Car Hire in San Francisco (So many insurance fees?!)

johnfowles

Hi,

I'm off to SF in March and I want to rent a car for a few days. I'm 23, but this isn't going to cause much of a problem, $15 extra a day...

I'm planning on using: http://www.cityrentacar.com/

The car is cheap, and the young driver excess is cheap. HOWEVER, when I get to the insurance extras I can pay for I am so confused. There are 4 options:

Optional Protection Plans / Options

CDW/LDW – Collision/Loss Damage Waiver ($8.99-$14.99/day):
When renting a vehicle, you are generally responsible for all loss of and/or damage to the vehicle regardless of fault. Your financial responsibility could be as much as the value of the vehicle plus other related expenses (e.g. the loss of use suffered by City Rent A Car while the vehicle is out of service). You can avoid this responsibility by accepting CDW/LDW.

RLI – Rental Liability Insurance ($11.95/day):
While operating a rental vehicle, you could become legally liable for bodily injury and/or property damage to others resulting from an accident. Liability insurance is the required coverage by California state law for 3rd party claims. This option will pay a maximum of $30,000 in the event of an accident. Brochures are provided at the time of rental.

SLI – Supplemental Liability Insurance ($9.00/day):
SLI is the excess liability insurance that increases the amount of third party protection available to you (and authorized drivers) up to $1 million. This option is offered to those who also select Rental Liability Insurance (RLI). Brochures are provided at the time of rental.

PAI/PEC – Personal Accident / Personal Property Insurance ($4.00/day):
PAI/PEC is a great option for tourists / international guests. It offer accidental death and accidental medical coverage IN or OUR of the rental vehicle. The Personal Property Coverage also protects the renter’s possessions IN or OUT of the vehicle. That means even items left in the hotel or their renter apartment are covered. Some exceptions and restrictions apply. Brochures are provided at the time of rental.

Now I'm already insured with Alianz for my travel insurance, so I will have health, but the liability options really worry me.

Can anyone advise what I should take? All of it?! OR should I go with a more expensive car rental service?

Any advice would be fantastic, thank you.

ian41

It's going to be a matter of opinion but IMO, you would be far better off with the best deal available from the UK. The reason being is that the UK packages include the insurance (CDW, UM, SL/EP plus taxes and generally airport and local fees). One of the key insurances is UM - uninsured motorists - you do need this in addition to CDW, SL/EP.

Don't forget that with most rentals you will pay for a full tank of gas up front at the start and return it empty - with no allowance for any unused gas. It is not a scam - it is just the way they package it. Higher-end rental companies e.g. Hertz and Avis do offer full/full in some locations. If you are only renting for a few days do check the fuel policy carefully.

If you look at a local company in SFO they cannot compete with the big players due to the insurance add-ons - as you have just discovered. If you lived in the US and had all the necessary insurances to start with, a local option or Priceline would be fine - but you don't.

Go to Kayak (or Carrentals.co.uk through Quidco or similar) and key in your dates and see what deals come up. Someone reputable, somewhere will have a promotion.

Finally, I am presuming that you want the rental for driving outside the city? I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but many strangers and even experienced drivers on a visit to SFO do not enjoy driving in the city. If its just for the city use the trams and cabs - its much more enjoyable and stress-free!

Enjoy.

johnfowles

ian41 - Thank you!

I do plan to be driving north and south of SF... I want to do some hiking around Reyes point and it seems the most sensible option for getting up there.

I've had a look at Alamo and quite rightly, they do offer all of the insurances as standard and their price is great (£30 for a day!).

It makes sense for me to pickup and drop off from the airport too, as I want to pickup early in the morning and drop off in the evening, as I've heard that finding parking in SF is a pain in the... And my hotel only runs a valet service, that the hardened Yorkshireman in me refuses to pay for!

Thanks for all of your help.

jackieblack

johnfowles wrote: »

It makes sense for me to pickup and drop off from the airport too, as I want to pickup early in the morning and drop off in the evening, as I've heard that finding parking in SF is a pain in the... And my hotel only runs a valet service, that the hardened Yorkshireman in me refuses to pay for!

It's not clear from your post whether you're first staying in SF then collecting the car and staying outside the city, only returning to the airport to fly home or whether you're staying in SF for the whole trip and just taking day trips out of the city? I'm guessing (and strongly recommend) the former.

