Minefield of Car Hire Insurance in Florida

Michael24

Morning All,

We have booked to go to Florida with our 5yo and 11yo in June, we have booked through Virgin and have a free hire car as part of the package, which includes their basic car hire insurance. They have given us the option of taking out further insurance, which would cover CDW, all locals fees and taxes, full tank of fuel, car seat, GPS and an additional driver, but it is £354.96 extra and that seems quite hefty. They have also said that the local mandatory taxes and fees could be $500 which is what another customer outlined to them.

Does anyone know what we need to get as car hire insurance, in terms of appropriate cover, what the local taxes/fees may be and how much and if there are any recommendations for other companies to provide the additional hire insurance please?

It isn't starting to be all very confusing and try as I might obtaining a clear picture is proving difficult.

richardw

Compare prices with https://uscarhire.com

pollypenny

Id say that the things you've listed would add up anyway. Yes, compare prices, anyway.

NiftyDigits

Click here for all you need to know.

EssexExile

I never knew car hire was such a minefield until I came on this forum, I've been hiring in America since the 70s & never had any difficulties. Go on Alamo.co.uk & get a price for Alamo Gold. A quick look tells me about £400 for a fortnight including a tank of fuel & additional drivers, just add the child seat. You don't need satnav if you've got a phone but the car may well come with it anyway.

srisport

EssexExile wrote: »

I never knew car hire was such a minefield until I came on this forum, I've been hiring in America since the 70s & never had any difficulties. Go on Alamo.co.uk & get a price for Alamo Gold. A quick look tells me about £400 for a fortnight including a tank of fuel & additional drivers, just add the child seat. You don't need satnav if you've got a phone but the car may well come with it anyway.

Have you used Alamo much over the years? Im using them to hire a Ford Mustang in April from San Francisco, Any recommendations before i arrive or are they just like the rest of them?

Regards.

uknick

srisport

I've used Alamo, through Virgin Holidays, in the USA & Canada 4 times in the last couple of years and have only had one problem.

The Vancouver Airport Alamo branch didn't have any record of our booking. Virgin forgot to tell them we were coming. But, Alamo sorted us with another, larger, car at no extra cost. Luckily I had with me hard copies of the booking paperwork.

If you're going into SFO use the check-in online function from the Alamo website. This way you can walk past all the rental desks straight to the garage, choose your car and drive straight out just showing your rental agreement and driving licence to the guy at the exit gate. This saves time and avoids all the questions you get at the desk about buying insurance, extras etc.

If you haven't already booked the car use the Alamo/Brits link. You get about 10% discount. Or, use Quidco, they give about 9% cash back.

srisport

uknick wrote: »

srisport

I've used Alamo, through Virgin Holidays, in the USA & Canada 4 times in the last couple of years and have only had one problem.

The Vancouver Airport Alamo branch didn't have any record of our booking. Virgin forgot to tell them we were coming. But, Alamo sorted us with another, larger, car at no extra cost. Luckily I had with me hard copies of the booking paperwork.

If you're going into SFO use the check-in online function from the Alamo website. This way you can walk past all the rental desks straight to the garage, choose your car and drive straight out just showing your rental agreement and driving licence to the guy at the exit gate. This saves time and avoids all the questions you get at the desk about buying insurance, extras etc.

If you haven't already booked the car use the Alamo/Brits link. You get about 10% discount. Or, use Quidco, they give about 9% cash back.

Thank you so much for your reply, I've actually booked my hire car via Auto Europe but forgot to get cashback from quidco , doesn't matter as I've now booked my car 3 times over the past 3 weeks because their quotes kept reducing for the exact same car so I've managed to save over £100 since booking the first time with them, and having the no cancellation fee has made it too easy lol!

I knew about the self check in with Alamo but unsure how it works because I've never self checked in for a hire car before, so i just walk straight to the garage with all my printed off paperwork and then choose a car to drive away with???

Im hiring a Ford Mustang and we are picking it up at 10am so hopefully there will be a nice selection of cars to pick between?!

anymore tips you can think of would be much appreciated.

Regards.

uknick

srisport wrote: »

..... their quotes kept reducing for the exact same car so I've managed to save over £100 since booking the first time with them, and having the no cancellation fee has made it too easy lol...!

Funny you should say that, I'm doing the same thing for my trip to Florida next month. Look at price every week and if cheaper cancel and rebook


Have you driven in the USA before?

happyandcontented

Hope no one minds me jumping in here?

I am struggling to get a rental car pick up from downtown Orlando on 7/7 and return to Miami port or downtown on 15/7. The comparison sites say no cars available.

Any ideas?

uknick

happyandcontented wrote: »

Hope no one minds me jumping in here?

I am struggling to get a rental car pick up from downtown Orlando on 7/7 and return to Miami port or downtown on 15/7. The comparison sites say no cars available.

Any ideas?

Alamo cars (1st one I looked at) available from the Orlando airport (as well as from Orlando Disney Car Care) to downtown Miami. Where exactly in downtown Orlando?