Car rental options for USA

tekno_2

Hi guys
I wanted to gauge your opinions on car rentals in the US. I am travelling to TX curing easter 2021. I want to ask how and where I could get the best rates for car hire If I was to purchase in advance from the UK. I really want an all inclusive package with insurance. I had a look at some comparison engines based within the US which seem to be cheaper than the options available on UK based search engines. What are your experiences of hiring cars in the US? What should i watch out for and where I should purchase from? I need insurance baked into the price and possibly other options like using the car on toll roads. 

Any advice is welcome. 

Thanks

NottinghamKnight

Have you looked at fly drive deals with ba and virgin, obviously no guarantee travel will be any way normal by Easter of course.

eDicky

For full insurance you need to book on a UK website, American hirers can use their personal vehicle insurance for rentals, hence the lower prices you see.

StuieUK34

book on any uk site, gives u zero excess , so insurance is sorted...
Out of the 3 main name renters, look at:
netflights
Autoeurope
holidayautos
Hertz.co.uk (if your planning on rental some muscle V8 )
I do x2 trips a year to the US (except this year!), so i go through whichever broker is cheapest, and usually end up with Alamo as the rental firm.

Sharon87

StuieUK34 said:

book on any uk site, gives u zero excess , so insurance is sorted...
Out of the 3 main name renters, look at:
netflights
Autoeurope
holidayautos
Hertz.co.uk (if your planning on rental some muscle V8 )
I do x2 trips a year to the US (except this year!), so i go through whichever broker is cheapest, and usually end up with Alamo as the rental firm.

Not all car hire places will give you zero excess - only if you pay extra for most car hire places. Trust me I've hired a lot of cars in the USA for work colleagues and myself in the past. There's usually a $500+ excess as standard. I personally booked the excess insurance elsewhere as it was a lot cheaper. There are some companies that hire cars with zero excess as standard but only a few do.

I personally like to book through the company's own website. Avis was good for us as we got to choose the exact car we wanted (we drove a Ford Mustang Convertible) - but this does usually cost a bit more than not knowing the exact car beforehand. I would say stick with the car rentals that have branches here in the UK and not the local budget brands - they try and sting you for 'damage' sometimes!

When you're at the rental desk there's usually an option for them to charge all tolls to your credit card automatically, so you don't need to stop and pay them - at least there was in Florida. I'm uncertain of other states. But the tolls may get charged over a month after your rental ended sometimes!

Other sites I trust are:
Expedia / ebookers
rentalcars.com 

HereToday

Sharon87 said:

StuieUK34 said:

book on any uk site, gives u zero excess , so insurance is sorted...
Out of the 3 main name renters, look at:
netflights
Autoeurope
holidayautos
Hertz.co.uk (if your planning on rental some muscle V8 )
I do x2 trips a year to the US (except this year!), so i go through whichever broker is cheapest, and usually end up with Alamo as the rental firm.

Not all car hire places will give you zero excess - only if you pay extra for most car hire places. Trust me I've hired a lot of cars in the USA for work colleagues and myself in the past. There's usually a $500+ excess as standard. I personally booked the excess insurance elsewhere as it was a lot cheaper. There are some companies that hire cars with zero excess as standard but only a few do.

I personally like to book through the company's own website. Avis was good for us as we got to choose the exact car we wanted (we drove a Ford Mustang Convertible) - but this does usually cost a bit more than not knowing the exact car beforehand. I would say stick with the car rentals that have branches here in the UK and not the local budget brands - they try and sting you for 'damage' sometimes!

When you're at the rental desk there's usually an option for them to charge all tolls to your credit card automatically, so you don't need to stop and pay them - at least there was in Florida. I'm uncertain of other states. But the tolls may get charged over a month after your rental ended sometimes!

Other sites I trust are:
Expedia / ebookers
rentalcars.com 

Sorry, but you are quite wrong.

Show me any standard rental, booked on a U.K website, with an excess. They will ALL have no excess, apart from windscreens etc and also the minimum SLI/ALI included.

You stated usually US$500, that is totally wrong.

It's not a bad idea to have your own policy anyway; one that take SLI up to US$1,000,000 and covers for windscreens etc.