Car Hire in San Francisco, US

srisport

Hi All,

I have an 8 day hire car booked with Alamo in April 2017 and have booked it through AutoEurope.co.uk.

As i browse this website looking for tips from previous posts on hiring a car in the US, i can't help but wonder if I'm missing something as i keep seeing posts about additional taxes/charges which people say to expect to pay at collection, I've looked at my booking confirmation but that doesn't seem to make anything more clearer to me... it says that it includes VAT and my fuel policy is full-full but thats about it to be honest, theres something about extended cover but i don't think i have this included.

If anybody wants to do a dummy booking then my dates are 04th -12th April and I'm hiring a Ford Mustang, maybe some one with plenty of experience with hiring in the US can confirm what I'm getting and what I'm not....

Regards.

shaun_from_Africa

Doing a dummy quote for the dates you state gives a cost of about £320. ( assuming that you are getting a Mustang convertible).
This includes full CDW (collision damage waiver) which means that in the event of an accident or other loss, you don't have to pay anything.
This covers any damage to the vehicle so there is no requirement to pay for any other insurance.

srisport

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Doing a dummy quote for the dates you state gives a cost of about £320. ( assuming that you are getting a Mustang convertible).
This includes full CDW (collision damage waiver) which means that in the event of an accident or other loss, you don't have to pay anything.
This covers any damage to the vehicle so there is no requirement to pay for any other insurance.

Thank you for your reply, i also got the same with the booking i have. but what about any taxes etc... do you think i will have anything extra to pay for on the day of collection. i plan on getting excess cover for during them dates from a third party insurer.

It also says "ZERO EXCESS WITH EXTENDED COVER INCLUDING WHEELS, GLASS, UNDERSIDE AND ROOF OF VEHICLE"

But I'm unsure if this is included or i have to pay extra for it?

maybe I'm just worrying about nothing?

Regards.

shaun_from_Africa

The quote given is a bit vague as it makes no mention of sales tax but I would assume that as they do mention vat, this would cover it.
When hiring a vehicle in the US, there are often many additional charges included in the rental cost (things such as state surcharge, tire & battery fee) and as these are not specifically mentioned, again I would assume that they are covered as this is usually the case.

If you do get extra insurance from a 3rd party company, make sure that this covers loss of keys as this is o e thing that isn't normally covered by the inclusive cover and getting new keys can easily ru I to many £ hundreds.

One other thing to consider.
Have you checked up on parking availability and prices for SF?
Parking is quite expensive there and many hotels charge their guests for this.

srisport

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

The quote given is a bit vague as it makes no mention of sales tax but I would assume that as they do mention vat, this would cover it.
When hiring a vehicle in the US, there are often many additional charges included in the rental cost (things such as state surcharge, tire & battery fee) and as these are not specifically mentioned, again I would assume that they are covered as this is usually the case.

If you do get extra insurance from a 3rd party company, make sure that this covers loss of keys as this is o e thing that isn't normally covered by the inclusive cover and getting new keys can easily ru I to many £ hundreds.

One other thing to consider.
Have you checked up on parking availability and prices for SF?
Parking is quite expensive there and many hotels charge their guests for this.

luckily i am still looking into Excess cover so will ensure keys is something which is covered, but looking at the hire car booking, windscreen, tyres and undercarriage is part of the booking maybe?!

Were not actually hiring the car from the day we arrive in San Francisco so parking won't matter to begin with, and we are using Airbnb's to stay in which we have already checked that there is available parking. Like you mentioned parking in San Francisco is most likely going to be hard to find and expensive so we have chosen to rely on public transport to get around the city.

Thanks again for your help with this, if you think of any other tips then it would be greatly appreciated.

We are also driving to Las Angeles and Las Vegas during our trip so any tips for these places in regards to driving would be much appreciated.

Regards.

uknick

In 2015 we did Vegas to San Diego to Monterey to San Francisco.

The Alamo car hire booked from the UK covered all insurance you need. The only extra I booked was the tank of petrol. I didn't want to faff about trying to find a gas station close to the airport when I dropped the car off. I did work out the cost of the petrol and it wasn't that much extra than filling it up myself. But, we didn't hire a Mustang, we had a Kia Sportage.

