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Cheap car hire article discussion

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Just one major point to add. Always compare the quotes in the currency you will eventually be paying. One website is currently using €1.35 = £1 in converting its euro prices into Sterling! Understating the true cost by 7 or 8%.
Oh yes ..... and if Kayak's coverage at Alicante is anything to go by, it's not worth bothering with.
Thanks for the useful article on car hire. Using car4lessholidayautos got an economy car for 5 days in France for £143 instead of about £280 via Hertz/Ryanair.
Even despite the very helpful article still fairly confused!
The complete waiver via that the hire company came in was £22 vs about £18/19 with Questor/Dailyexcess etc. Ours doesn't cover the underside
So far so good.
BUT third party liability doesn't seem to be covered.
So will 3rd party (i.e. death/injury to a third person) be offered at the car hire? Will it be massively expensive?
Are the operators wrong and is it already part of CDW (i.e. should it be part of any basic insurance policy that you take out??)
Don't really fancy the fingers crossed option in a foreign country not speaking the language!!
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks very much in advance
It comes out cheapest on a carrentals.co.uk but I have never heard of them and cant find any feedback on the web?
They don't provide a contact address on their wesite.
SILVERSURFA LIMITED
05935040
Incorporated on 14 September 2006Last full Members list on 14 September 2007Last Accounts filed to 31 January 2007Accounting Reference Date: 31-01
I may be overly suspicious but it may be more than coincidental that the Silversurfa address is a house only half a mile from the carrentals.co.uk office - the only comparison site that includes citrox!
Any way since I haven't found any customers references for citrox I called CarHire3000 who I have used before and asked them to price match. They didn't fully match the price but we agreed on a price only £10 above Citrox.
(Citrox price £336, Carhire3000 original £358, agreed £346,
18 day rental Vancouver->Calgary)
Bob
I put a large scrape in the front bumper of a car from Enterprise recently. I hadn't paid for the DEW (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't - it about doubles the cost of rental for a weekend so for short trips I don't always). So, fair enough I expected to pay for repairs, possibly (given how hire companies work) even a new bumper. The car had a £150 deposit on it so when I took it back in they took the rest of the £500 excess, also fair enough. However I've just got a cheque back for the "unused" excess - of only £116! So they've charged me £384 - and this was on a Toyota Aygo which isn't exactly an expensive car.
There weren't any details with the cheque so I'm going to phone and ask for them - but a. does this sound reasonable and b. have I got a leg to stand on in challenging this? Is there anything specific I should be asking?
cheers,
Steve
Has anyone got any experience of long-term car rental in the US?
I'm starting off with a week in San Francisco for which I don't need a car, then I want to pick up a 4x4 in San Francisco around Oct 1st and drop off in Las Vegas about a month later, spend a week (car-less) in Vegas and then hire a convertible there, to drop off back at San Fran about another month later. All unlimited mileage, as I'm going touring.
I'm starting to deduce that my best bet is to trawl around the car-hire offices once I get to San Fran, rather than try and book something that complicated over here.
Anyone done a long touring trip like this, who can offer any advice?
Thanks.