Thomson's "FREE" Florida car hire?

dog1

Hi Folks,

Looking for a bit of advice here.

I've just booked a weeks holiday in Orlando through Thomson's, departing next month, just two of us travelling.

They state in their confirmation 2 x car hire £0.00.

I've been told by a friend not pick up the car from Dollar through Thomson's at Sanford airport, as they will require me to take out extra insurance which could cost up to £250?

I have priced a slightly upgraded "compact" car from Holiday Autos, which would suit us (from Alamo) also on site at Sanford airport. Including insurance it's £146.

Has anyone any advice on what my best course of action would be here. I phoned Thomson's today and they have stated the insurance will be around £140.

I would however probably have to wait in a huge queue at Dollar on arrival of the Thomson's flight, and am tempted to go down the Alamo route.

Would I have to cancel the car through Thomson's, would I be charged for having one reserved and not informing them that it isn't required?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

StuieUK34

Yeah, the 'Free' car hire you get from tour operators is never free, so as you said, book a car yourself through your choice of broker over here (holiday autos are expensive mind!) and happy days
Advise to use either Alamo direct (Alamo.co.uk and look for the link which includes fuel and additional driver, somthing which all other hire firms claim as there 'gold insurance' or platinum insurance, or bling bling insurance (all uk hirers over there get LDW, etc etc etc)
http://www.alamo.co.uk/namrpackages?utm_source=hotdeals&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=Gold_Sep09HD

Or check out www.usrentacar.co.uk , all pretty good
and if Thompson say u must take there car, say u dont have a license!
oh and if you use Usrentacar to get your Dollar car from Sanford, they let you choose which car you want, which is handy if you want a decent looking beast based on the class you use...
and also quickly sign up with Dollar express on the UK site (turning down insurance, etc etc), this gets you your car without having to queue, etc etc and its free to get

dog1

Thanks for confirming this.

The quote from US rent a car was indeed cheaper than the one I had from Holiday autos. :beer:

Just unsure whether to inform Thomson's now, after all, they say it's free, and I don't want it.

I wouldn't think they could charge me at a later date for a service which I didn't use?

StuieUK34

just say you dont have a license therefore you dont need a car, dont need to say much more than that
and the way business's run these days, if they could charge for doing nothing, they will !

pollypenny

Watch out for pressure to upgrade when you collect the car, too.
We usually manage to stick to our guns ( and the compact car) but twice we gave in and the car has been carp!

With Alamo you can usually go round and choose your car. In the winter we had two lovely Kia Rios. Plenty big enough for us.

dog1

Thanks for the replies.