California car rental.

Duff

Hey guys.

Flying into/out of LAX in September - spending 3 days in LA and a week in San Diego. Planning on renting a car as public transport in LA is horrendous. Has anyone any recommendations of a company to go with for the 10 days? Also, I haven't got a credit card, only a debit, will that be a problem?

Cheers.

Fiskar

Hertz is what we've used. Credit card is a must as far as I'm aware.

él statutorio

They're all much the same to be honest, I found dollar to be decent in the past.

You will need a credit card though.

You might be able to do it with a Debit but it would probably be a bunch of hassle.

tricky D

Visa Debit for Avis in SFO worked fine and smooth for me a few years back.

Duff

One more thing, lads - None of the sites I've been looking at mention accident insurance, does it come included in the price generally or is it hidden away somewhere?

coylemj

Duff wrote: »

One more thing, lads - None of the sites I've been looking at mention accident insurance, does it come included in the price generally or is it hidden away somewhere?

Car rental everywhere includes basic third party cover, same as the minimum legal cover you need to drive a car in Ireland. What happens when you rent a car is that the counter clerk will do their utmost to get you to buy additional (comprehensive) cover because there is big commission on that policy. It's basically a rip-off which is why lots of insurance companies now offer policies specifically to cover you when renting a car i.e. you take the rental company's third party cover (no choice there) but you top it up to fully comp. through a policy that you purchase independent of the rental company.

On their websites, rental companies will always quote prices which incudes the absolute minimum legal cover in order to look competitive. Even though in many cases there will be some element of cover that they will try to force you to buy when you arrive to collect the car.

But.. .... I wouldn't put it past some companies to quote exclusive of any insurance so if the price looks too good to be true....

circular flexing

Specifically for California, you should have a read of this

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28926-c196885/California:United-States:Car.Rental.Insurance.Requirements.html

Duff

circular flexing wrote: »

Specifically for California, you should have a read of this

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g28926-c196885/California:United-States:Car.Rental.Insurance.Requirements.html

Cheers for that. From reading it, it looks like I should get additional collision damage insurance along with the third party just to be safe.

coylemj

Duff wrote: »

Cheers for that. From reading it, it looks like I should get additional collision damage insurance along with the third party just to be safe.

Two things to note:

1. That article on Tripadvisor suggests that you're not even guaranteed that basic third party cover is included so make sure that it is. The article does hint that for international (non US) drivers, it will be included but you can't be sure.

2. If you're paying with a debit card then it's virtually certain that they will make you take out the full collision damage waiver (CDW, aka fully comp.) insurance. Otherwise you will need to have a bundle of cash in your bank account and they will grab a large chunk of it as a deposit to cover any damage to the car. That is the major difference between renting a car with a debt rather than a credit card.

adam88

Last month we rented a car. We rented through Alamo. We found them to be the cheapest by far.

A week Bedford we travelled I happened to hear of a radio interview with some man from car hire excess. They cover the excess insurance and that very good rates compared to what the car hire company would want to charge you. Basically in the states you can hire a car with zero insurance but you are 100 percent liable for any damage done to the hire car or third party. Go online and get a policy through car hire excess and click the cdw box. With that you are covered whatever happens and you get the car for the ticket price. You have to be really adamant with the clerk cause they're on commission. I had my policy paperwork and she still tried to add it on to our rental. Just say NO.
Also return the car full obviously.

Another tip and I only realised it while over is that you can download the area your travelling to on google maps. You zoom in or out accordingly and save it to your phone. Got us out of a major hole while over.

Any more q don't hesitate to send me a male

Ace2007

Quick query on cars - we too are getting an SUV with Alamo, we've been told it will be a Nissan Rogue or something similar - how much boot space is in one of these? Would there been enough room for say 4 large suitcases or what would be the max space - pics on Google are not overly helpful.

In addition to this, can anyone tell me if the following gives me fully comprehensive insurance:

3rd Party (Liability) Insurance INCLUDED
Collision Damage Insurance INCLUDED
Theft Insurance INCLUDED
Damage Excess Waiver INCLUDED

The person I'm dealing with doesn't understand/ignores my question of comprehensive and just sent me the above as being the cover I have.

adam88

Ace2007 wrote: »

Quick query on cars - we too are getting an SUV with Alamo, we've been told it will be a Nissan Rogue or something similar - how much boot space is in one of these? Would there been enough room for say 4 large suitcases or what would be the max space - pics on Google are not overly helpful.

In addition to this, can anyone tell me if the following gives me fully comprehensive insurance:

3rd Party (Liability) Insurance INCLUDED
Collision Damage Insurance INCLUDED
Theft Insurance INCLUDED
Damage Excess Waiver INCLUDED

The person I'm dealing with doesn't understand/ignores my question of comprehensive and just sent me the above as being the cover I have.

Sorry for delay I had been away. Cancel all the insurance with Alamo. Go to car hire excess and get insurance from them and make sure to click the cdw option. It will be a fraction of what Alamo are charging you

Ace2007

adam88 wrote: »

Sorry for delay I had been away. Cancel all the insurance with Alamo. Go to car hire excess and get insurance from them and make sure to click the cdw option. It will be a fraction of what Alamo are charging you

we went through an agency in Ireland, so it's not directly with Alamo, however that doesn't make this process any easier.

The sales rep in Ireland was adamant that my travel insurance would cover me for personal accident insurance if we have a crash, however when I rang vhi they said that I wouldn't be for a car crash.

