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California Car Hire - Advice Please

Hi Folks,

I have been looking at the various threads around USA car hire.

I am off to California in September. I fly into San Francisco. I plan to spend 3 days there, then to get a hire car and head off down the coast to San Diego which is where we fly back from.

Choosing a car hire firm is driving me nuts.

I am about to plump for:

Hertz
Chrysler Serbring Convertable
Approx £195 for 10 days hire

Can anybody tell me: Are there any hidden costs with Hertz that I should be aware of? We are not heavy travellings - two medium suitcases - will the "trunk" be big enough?

I am considering satnav - through Hertz it puts another 40 odd quid on the price. I have a Tomtom One v3 and a Garmin Streetpilot i3 - I wonder if I would be better off getting USA Maps for these devices.

Anyway thanks for looking. Tread softly through the day.

humph
Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately

Comments

  • Murphy_The_Cat
    Murphy_The_Cat Posts: 20,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    humph wrote: »
    Hi Folks,
    I have been looking at the various threads around USA car hire.
    I am off to California in September. I fly into San Francisco. I plan to spend 3 days there, then to get a hire car and head off down the coast to San Diego which is where we fly back from.
    Choosing a car hire firm is driving me nuts.
    I am about to plump for:
    Hertz
    Chrysler Serbring Convertable
    Approx £195 for 10 days hire
    Can anybody tell me: Are there any hidden costs with Hertz that I should be aware of? Are you hiring from Hertz UK, or Hertz USA, also, have you tried any car hire brokers ?We are not heavy travellings - two medium suitcases - will the "trunk" be big enough? If you do get a Sebring convertible, then it will be fine for two medium suitcases, & more
    humph

    have a great holiday :beer:

    blackcat.gif
  • humph_2
    humph_2 Posts: 279 Forumite
    I was thinking of Hertz UK as there is £8 quidco on offer.
    Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately
  • Murphy_The_Cat
    Murphy_The_Cat Posts: 20,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    humph wrote: »
    I was thinking of Hertz UK as there is £8 quidco on offer.

    In that case, I think that the rate is fully inclusive.
    Have you tried anyone like airlinenetwork or usrentacar for a quote as well ?

    blackcat.gif
  • Jag1978
    Jag1978 Posts: 111 Forumite
    hi When I went to Santa Monica in LA last year I booked my car through
    Dollar Rent a car... Can't remember for the life of me how much I paid for a Chrysler People carrier but it was the cheapest place. I did the LA to Vegas drive and also went to San Diago.
  • humph_2
    humph_2 Posts: 279 Forumite
    I have gone in for the Hertz offer. £193.44 and then £8 Quidco on top of that.

    Thank you everyone for your advice. Just need to think about sat nav - or get me map out.
    Mr. Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately
  • tinkerbell84
    tinkerbell84 Posts: 5,323 Forumite
    We used Hertz too - top service.

    You're not allowed to mount anything on the windscreen in California. Hertz's sat nav thing is permanetly mounted next to the glove box (we didn't use it and it was a pain).

    We took a Tom Tom and hand held it rather than mounting it. But we didn't use it often - maps were fine for most of our journeys.
  • Murphy_The_Cat
    Murphy_The_Cat Posts: 20,968 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    humph wrote: »
    I have gone in for the Hertz offer. £193.44 and then £8 Quidco on top of that.

    Thank you everyone for your advice. Just need to think about sat nav - or get me map out.

    I've never used a SatNav and I've always had good results with good old fashioned WifeNav

    blackcat.gif
  • We used Hertz too - top service.

    You're not allowed to mount anything on the windscreen in California. Hertz's sat nav thing is permanetly mounted next to the glove box (we didn't use it and it was a pain).

    We took a Tom Tom and hand held it rather than mounting it. But we didn't use it often - maps were fine for most of our journeys.

    Good grief, neither you are! http://www.navman.com/Navman/Templates/standardcontent____46986.aspx

    Thats news to me, thanks for telling me :D Im away over mid-May, hired through Hertz UK £156 for 11 day hire from San Francisco. I have already got West Coast USA maps set up on an SD card for mt TomTom.

    The wife will have to hold it as we go along instead :D:D
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