Car rental in Florida

wolfyboy555

Hoping to get some advice on renting a car in Florida. Would only need it for 3 or 4 days. I am 23 with full license. Is there any particular websites that anyone would recommend as after doing a search I have came across loads. What would be the average daily rate including insurance. Also would a GPS I have here work in the USA?

ProudDUB

I use Priceline a lot as do they great hotel/car combo deals. There is no average daily rate, especially not for Florida. It varies depending on the city, county and airport you are picking the car up in. The insurance can often cost more than the daily rental rate.

The daily rate depends on what kind of car you want, and where you'll be picking it up. I've paid as low as $21 per day and as high as $55 per day. It all depends. Insurance comes in two forms, coverage for the rental car and coverage for damage to you do to other peoples cars if you are in an accident. I suggest you get both, especially as its only for a few days. I've paid as low as $25 per day and as high as $38 per day for insurance, but usually it works out that the cheaper the base car rental price is, the higher the add ons like insurance are and vice versa.

Your sat nav will only work if it is programmed for the US. My one (a Garmin) is only programmed for Ireland, the UK and Europe. Check the manual that your sat nav came with, or the makers website to see if yours came with US settings. If you have a smart phone consider using Google Maps on that, as its cheaper than paying a fee per day to rent one. You can also pick one up in the likes of WalMart for fifty bucks that you could use again on future trips.

rockonollie

priceline, travelocity and orbitz all do pretty good comparisons of the major rental companies.

InTheTrees

Once you've found a price online.

Phone the company and talk to a human. Every state in the us has slightly different laws as regards car rental so the web sites do generalize a little.

They're really good to talk to though and you may even get some kind of deal.

Your gps should work but you may have to download extra maps?

coylemj

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Also would a GPS I have here work in the USA?

It will work in the sense that it will give you your longitude and latitude but chances are that you have either UK & Ireland maps only or possibly all of Europe, most models sold here do not include Nth. America for pricing reasons, plus a lot of them wouldn't have sufficient internal memory to store maps of Europe & Nth America.

You can buy Nth American maps on an SD card for the popular (Tom Tom & Garmin) models.

rockonollie

Your irish GPS will work here as long as you have the maps like the previous poster had said. The SD card map is probably the cheapest option (definitely cheaper than the $15 per day to rent a GPS with the car that most companies charge)

Be warned though, at least with Garmin, maps on SD cards can't be updated.

ProudDUB

InTheTrees wrote: »

Once you've found a price online.

Phone the company and talk to a human. Every state in the us has slightly different laws as regards car rental so the web sites do generalize a little.

That is great advice. In the US, car rental rates, policies, add on taxes and fees etc etc vary in not just from state to state, but also between different counties, cities & airport within the same state. They can change pretty often too. It's not always a given that car rental companies websites, third party travel websites or Irish travel agents will have up to date info on what fees and rates are currently being charged.

Thirty seconds on Google will turn up the phone number of the office of the company where you are hoping to pick up your car. They will have up to date info. Guaranteed. Give them a ring & find out exactly what you'll be charged on the day that you show up. It may seem off puttingly expensive at first, but in the grand scheme of things, a fiver spent on a phone call to a car rental company America, can be money well spent in the long run.

Pedro32561

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Hoping to get some advice on renting a car in Florida. Would only need it for 3 or 4 days. I am 23 with full license. Is there any particular websites that anyone would recommend as after doing a search I have came across loads. What would be the average daily rate including insurance. Also would a GPS I have here work in the USA?

I always use carhire3000.ie - I go to Florida every year. The price includes all insurances with no excess. They also do packages for young drivers where the surcharge for under 25's is included in the price - meaning you don't have to pay anything extra when you pick up the car (you might have to purchase a tank of petrol and bring back empty - the website will tell you if this is the case).

wolfyboy555

Pedro32561 wrote: »

I always use carhire3000.ie - I go to Florida every year. The price includes all insurances with no excess. They also do packages for young drivers where the surcharge for under 25's is included in the price - meaning you don't have to pay anything extra when you pick up the car (you might have to purchase a tank of petrol and bring back empty - the website will tell you if this is the case).

Was looking at carhire 3000 and have this quote up. I would like to book but does this price include everything I need insurance wise?

image.PNG

TingTong

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Was looking at carhire 3000 and have this quote up. I would like to book but does this price include everything I need insurance wise?

image.PNG

That's a very expensive quote for the car you are getting. We are going over in July and hiring a seven seater Toyota Sienna for €26.50 a day. We hired our car through www.usrentacar.co.uk and through Sixt car rental. They are offsite from the airport, but the money saved justifies the extra half hour hassle of collecting the car. We go to Orlando every year and know the run of the place at this stage so are not put off from going offsite.