Is it expensive to have this added to the policy when we arrive and is there any chance of them putting an additional hold on a cc for this?

Wheety

As far as I know those car hire excess sites are not offering insurance. They just cover the excess. They say to accept the insurance from the company and if there's a claim they will refund the excess to you.

I hired from Avis in Canada a few weeks ago and thought they were very good. They included the CDW in the price so I didn't need excess insurance. They also did not try and push anything extra on me. Now, it will probably be different in California as everything in America seems to be about selling all the policies.

adam88

Wheety wrote: »

As far as I know those car hire excess sites are not offering insurance. They just cover the excess. They say to accept the insurance from the company and if there's a claim they will refund the excess to you.

I hired from Avis in Canada a few weeks ago and thought they were very good. They included the CDW in the price so I didn't need excess insurance. They also did not try and push anything extra on me. Now, it will probably be different in California as everything in America seems to be about selling all the policies.

I suppose the easiest thing to do is ring "car hire excess" and talk to them. Vhi has nothing to do with your car insurance.

As far as I'm concerned while I had the car rented in the states I was fully covered with what was provided to me by car hire excess. In the states you get absolutely no insurance with your rental policy, that's why they make a killing selling extras. If you rent a car in Europe you get 3rd party and they put a hold on your cc for the excess. If you damage the car itself you pay more again. That's the difference between Europe and the states

Poochie05

Some of those car hire excess places do offer you collision damage insurance as well as excess cover in their Worldwide policies, particularly to cover this issue in the US. I was looking in to this and came across some of them that do:
e.g.
http://www.insurance4carhire.com/usa-canada-car-hire-excess-insurance
https://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/car-hire-insurance.aspx

AIG seem to as well and carhireexcess.ie

Duff

I've a car rented in LAX for 10 days next month (through Expedia) and I also took out a policy from CarHireExcess.ie so I'm fully covered afaik.

adam88

Duff wrote: »

I've a car rented in LAX for 10 days next month (through Expedia) and I also took out a policy from CarHireExcess.ie so I'm fully covered afaik.

Just make sure your not paying insurance with the hire compemu as well.

Ace2007

was chatting to the owner of the car rental agency in Ireland that we booked through, she' assured me that if I have travel insurance/medical insurance and that I'm driving and need medical assistance that I'll be covered. But if I don't then I'm not covered.

Seems to be a bit crazy- like potentially if I didn't have private health cover in Ireland my travel insurance would not be valid for medical claims. I'm sure plenty of people don't realize this.

We have all the other cover that we need, although we have a mechanical cover that if car breaks down etc., we have to pay and claim back. lets hope that doesn't happen.

Duff

Another quick question, lads. Roughly how much of a hold do rental companies generally put on a credit card when you're picking the car up? I've recently got a new credit card but the limit is only €500. The car is pre-paid for already.

él statutorio

Duff wrote: »

Another quick question, lads. Roughly how much of a hold do rental companies generally put on a credit card when you're picking the car up? I've recently got a new credit card but the limit is only €500. The car is pre-paid for already.

Depends on the company I think. It has been between $1k and $2k the last few times I rented.

Maybe confirm with your bank or CC company what the craic is with rental holds?

They may allow you to go over the €500 for rentals.

Duff

él statutorio wrote: »

Depends on the company I think. It has been between $1k and $2k the last few times I rented.

Maybe confirm with your bank or CC company what the craic is with rental holds?

They may allow you to go over the €500 for rentals.

Thought as much. Cheers, I'll head into the bank tomorrow.

adam88

Ace2007 wrote: »

was chatting to the owner of the car rental agency in Ireland that we booked through, she' assured me that if I have travel insurance/medical insurance and that I'm driving and need medical assistance that I'll be covered. But if I don't then I'm not covered.

Seems to be a bit crazy- like potentially if I didn't have private health cover in Ireland my travel insurance would not be valid for medical claims. I'm sure plenty of people don't realize this.

We have all the other cover that we need, although we have a mechanical cover that if car breaks down etc., we have to pay and claim back. lets hope that doesn't happen.

I think your confusing things now. The op asked about motor insurance. You seek to be on about travel and medical insurance, you are quiet correct in that if you don't have existing medical insurance then buying travel insurance is pointless

adam88

Duff wrote: »

Thought as much. Cheers, I'll head into the bank tomorrow.

Get the car hire excess policy and you won't have to do anything. Your prob paying well over the odds for simple basic 3rd party insurance.

If you return the car with a new dent or scrape that holding amount on your cc will be used

Duff

adam88 wrote: »

Get the car hire excess policy and you won't have to do anything. Your prob paying well over the odds for simple basic 3rd party insurance.

If you return the car with a new dent or scrape that holding amount on your cc will be used

I have taken out a policy with car hire excess and will be telling the rental company also that I don't want any of their "extras" as I'm already covered. I was just wondering what the average hold is on rental cars as my credit card limit may be too low.

L'prof

If you're worried about the possibility of needing a credit card hen you should download Revolut and apply for a card through the app. It's basically a pre topped up cc. Very good rates and little to no fees. I found it great when I was in America

circular flexing

Duff wrote: »

I have taken out a policy with car hire excess and will be telling the rental company also that I don't want any of their "extras" as I'm already covered. I was just wondering what the average hold is on rental cars as my credit card limit may be too low.

If you choose to refill the petrol yourself, they will likely put a hold for the amount of fuel in the tank + the amount of the actual rental (if it isn't prepaid).