California car hire

converse_star

Hello all!

My partner and I are jetting off to California for a few weeks at the end of this month. Nearly all ready to go, but I'm having a nightmare trying to decipher car hire costs. We've decided to hire through Hertz as it offers the car we want for a relatively good price (and has the option for GPS at a reasonable price). I have copied what we were quoted, and what is 'included in the rates'. As you can see the quote includes Loss Waiver Damage and Personal Liability Supplement. Could anyone advise whether these ar actually included in the quoted rate, or whether we'll be hit with another bill upon picking up the vehicle?



YOUR VEHICLE
Intermediate 2 or 4 dr. (Group C) ICAR
(C) Toyota Corolla or similar Details
PAYMENT METHOD:
Pay at Location
RENTAL DURATION
1 Week at 277.00 USD 277.00 USD
INCLUDED IN THE RATES
Miscellaneous Location FeeIncluded
Loss Damage Waiver Included
Tax Included
Liability Insurance Supplement Included
Vehicle license fee recovery Included
MISCELLANEOUS TRF FEE Included
MISCELLANEOUS TUF FEE Included
Unlimited Free Miles Included
NOT INCLUDED IN THE RATES
Personal Insurance
Premium Emergency Roadside Service
Fuel
Additional Driver Fee
EXTRAS
NeverLost® 118.93 USD
PAY AT LOCATION405.44 USD

Also, would you recommend we take out an excess of waiver policy via sites such as icarhire.com)

Any help will be much appreciated

EssexExile

Do you know how much the "additional driver fee" is, assuming you both want to drive?
Assuming you are booking through Hertz UK site you won't need any more insurance unless you want the Premium Emergency Roadside Service mentioned. I assume their site tells you what that covers, I never bother with it.

converse_star

Thanks Essex Exile! That's pretty helpful.

It will only be my partner driving so that's fine. Do you know what the excess for the standard LWD is? I'm finding it really hard to find any solid info online!

headpin

Hertz is part of Dollar, so you can end up with a Dollar vehicle. Not sure what you mean by saying they have the car we want? If you mean the Class of vehicle at the best price then that's fine. But if you are expecting a specific make and model then you will get what they have available in that class, which may or may not what you think you may be getting.

On the Sat Nav, GPS as they call them in the US, then wait till you get there. Some Hertz cars have them in and even if you have not paid to have it, you can still use it as they cannot remove them from the vehicle. If you do not get a car with one in then I would suggest you buy a GPS from a local Walmart. You will be able to get one for less than Hertz charge to rent one and you will then have for future or can otherwise sell on eBay when you get back.

All California rentals generally have Zero excess, but check what may be excluded including glass, wheels, tyres, keys, underside, interior. Some rental companies include these others exclude. To be safe you may want to consider the excess product, but shop around as prices do vary.

Enjoy your trip.

EssexExile

converse_star wrote: »

I'm finding it really hard to find any solid info online!

That's the way it is!

I only ever use Alamo with full cover, no excess, I suspect Hertz is the same. I must admit last time I looked I found the Hertz site particularly uninformative.

converse_star

Thanks Headpin. Yes I meant class of car for the price we pay 😊

Thank you for the recommendation about getting a satnav out there, makes much more sense!

And in terms of excess, that's great. I was so worried that I was going to be faced with massive bills when picking up the car! I might have a look at icarhireinsurance to see what excess product we can get!

bagand96

Save yourself any hassle and cost with a satnav/GPS.

Do you have a smartphone? If you do then you have everything you need for satnav. Download a satnav app that has offline maps (meaning you won't have to use data abroad) and you're all set. There are plenty of reasonable free ones that offer free map downloads too.

Or I can reccomend co-pilot, the app itself is fee and you just pay for the maps you want. The whole USA is usually available for around a fiver.

PeacefulWaters

converse_star wrote: »

Thanks Headpin. Yes I meant class of car for the price we pay 😊

Thank you for the recommendation about getting a satnav out there, makes much more sense!

I found this one more than adequate with change from £40.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/E-PLAZA-Navigator-America-Sunshade-Included/dp/B00KXYPYC2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1465343492&sr=8-2&keywords=usa+sat+nav

And in terms of excess, that's great. I was so worried that I was going to be faced with massive bills when picking up the car! I might have a look at icarhireinsurance to see what excess product we can get!

£3 a day or £50 for an annual policy should do it.

converse_star

Thanks everyone for your suggestions - they're going to be very useful for our trip!

AndyHo

I know this an old thread, but for all California renters, State Law prohibits rental companies charging for extra drivers, they have to add them onto the rental agreement free of charge.


Other gotchas, as stated above:


SatNav - I use TomTom on my SmartPhone and have maps for Western Europe and USA/Canada, this has saved a fortune over the years. I also have it installed on an old unlocked SmartPhone. This way, it's not a major disaster if it accidently get's left in the car. I just buy a one month PAYG Sim Card from AT&T with data and then have live traffic updates too. I find the easiest thing to use for mounting is CD Mount which just slots straight into the CD Slot. I believe it is illegal in California to have any SatNav mounted within your external field of view, so no wndscreen or coming mounts.


Fuel - Always go for the Full-Full option, do not prepay for fuel as you will lose money unless you can guarantee to run out of fuel just as you come to a stop in the Rental Return Line. You can get away with filling up 20 miles away from the airport, where fuel is more reasonably priced and the guage will still show full when you get to the Rental Return Line, they don't dip the tanks, they just go on what the guage says.