PM me if you want more details

wolfyboy555

TingTong wrote: »

That's a very expensive quote for the car you are getting. We are going over in July and hiring a seven seater Toyota Sienna for €26.50 a day. We hired our car through www.usrentacar.co.uk and through Sixt car rental. They are offsite from the airport, but the money saved justifies the extra half hour hassle of collecting the car. We go to Orlando every year and know the run of the place at this stage so are not put off from going offsite.

PM me if you want more details

very similar prices coming up from that website! the price above includes GPS rental and also the fact I am 23! I just want to make sure there will be no extra charges (insurance) on arrival! I know I have to pay for gas

galwayjohn89

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

very similar prices coming up from that website! the price above includes GPS rental and also the fact I am 23! I just want to make sure there will be no extra charges (insurance) on arrival! I know I have to pay for gas

Have you tried hertz directly. I'm 20 and got 10 days for €176 all in including all insurance.

galwayjohn89

TingTong wrote: »

That's a very expensive quote for the car you are getting. We are going over in July and hiring a seven seater Toyota Sienna for €26.50 a day. We hired our car through www.usrentacar.co.uk and through Sixt car rental. They are offsite from the airport, but the money saved justifies the extra half hour hassle of collecting the car. We go to Orlando every year and know the run of the place at this stage so are not put off from going offsite.

PM me if you want more details

That seems expensive for off site. My sister is renting a Grand Voyager for €22 per day in August on site.

Pedro32561

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Was looking at carhire 3000 and have this quote up. I would like to book but does this price include everything I need insurance wise?

image.PNG

Best thing to do is give them a call. They'll run through exactly what's included. I think the one you've selected doesn't cover the under 25 additional charge - but check that out with them.

TingTong

our quote includes an extra driver so that pushes it up a little bit. Also although Sixt is officially off site it is actually just at the edge of the airport so only about a ten minute drive to pick up .

wolfyboy555

Ok still stuck on what to do. I tried to ring them but the number doesn't work. I just want to figure out if that price quoted is the price I will actually pay (except for cost of fuel) . I think there is a young drivers fee and maybe a one way way as I want to pick it up in Miami and drop off in Orlando. It might just be easier for me to use public transport if these fees will be added on!

ProudDUB

Google where you will be staying, visiting, shopping etc etc, and research if it is served by public transport. I don't think that Miami's is all that good. Orlando has a shuttle bus that runs up and down International Drive. It's grand if all you are doing is the theme parks and shopping outlets. Miami is a lot bigger, a lot more spread out, and the City of Miami, Miami Airport and Miami Beach are miles apart.

wolfyboy555

ProudDUB wrote: »

Google where you will be staying, visiting, shopping etc etc, and research if it is served by public transport. I don't think that Miami's is all that good. Orlando has a shuttle bus that runs up and down International Drive. It's grand if all you are doing is the theme parks and shopping outlets. Miami is a lot bigger, a lot more spread out, and the City of Miami, Miami Airport and Miami Beach are miles apart.

We aren't getting the car until we leave miami and driving down to key west and then back up to Orlando! Expenses are adding up though!

ProudDUB

There is no way you'll be able to do all that using public transport. Get the car and grit your teeth.

naughtysmurf

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Was looking at carhire 3000 and have this quote up. I would like to book but does this price include everything I need insurance wise?

image.PNG

Below is some insurance info copied from
http://www.uscarhire.com/faq-inclusions.aspx

Looking at your quote, I would personally want more insurance but I like to be well covered, I imagine you will get pressure from the sales agent to increase your cover when picking up the car. My advice would be to shop around & book your car through a broker before you travel & not directly with the car hire company as their quotes tend to only offer the most basic insurance
Purchase an all inclusive rental including all insurances, drivers etc, you may have to pay for a tank of fuel

• UMP stands for Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist Protection.This covers you in the event an uninsured motorist causes damage to your vehicle.
  
• SLI stands for Supplemental Liability Insurance.This is equivalent to '3rd Party' insurance and covers you in the event you cause injury to a 3rd party, or damage to their property.

• CDW (Collision Damage Waiver) which also incorporates LDW (Loss Damage Waiver). This covers you for damage to the car or loss (theft) of the car.

wolfyboy555

ProudDUB wrote: »

There is no way you'll be able to do all that using public transport. Get the car and grit your teeth.

Pulled the trigger and booked it!