Car hire for use in Atlanta, Georgia US - July 2010

Ibb1982

Hey guys

Hope you can help, I'm getting married in July 2010, and as part of the wedding planning my my fiancee has asked me to arrange a couple of things.

One of those tasks is to arrange car hire for my friends, my fiancees friends and my parents.

• One 5 seater - for me and my friends
• One 8 seater - for fiancee's friends
• One premium saloon - like a BMW or Merc - for parents to cruise about in, and then for me to drive away with my wife.

I was hoping some of you may have experience in hiring cars abroad, I myself have never hired a car, so not entirely sure how I should go about it. What I would really like to know is:

• Does anyone know of any good hiring companies with good rates?
• Should I hire from a company local to Atlanta, or should hire from an international company?
• Should I book in advance and would this save me money, or should I wait closer to the time?

So far the prices I have seen are quite steep from English sites, but I'm guessing this is because I'm looking to hire from outside of the USA, maybe the admin costs hike it up?

If anyone has any adives, or could point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Ibb

ferf1223

Booking through a UK site will (in general) ensure you have all the necessary insurance waivers in place. If you look at US sites, some will automatically add these costs into the rental if you say you are a resident of the UK - others won't, so it's difficult to compare apples to apples looking at US sites. Most Americans do not need the insurance waivers as their personal car policies or credit cards have rental car coverage.

We normally book through carhire3000.com which we originally read about on the Vegas thread here - others have had good luck with netflights.com. The standard terms of the CH3000 standard rental requires purchase of a tank of petrol at the time of picking the car up - so check the terms.

I'm not sure how easy it will be to find an 8-seater though - seems like most US fleets largest seats 7...and while that may be OK for driving around, if you add in luggage for that many people, it's not going to fly.

I also can't remember seeing BMWs or Mercs at most US car hire places - maybe some do have them. Many have Chrysler 300s, if that's of any use.

dzug1

Ibb1982 wrote: »

So far the prices I have seen are quite steep from English sites, but I'm guessing this is because I'm looking to hire from outside of the USA, maybe the admin costs hike it up?

Not admin costs - most US sites do not include insurance in their prices, English sites do.

eslick

give fifteen02.com a try, might be worth callingthem. they do have some premium cars and even hummers but never seen the models you are after.

Ibb1982

Thanks for the input guys, really appreciate your help. I now have a good starting point, and better idea of what to expect.

The insurance is a very good point, and very important, thanks for that bit.

If anyone else has anyother sources, please do let us know.

jtcg

I am also going to Georgia but in February. I checked CH3000's rates which were probably the best. I then tried Allstates http://www.allstatescarhire.com/ and whilst their initial charges were higher, they offer a price match which they did for me via e-mail. They undercut CH3000 by £5 giving me a quote of £309 for a SUV vehicle for 2 weeks.
Might be worth a try?:beer:

Ibb1982

Thanks jtcg, will definitely look into this.

Thansk again guys, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nordictat2

And in in MOST cases the 2 door...4 door option is bogus. Most car hires in the US have 4 door cars (unless it's something special) and we have always ordered the 2 door price and got a 4 door

We are going to the US in May for 3 weeks and although we are holding out a bit..Ebookers.co.uk and netflights.com seem to be the best priced at the moment.

Good luck and congrats

eslick

just to add, try googling the customer service of which ever company you go with. twice in the last 5 years we have had issues with the rental company and not the broker, its been the broker in the end who got us the refund as the rental companies didnt want to know.