Car hire in Canada.

jayu619

Hi,

This maay sound silly, but as we've never hired a car overseas, we were hoping to get some clarification: we've booked a car for 4 days in Toronto costing £150, and on the invoice, it states the following:

"what's included
All prices are fully inclusive of airport fee, breakdown assistance, collision damage waiver, goods and service tax, provincial tax, theft waiver, third party liability insurance and unlimited mileage." [we purchased the cancellation waiver protection, total damage excess waiver]

...do we need to do anything else - as in, do we need to get extra insurance for driving up in toronto?

sorry if it sounds silly, but we just want to make sure.

Thank you in advance,

Jay

trets77

jayu619 wrote: »

Hi,

This maay sound silly, but as we've never hired a car overseas, we were hoping to get some clarification: we've booked a car for 4 days in Toronto costing £150, and on the invoice, it states the following:

"what's included
All prices are fully inclusive of airport fee, breakdown assistance, collision damage waiver, goods and service tax, provincial tax, theft waiver, third party liability insurance and unlimited mileage." [we purchased the cancellation waiver protection, total damage excess waiver]

...do we need to do anything else - as in, do we need to get extra insurance for driving up in toronto?

sorry if it sounds silly, but we just want to make sure.

Thank you in advance,

Jay

if you have zero excess then i would say you are good . they may try to sell you personnel contents insurance when you collect , but your travel insurance should provide this .

only question is the Fuel . depends on the company . might need to purchase a tank ,and bring back however ( empty preferably ) . or be given a full tank and bring it back full .
i would point out that Toronto has a excellent public transport system if you are just staying in the city .

enjoy Toronto . may i recommend the Pickle Barrel for a meal if it is still there

http://www.picklebarrel.ca/content.php?page=28

jayu619

trets77 wrote: »

if you have zero excess then i would say you are good . they may try to sell you personnel contents insurance when you collect , but your travel insurance should provide this .

only question is the Fuel . depends on the company . might need to purchase a tank ,and bring back however ( empty preferably ) . or be given a full tank and bring it back full .
i would point out that Toronto has a excellent public transport system if you are just staying in the city .

enjoy Toronto . may i recommend the Pickle Barrel for a meal if it is still there

http://www.picklebarrel.ca/content.php?page=28

Hi Trets,

Thanks for your post.

The Total Damage Excess Waiver we purchased allows us to claim back any excess should we have an accident...but we have to claim back when we come back to the UK from Holiday Autos.

I believe we have to pay for a tank of fuel at the end and bring it back as empty as possible.

We want to get a car to get to areas such as Canada's Wonderland/Toronto Zooo and visit places like Playdium and possibly Wasaga Beach...would you say having a car is reasonable, even for 4 days out of the 10 days we will be there? All other attractions will be covered by foot/public transport if necessary.

And we shall look out for this restaurant , THANKS VERY MUCH !

Jahad

trets77

jayu619 wrote: »

Hi Trets,

Thanks for your post.

The Total Damage Excess Waiver we purchased allows us to claim back any excess should we have an accident...but we have to claim back when we come back to the UK from Holiday Autos.

I believe we have to pay for a tank of fuel at the end and bring it back as empty as possible.

We want to get a car to get to areas such as Canada's Wonderland/Toronto Zooo and visit places like Playdium and possibly Wasaga Beach...would you say having a car is reasonable, even for 4 days out of the 10 days we will be there? All other attractions will be covered by foot/public transport if necessary.

And we shall look out for this restaurant , THANKS VERY MUCH !

Jahad

Holiday Autos are big reputable company so if you have Zero excess via them , then you should be fine . you will get a automatic , so if you have never drove one before , post for some advice

we never made it to the Zoo , and it was not just hop on the subway to get to it if memory serves .

4 days is probably reasonable as the main city is pretty easy to Navigate . of course you could head to niagara falls for a night or two .
check what your hotel in Toronto will charge for parking , in some crowded US cities it can be quite expensive .

if you plan on seeing the all of Toronto's main attractions then we found the City Pass to be good value .

http://www.citypass.com/toronto

you can buy it any of the attractions you visit if i remember right ( we got ours at the CN tower )

also we found a couple of days pass on the hop on , hop off bus tour was a great way to hop from attraction to attraction . and you get a local tour guide who will point out things and intresting facts ect .

you find info on who is running one these when you arrive easily enough

headpin

I would say that 10 days is too long in a City such as Toronto. You should be able to see all the City sights easily in 3 or 4. I would then have hired a car for the other 6 or 7 days and travelled out to the place you say (the Zoo and Canadas Wonderland) but also spent 2 or 3 nights in Niagara.

