MIA car rental

[Tortuga]

This will be my first time renting a car in the states - will be renting from MIA for a few days. Any recommendations on a company and other problems that may arise due to the international license? Is it worth purchasing the liability and loss damage waiver?

 

[trooper]

I'd advise booking through one of the consolidators that provides "all inclusive" rentals...

The LDW/CDW is (IMO) absolutely necessary BUT buying it as an add-on to a booking made on the normal US website is usually $$$$$$$$$!! The all inclusive rates do of course include it.

US rental cars carry NO insurance.. so unless you have a (US) credit card which provides cover... or get a package including LDW (or have some other method of indemnifying yourself) you are taking quite a risk. (IMO)

Normal travel insurance only covers the excess......

 

[The Rok]

Virtually all my Miami rentals have been from Hertz. Grab the bus from outside the terminal, they leave every few minutes. (It will her a Hertz bus).

In the US I usually accept the LDW and basically all the other insurance. Some will tell you otherwise but insurance on rentals in the states is cheap as chips.

Watch out when leaving the Hertz multi story car park though, it exits onto a busy road and I have seen 2 accidents there in recent years where someone exited, tried to turn right and hit another car.

You will have no shortage of choice though, MIA has heaps of car rental companies.

 

[drron]

Definitely get insurance.Either a consolidator or the rental firms UK websites will be cheaper and come with insurance.You do not need an International Drivers permit.My Australian licence has always been OK for US car rentals.
I generally use Avis as I have an Avis Preferred card.Used them from MIA a month ago via Car Rental in the UK, Europe and Worldwide | Avis Car Hire UK
No problems.Florida rentals tend to be cheap.

 

[Tortuga]

Appreciate the responses, after trawling through some threads and taking the advice here I found the best price combo that included LDW,CDW from Cheap Flights, Compare Flight Deals, Hotels & Car Hire - Netflights. I booked with Alamo which supported a one way rental without charge as well. Thanks ! I paid 33 GBP per day for a full size car with GPS, not the cheapest but a lot better than the offers on the USA websites when you take into account all the insurance/liability extras you have to add on.

 

[serfty]

Just watch out for the sales pressure you get subjected to on pickup.

The people at the rentals agency always try to upsell, upsell, upsell. This includes lying to your face about the taxes, insurances etc that are included. Make sure you have complete documentation and understand what each of the inclusions listed are.

Sometimes you end up having to pay otherwise they won't give you the car.

I had an issue with MIA Thrifty a year or two ago when using Netflights - even though I had printouts of all documentation they would not give me the car until I paid extra.

I was able to resolve with Netflights via email and the car rental agency itself ended up crediting the amounts back to the CC.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Just watch out for the sales pressure you get subjected to on pickup.

The people at the rentals agency always try to upsell, upsell, upsell. This includes lying to your face about the taxes, insurances etc that are included. Make sure you have complete documentation and understand what each of the inclusions listed are.

Sometimes you end up having to pay otherwise they won't give you the car.

I had an issue with MIA Thrifty a year or two ago when using Netflights - even though I had printouts of all documentation they would not give me the car until I paid extra.

I was able to resolve with Netflights via email and the car rental agency itself ended up crediting the amounts back to the CC.

Yes I agree that you will probably win in the end I resent the time required to get back to where you were fully entitled to be in the first place.

 

[trooper]

Well said serfty!

I find I have to be brusque... bordering on rude..with some rental agents.. others ask once if you want "X" added on..(and I don't object to that).. then just process the rental..

What a delight THAT is!

 

[tuapekastar]

Just watch out for the sales pressure you get subjected to on pickup.

The people at the rentals agency always try to upsell, upsell, upsell. This includes lying to your face about the taxes, insurances etc that are included. Make sure you have complete documentation and understand what each of the inclusions listed are.

Sometimes you end up having to pay otherwise they won't give you the car.

I had an issue with MIA Thrifty a year or two ago when using Netflights - even though I had printouts of all documentation they would not give me the car until I paid extra.

I was able to resolve with Netflights via email and the car rental agency itself ended up crediting the amounts back to the CC.

Out of interest were the inclusions you got from netflights when booking noted on the doco that netflights sent you? In my case in at LAX earlier this year, though I had made sure during the booking process that I had all the inclusions I believed I needed, the doco netflights sent me post-booking was scant on detail (which surprised me), thus when the very hard upsell started I had nothing in writing to throw at the very persistent agent. I had my mum with me, so after some resistance I simply could not be bothered any more. Lesson learnt, will take screen dumps during booking process should I use netflights (or any other third party for that matter) again.

 

[serfty]

I actually copied from the inclusions pop-up during the booking process.


(I pasted to a document which I saved then printed so had both electronic and hard copies.)

I have noted with recent rental using Argus the email was far more comprehensive.

 

[Tortuga]

I actually copied from the inclusions pop-up during the booking process.


(I pasted to a document which I saved then printed so had both electronic and hard copies.)

I have noted with recent rental using Argus the email was far more comprehensive.

Very well said serfty, during the booking process on netflights there is a stage which links to a terms and conditions specific to the booking AND the rental company you will be booking with. I saved that document to a PDF, it included important things like CDW/LDW cover, the fact that I will not be charged a one-way rental fee and that I can cancel the booking without charge. If I were to go based on the stock standard T&C's on netflights, I would not be entitled to cancel the booking without charge based on a single (car rental only) booking. Just be careful and cover all your bases, get everything in writing. Hopefully I will be more prepared when it comes time for them to try sell me things I don't need... I also got in writing the fact that Alamo have an early return fee, they allow +-29 minutes before this fee can be charged should they chose.

Tuapekastar, so far the only documents provided have been the basic invoice which states drop off/return location, price and car type. So no, they haven't provided me with the detailed T&C's I managed to save before completing the booking. Time will tell if they do get provided.

 

[drron]

The problems mentioned here with consolidators I also experienced that is why I have switched to the UK sites.Last month I certainly paid more using Avis-35GBPshock for a full size per day but it included all insurance and no upselling at all.