Cheap car hire article discussion

NiftyDigits

malky39 wrote: »

Went through atlas via travelsupermarket for £90, you were correct it was with firefly which i also managed to workout from another comparison site.

I also checked via TravelSupermarket and it still came up with £103 for the Compact.

Aaah...it's dropped down again to £91.

I definitely checked TravelSupermarket earlier. So it's interesting that the price went down and up and down again within a day.

In fact even if you go direct to Atlas without going through TS, it's also lower than it was when I posted at 1.40pm today:

JimmySave

Hi pogofish, Hander seems to be asking a relevant question to the topic. I have also seen "Zero Excess" on included rental insurance offerings eg "Included = CDW with Zero Excess". On reading detailed Ts n Cs they say "CDW covers : The amount you pay will be the lower of a) the cost of repair/replacement + loss of use + processing fee; or b) the excess stated on your agreement". So "Zero excess" implies you will not pay anything as zero is lower. But beware caveats saying unless you have caused damage in certain ways e.g. water of fire damage that was your fault or driving without due care and attention" That last one always gets me because if you make a mistake and cause an unintentional accident it seems to me you were driving without due care and attention.

Conclusion: Just as my opinion : Zero Excess seems to be a good thing and avoids the cost of buying excess insurance but be aware of the conditions it won't apply in.

JimmySave

Article item 22 "Pay by credit card". In order to get Section 75 Credit card protection. If you purchase through a comparison site or linked agent (eg Auto Europe) does that invalidate the Section 75 protection (because you are Credit Card paying the agent but your contract of provision is with the rental company)?

Apologies if this has already been answered above - I couldn't find it

robbyfine

We've recently used euroselfdrive car rental service to take our family trip to Europe. Btw, their price is lower than other car rental services offer. They have a large selection of rentals that were cleaned and ready to be picked:)

gelaqarciva

I was In Georgia last week , I found there local car rental companny "Qrent" there is the best cars and the best service : +995 571 355553 you can call

Daz1949

When hiring a car in Spain DO NOT take the agents insurance or buy your own cover.
DOYOUSPAIN is not alone in saying they will save you half the cost of the car hire company, but when you arrive at the car hire company SOLMAR in my case they don't accept the insurance & won't give you the car unless you buy their insurance.
A 60 euro plus 120 euro insurance with DOYOUSPAIN for 3 weeks cost me another 240 euros insurance.
Of course DOYOUSPAIN insists their insurance is all that is needed & SOLMAR legal will not comment if they accept.

ASSJ

You've been had by SOLMAR Daz1949 just read the posts on here, own insurance cover is valid just stick to your guns

ciderboy2009

You own insurance is valid - you just need to read all of the small print and realise the differences between the insurance from the car hire company and the insurance from DoYouSpan, CarJet etc,

The main difference being that you will be expected to pay the car hire company for any damage which you then claim back from your insurer.

You're also likely to find that the car hire company will want to block a large sum (normally around €1500) on your credit card to cover themselves.

hexland

A few months ago, my family and I traveled from US to UK (home to see my parents) and landed at GLA. I had used Expedia to book a car from Europcar, and purchased a supplemental insurance policy from Expedia for CDW/Loss/Theft. I also used my Citibank credit card to purchase the car (which gives me primary coverage apparently).
Anyway - after 15hrs of flying with a 3yo - I get to GLA and the woman at Europcar refused to give me the car saying that their policy was that they cannot allow a car to leave the lot without Europcar insurance; any other insurance policies are not acceptable. This would have added an additional 28GBP per day (taking my rental price from $400 to $900). I called Expedia but they could do nothing. I ended up spending another 2 hours at the airport trying to book something else... Europcar simply wouldn't budge, and they knew they had me at a disadvantage (being very tired, and having a very tired 3yo clinging to me)

Anyway, I need to fly back to GLA again, and I'm looking at other rental companies... but I'm getting really confused as to what insurances I need (CDW, PLI, Excess, etc)... The US terms I'm used to don't really match some of the ones on the rental sites.
I started looking at Insurance4carhire and an annual policy (since I'll most likely be returning a couple of more times in the year)...

Do you guys have
- Any recommendations for rental companies that don't take the !!!! (or warnings for ones not to use)
- Any recommendations for insurance coverage.

Thank you so much (and sorry if this is too common a n00b question)

NiftyDigits

hexland wrote: »

A few months ago, my family and I traveled from US to UK (home to see my parents) and landed at GLA. I had used Expedia to book a car from Europcar, and purchased a supplemental insurance policy from Expedia for CDW/Loss/Theft. I also used my Citibank credit card to purchase the car (which gives me primary coverage apparently).
Anyway - after 15hrs of flying with a 3yo - I get to GLA and the woman at Europcar refused to give me the car saying that their policy was that they cannot allow a car to leave the lot without Europcar insurance; any other insurance policies are not acceptable. This would have added an additional 28GBP per day (taking my rental price from $400 to $900). I called Expedia but they could do nothing. I ended up spending another 2 hours at the airport trying to book something else... Europcar simply wouldn't budge, and they knew they had me at a disadvantage (being very tired, and having a very tired 3yo clinging to me)

Anyway, I need to fly back to GLA again, and I'm looking at other rental companies... but I'm getting really confused as to what insurances I need (CDW, PLI, Excess, etc)... The US terms I'm used to don't really match some of the ones on the rental sites.
I started looking at Insurance4carhire and an annual policy (since I'll most likely be returning a couple of more times in the year)...

Do you guys have
- Any recommendations for rental companies that don't take the !!!! (or warnings for ones not to use)
- Any recommendations for insurance coverage.

Thank you so much (and sorry if this is too common a n00b question)

Insurance4carhire do not serve policyholders who are not residents of the UK, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy or Germany.

You can take the car without purchasing supplementary insurance, Super CDW in your case(though you do need CDW at a minimum), but they would have needed to block US$1000 to US$1800 on your credit card before allowing you to do so.
If you didn't allow them to do so, no car.

For instance, if you book direct via the AVIS UK website, CDW and TP are included, albeit with a £1000 + VAT excess/deductible.

Theft Loss waiver
Our Theft Loss Waiver (TP) ensures you are covered if your vehicle is stolen. A liability applies, but this can be reduced significantly, or completely, if you select one of our Super Waiver products.With this product, your vehicle's excess is £1,000.00. (Excl. VAT in South Africa).
Collision Damage Waiver
Our Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) ensures you are covered if your vehicle is damaged and repairs are required. A liability applies, but this can be reduced significantly if you select one of our Super Waiver products.With this product, your vehicle's excess is £1,000.00. (Excl. VAT in South Africa).

That means that you would have a block of £1000 + VAT placed on your CC. If you don't allow them to do so, you need to buy AVIS's insurance waiver premium.

Otherwise, you allow AVIS to block the amount(they may decide to take a lesser amount). To cover your possible loss in the event of an incident, you can purchase car hire excess insurance here