Like most places in the US and Canada, get hold of the free voucher booklets or the free magazines that have them in too. Often you will see them in the shopping malls and supermarkets as well as in your hotel lobby as cards in a stand. Beware if your hotel has a concierge. Concierges can eitehr be very helpful and save you time and money but otherwise they'll be like glorified tour reps trying to sell anything and everything to earn a nice commission from the company/attraction concerned. Always check prices first and try and get a discount coupon or voucher.

You should normally find vouchers/coupons that offer two for one admissions or $$ off admission for most major attractions and sight seeing tours.

As indicated above, parking in hotels in or close to Toronto city centre will normally be paid for and depending on size a first come first serve basis. Expect to pay anything up to $25cdn per day for parking. There are some open car parks down by the Lake and last year they were charging around $10 per day. Hotels further out (especially towards the airport) usually offer free parking.

Avoid the rush hour if you are not confident as it gets pretty hectic. Also look out for the toll road. It has electronic tagging on it and if you drive on to it in a hire (rental) car you will generally get fined unless you have “hired” a tag too. There is no opportunity to pay in cash. The first you'll know is when the rental company put a large charge against your credit card that you left with them to cover the fine and admin charge that has come to them as the registered keeper of the vehicle. This will normally be a few weeks after you've returned home.

I would recommend a trip to Niagara. You can do it from the Canadian side but I think the US side is better for the falls, as the Canadian side is, IMO, Blackpool with waterfalls but no sand!!!

If you want a nice relaxing day out go to Niagara on the Lake. Its very picturesque and not what you would expect. Stroll along the Lake shore or through the village style main street with shops and restaurants to explore. Enjoy the flowers and shrubs that are planted everywhere.

Niagara and Niagara on the Lake are an easy drive down the QEW form Toronto. It's around 100 miles and should take less than a couple of hours.

If you are going up the CN Tower I would suggets that you get there early as it gets very crowded and there can be long queues for the elevators (lifts to us) which you will not see until you've bought your ticket and entered the base of the tower itself. Also check the weather, as it can get misty/smoggy and it spoils the view from the top.

Enjoy the trip.

jayu619

trets77 wrote: »

Holiday Autos are big reputable company so if you have Zero excess via them , then you should be fine . you will get a automatic , so if you have never drove one before , post for some advice

we never made it to the Zoo , and it was not just hop on the subway to get to it if memory serves .

4 days is probably reasonable as the main city is pretty easy to Navigate . of course you could head to niagara falls for a night or two .
check what your hotel in Toronto will charge for parking , in some crowded US cities it can be quite expensive .

if you plan on seeing the all of Toronto's main attractions then we found the City Pass to be good value .

http://www.citypass.com/toronto

you can buy it any of the attractions you visit if i remember right ( we got ours at the CN tower )

also we found a couple of days pass on the hop on , hop off bus tour was a great way to hop from attraction to attraction . and you get a local tour guide who will point out things and intresting facts ect .

you find info on who is running one these when you arrive easily enough

Hey trets,

Thanks for your post.

As HolidaysAuto put it, if we were to get into an accident and what not, our liability would equal to the Total Damage Excess Waiver we purchased, so I think we ought to be fine.

As for the automatic, I drive an automatic (having passed on a manual). so I believe it would be relatively easy to drive their, as I read that they work on a grid system, like america?

Our hotel is the Sheraton Centre, Downtown and their parking fee is a ridiculous $45 per day. But after doing some extensive research, there are these GreenP parking spaces that charge, less than half for daily parking fees - and the good thing is, they are literally scattered all over Toronto, one of them being literally across our hotel!

We've brought the city pass, that seems to be worth its value considering we get 5 attractions for like half the price if we were to go see them individually.

Where can I find out about the Hop On and Off tour? I've come across that before, but I really dont know how to go about finding more info (i.e. prices etc)?

Thank you in advance.

Jahad

trets77

i think it was a grays bus tour , but now i cannot remember .

http://www.grayline.ca/tours/pages/graylineca/graylineca_545_HopOnHopOffCity.asp


we just rang a number on a sign post outside the CN tower , and they said the next one was 10 mins away . paid in cash on the bus .

Vikki_74

Another couple of options for hop on hop off tours in Toronto which also include a boat tour of the harbour:

http://www.sightseeingtoronto.com/tourinfo.php

http://www.citysightseeingtoronto.com/Toronto-DoubleDeckerTour.html

Can't speak for which is best as we only got as far as the planning stages for Toronto then for various reasons (nothing personal to Toronto!) had to abandon the idea for this year...will definately go at some point though as it does look like a lovely city.

A couple of other MSE ideas we found though which may be useful to you:

Ideas for day trips using Toronto's public transport:
http://toronto.tourbytransit.com/daytours.php

Tour Guys free (although you are expected to tip) walking tour:
http://www.tourguys.ca/toronto-tours/free-toronto-tour/