Help-DS has a problem in Orlando!

tiamaria

DS & GF bought a holiday from a high street TA - everything included bar food (but they don't have this in writing they say). He's just (literally) arrived in Orlando only to be told that the car hire firm wants another 450 dollars:mad: They weren't happy so they left it and took a taxi to their hotel in ID.

is there anything they can do? they've paid for this car hire (so they thought) & now they're out of pocket with no transport.

Is this normal procedure over there?

Thanks
Tia

pelirocco

Its for CDW? I would have guessed, he needs tocheck whatcover he has paid for

tiamaria

What's CDW please?

tiamaria

they just texted me - its 25$ a day because the driver is under 25 plus gasoline. However the TA phoned up when they were booking and was told that it wouldn't be a problem & it was all covered.

poet123

That is standard practice for under age drivers I am afraid, it is because of the cost of medical bills in the US. Was he told it would not be a problem, or that it would not cost any more? there is a difference. Can they not get a refund from the car hire company? or from the TA if they were at fault for not asking the right questions?

pennylane99

very few rental companies in Orlando that dont charge the extra daily insurance for under 25's

tiamaria

Thanks Poet, they were under the impression that there would be no more costs. They can't afford this extra amount on top of what they;ve already paid for car and now need to pay/find transport so no win situation.

tiamaria

Sounds like this is standard, but the problem is they didnt know it before they got there:rolleyes:

They asked the Ta "Is everything included" and she said yes.

tiamaria

Does anyone know if the under 25 premium is always paid on arrival or could it be paid beforehand with the rest of the holiday?

Tia

davetrousers

Probably could have been arranged beforehand.

You don't have to have the Care Hire firm's insurance you can arrange this yourself, you can google Car Hire Excess Insurance and organise this yourself. You will also need SLI (Supplementary Liability Insurance) this (in total) would probably cost around the £100+ mark. Try Questor Insurance, it's who I will be using next year (probably)

There might be a problem arranging this now as he is already on holiday, and I think it may need to be sorted before you go away.

I would phone some of the companies and ask them if they can help.

SimbaSimon

tiamaria wrote: »

Does anyone know if the under 25 premium is always paid on arrival or could it be paid beforehand with the rest of the holiday?

Tia

Most work this way where you pay the under 25 surcharge on arrival direct to the hire company. It may be others are able to add this in if you ring them but i've never tried. My next hire car I've had this included but the only company I could find that included it was carhire 3000, and you have to make sure the package includes younger drivers surcharge. Its still extra for this, but works out cheaper then paying per day on arrival.

If you have the funds you could book a hire car from them and this would cover the surcharge but obviously you'd need to book a new car under their name.