If you are driving in San Francisco the sat nav might not work due to the tall buildings.

Vegas to Los Angeles - we went to san Diego, but that route uses many of the same roads. It is a long desert road. Trust me, when you've seen one cactus you seen them all

It took us about 6 hours with toilet breaks and leg stretches leaving Vegas at about 11am. You can do it in about 4 if you go nonstop. If you want a break, stop at Peggy Sue's Diner on Interstate 15. It's a classic 1950s American Diner. Huge servings, well for us at least; a milk shake for her and tuna sandwich with trimmings shared between us.

San Francisco to Los Angeles - this is a long drive about 350 miles on the interstate. Don't underestimate the boredom of 350 miles on an interstate.

If you want a more interesting drive do the Coastal Pacific Highway. Actually, if you're in a convertible Mustang it would be an offence against motorist if you didn't do this route But allow 2 days for this route.

Road manners in the USA are much better than in the UK, apart from Frisco.

In fact, they are so friendly in Vegas one kindly driver stopped to welcome me with a wave and a beep on his horn when I ran a red light by accident and cut right across his path. At least I think he was waving LOL

srisport

uknick wrote: »

In 2015 we did Vegas to San Diego to Monterey to San Francisco.

The Alamo car hire booked from the UK covered all insurance you need. The only extra I booked was the tank of petrol. I didn't want to faff about trying to find a gas station close to the airport when I dropped the car off. I did work out the cost of the petrol and it wasn't that much extra than filling it up myself. But, we didn't hire a Mustang, we had a Kia Sportage.

If you are driving in San Francisco the sat nav might not work due to the tall buildings.

Vegas to Los Angeles - we went to san Diego, but that route uses many of the same roads. It is a long desert road. Trust me, when you've seen one cactus you seen them all

It took us about 6 hours with toilet breaks and leg stretches leaving Vegas at about 11am. You can do it in about 4 if you go nonstop. If you want a break, stop at Peggy Sue's Diner on Interstate 15. It's a classic 1950s American Diner. Huge servings, well for us at least; a milk shake for her and tuna sandwich with trimmings shared between us.

San Francisco to Los Angeles - this is a long drive about 350 miles on the interstate. Don't underestimate the boredom of 350 miles on an interstate.

If you want a more interesting drive do the Coastal Pacific Highway. Actually, if you're in a convertible Mustang it would be an offence against motorist if you didn't do this route But allow 2 days for this route.

Road manners in the USA are much better than in the UK, apart from Frisco.

In fact, they are so friendly in Vegas one kindly driver stopped to welcome me with a wave and a beep on his horn when I ran a red light by accident and cut right across his path. At least I think he was waving LOL

We probably won't drive much in San Francisco, instead relying on public transport as it will most likely be easier.... although i do plan to drive across the golden gate bridge.

We do intend to drive the coastal road but ideally we would only want to use a day of our trip for driving between San Francisco and Los Angeles so i think half will be coastal and the other will be interstate

We have also planned for 6 hours between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, mostly because no doubt we will stop now and again for the typical tourist photo lol!

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

Regards.

zagubov

srisport wrote: »

We probably won't drive much in San Francisco, instead relying on public transport as it will most likely be easier.... although i do plan to drive across the golden gate bridge.

We do intend to drive the coastal road but ideally we would only want to use a day of our trip for driving between San Francisco and Los Angeles so i think half will be coastal and the other will be interstate

We have also planned for 6 hours between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, mostly because no doubt we will stop now and again for the typical tourist photo lol!

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

Regards.

There's a lot more to see in San Francisco than in LA., and it's a totally unique city by US standards. Monterey is nice. Driving between them is somewhat dull.

srisport

zagubov wrote: »

There's a lot more to see in San Francisco than in LA., and it's a totally unique city by US standards. Monterey is nice. Driving between them is somewhat dull.

Thanks for your reply, we currently have 7 days planned in San Francisco and 3 days in Los Angeles. Hopefully this will be enough to cover most of what we want to do.

Regards.