge from AVIS/Budget of £750 on my credit card. When queried it turns out the rep had added the additional insurance cover at $50p/d, and not mentioned it when asking me to sign the documentation - you know the usual 'just sign here' before handing over the keys. After several calls to Budget call center in Mexico showing them my original pre-pay agreement and 3rd party policy, they reluctantly agreed to refund half the cost of the insurance.

Yes, they 'got' me and it was my fault for not reading the paperwork thoroughly, but seriously, what a low-life individual and downright deceptive company policy.
 
Yes, they 'got' me and it was my fault for not reading the paperwork thoroughly, but seriously, what a low-life individual and downright deceptive company policy

Yes, I was ‘had’ at Dallas Fort Worth a couple of years ago. The rep at the desk said I could have an upgrade. Great, I replied, thinking he meant a free upgrade. Just sign here, here and here, he said. Of course it wasn’t free and when the credit card bill arrived it came to twice as much again as the original pre-paid cost. No mention of this at the desk.

Eventually got it refunded after numerous emails to the CEO’s office.

Very sharp practice, but the moral is, ask them what every single box is for that you are asked to initial.
 
That's how Avis operate in my experience. I had a falling out with them some 20 years ago when I rented a car for 2 weeks (for work) in Germany. Got stiffed a bunch of money for insurance I hadn't asked for and they refused point blank to refund it. I swore then I'd never use them again and they haven't seen a penny of my money ever since (and I've rented dozens of cars in the mean time).

I'm glad I drove their stupid car like I stole it. Did you know you can get 125 out of a 1.4 Ford Focus on the Autobahn? Mind you, I had to slow down after a few minutes as it was starting to smell funny..

Cheers,

Gaz
 
They're all like that. Read the fine print and if you have time, argue it out at the counter before you settle your bill. They're counting on you having a plane to catch, not you telling them that they ripped you off in front of a bunch of other customers waiting in line.
 

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