You won't need a car while you're staying in SF, only to travel out of and back to.
Charges for hotel parking in SF are amongst the most expensive I've ever come across. We stayed at a Holiday Inn (Fisherman's Wharf) and they were charging $40 a day for self-parking (:eek:) so we just picked up the rental car the morning we left SF from a rental place near Union Square as the airport is quite a distance out of the city and we didn't want another $50 cab ride back to the airport. Also we were headed north and wanted to drive across the GG Bridge so this was most convenient for us.
(We returned our car to LAX but most rental companies will allow you to return to another location, eg SF airport) with no fees within in California)

If you enjoy hiking I'd strongly recommend Yosemite - stunning

johnfowles

Hi jackieblack,

The plan is, to rent a car for a day in the middle of my holiday. I really can't face paying so much for valet parking services at my hotel, so the only option is to pick up from SFO early morning > drive > hike > return late to SFO...

I'm not really interested in much more than that really. That, and the roads up to the north along the coast look fantastic.

I'd love to go to Yosemite, but it would be a 4 hour drive from SF!

tamiami

I always use www.holidayautos.co.uk - used them for years and never a problem. Have rented in California, Nevada, Arizona and others.

jackieblack

johnfowles wrote: »

Hi jackieblack,

The plan is, to rent a car for a day in the middle of my holiday. I really can't face paying so much for valet parking services at my hotel, so the only option is to pick up from SFO early morning > drive > hike > return late to SFO...

I'm not really interested in much more than that really. That, and the roads up to the north along the coast look fantastic.

I'd love to go to Yosemite, but it would be a 4 hour drive from SF!

Oh OK - your first post said you wanted to hire "for a few days"
You also said that you plan to drive north and south - is that the same day? or another day?

North - Muir Woods & Point Reyes both worth a visit (you can stop on the way to PR and stand with one foot either side of the San Andreas Fault line )
South - we really liked Monterey

Depending on how long your trip is, have you considered staying fewer nights in SF and then getting away for a few days - we liked SF well enough for a few days but there is so much more to see and do outside the city.
Yes, 4-5 hours drive to Yosemite, but you could stay for a night or two... so worth it - if you like hiking it would be such a shame to be so close and miss it

If you've really only got one day to spare, I'd collect the car from the nearest rental place to where you're staying - unless you're staying near the airport it seems a bit of a waste of time trailing there and back just to pick up a car.

giruzz

Not sure if it I can help but I had the same questions as the OP.

I'm going to SF and renting a car for 16 days, after hours and hours of looking at different websites I finally managed to book the cheapest deal I could find.

268GBP for 16 days rental (Thrifty) using netflights.co.uk - they were the only one to offer full insurance, local taxes, airport fees and a full tank.

The second cheapest deal was about 5GBP more expansive but the rental didn't include $70 of mandatory taxes and fees and full insurance was an optional extra.

I also used topcashback and received around 15GBP (payable in June).

giruzz

Bri1

I hired a car between LA & SF quite recently through Auto Europe it included everything & was way cheaper than the rates local in the US, best all inclusive rate I could find for a mid size car, also go through http://www.topcashback.co.uk/ref/bri1 & you get around an extra 8% cash back off the already low price, which can vary up & down sometimes.

shelllanc

we recently booked thrifty from the UK for our US trip to california, I found the search through this site, and it was cheapest, I emailed to request it was full costs minus tax, and they said yes, the quote was for the "wildcard" car basically you get the excess car left, no smaller than economy but marketed as possibly a far better car and cheaper by around 80 dollars on other quotes. As we were just a couple decided to take the risk. When we got to the airport after travelling 13 hours, we were told we shouldnt take the wildcard as it was a 6 litre tank of a car, and not recommended for travelling!!! Talk about hard sell, they then said they would have to requote us as a new walk in client! The quote came in at 900 dollars for a standard economy cheap car, 500 more than originally quoted. When I said wed take the wildcard car they said it wasnt available now, and we couldnt and if we did it would be 700 with insurance. I complained for nearly an hour, but got no where, even going to other hire desks to see if it was cheaper to get one there, it wasnt. Luckily a passing crew member heard our problem and offered to search on Orbitz on line for us, surprise surprise thrifty came up cheaper at 798 dollars for a medium car, so we went back and gave booking reference. They were put out and we ended up with a decent car, albeit at 350 dollars more than quoted originally. They said the basic insurance isnt legal if you are pulled up, yet we were told differently by the police, so this is a hard sell tactic. we took out basic and panicked the whole time. Another tip, our car was scraped the first night when parked, by another driver who drove off. we knew they would take a packet off us when we returned it, so we drove it to a local supplier, who came out gave us paint matches and cloths and told us to do it ourselves which we did. it was as good as new for 16 dollars again! I will never go with Thrifty again however nor recommend them they are misleading and certainly NOT the cheapest!