LAX car hire

[lovestotravel]

Nice to hear

Thanks for coming back to update the thread :mrgreen:

 

[serfty]

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I wrote to Cartrawler and advised the circumstances. Fantastic service. A fast response advising that I had been substantially overcharged and that I would receive a refund within a few days. I did. I cannot recommend Cartrawler enough. ...

I had a similar very good response with my complaints, although not for nearly as much.

I guess the crux of the problem is that the agents get good commissions on the upsell and find it hard to come to terms with such all inclusive rates being hard to target.

 

[Duxton]

Hello there, I am new to the forums so please forgive me upfront if I ask a dumb question or reinvent the wheel. I posted a question on a US forum but received rude and sarcastic responses so I thought I'd try local.

I have a similar problem to some of the others here. Am wanting to hire a car at LAX for 3 weeks. I did it several years ago, booked online with Alamo was given a price then on arrival the price almost doubled! I was shocked as I had no idea about the extra insurances. I felt like I was being pushed really hard. I did receive a refund on return when I queried with them as I felt I was unfairly treated.

So this time I'd rather avoid the stress and know all the costs up front but thats hard too. Very few have ' full cover' prices. Thrifty prices look good but their extra insurances have no prices listed only the option to inquire on arrival.

So, I would really like some ideas on which way to go. Of course I want a cheap price but would rather pay a bit more to be sure.

Any information appreciated.

Thanks

 

[NM]

Duxton, welcome to AFF.

If you want to avoid the high "insurance" cover prices charged by the rental car companies, have a look at options such as http://insirance4carhire.com

Do you own research to determine if that type of cover is going to work for you. Note that they are not providing insurance for the car but are insuring the rental against for excess fees. That particiular company is based in the UK but they have options for world-wide cover. They have annual policies that cover the person taking out the insurance for any car rental in the year. They also have daily rates for short term rentals.

 

[serfty]

...

Any information appreciated.

...

For all inclusive rates (and I mean ALL) check the information in post #10 of this thread.

Also, I suggest you carefully digest the entire thread as a lesson in some of the pitfalls that can be encountered.

 

[Meggsy]

Hi Duxton

I used a company called carrental8 on the web for rentals in many states of the USA earlier this year. They are a consolidator and I found their prices were the cheapest, fully inclusive rates that I could find after much research. You get a good choice of car options and rental companies. I had no issues with any upselling anywhere except Orlando and I just produced the rental agreement which listed the inclusions and the matter was dropped. Will certainly use them again.

 

[Duxton]

For all inclusive rates (and I mean ALL) check the information in post #10 of this thread.

Also, I suggest you carefully digest the entire thread as a lesson in some of the pitfalls that can be encountered.

Thanks everyone

I am VERY carefully reading everything. The wording differences on insurance don't help either, you know same insurance different name. SLI, TPI,CDW, LDW etc The other thing I dont understand is, why the ' take full, return empty'? I've never encountered that before. Normally if you return empty there is a huge price slug, although I am suspecting this is why......

 

[serfty]

It's another way of "value adding". It can be quite useful as the rates are generally lower than the going rate for Gas in the area.

The trick is to return "empty" without the aid of a tow truck! :shock:

 

[woolnough04]

I hired a hertz at LAX in April this year.I booked through the Hertz web site and the price quoted on booking was the price i was charged so no problems there.It was a one way hire to Vegas going through San Francisco.Actually used Hertz in Kentucky and LAX again before returning home.One of the rentals was actually cheaper than quoted on booking.

 

[drron]

Just an update on my car rentals in the USA.All have been through driveaway but all Dollar cars.
!-ORD-no problems except a midsize car instead of fullsize.
2-SFO-hit with the full tank of petrol and return empty.I kicked up a fuss and was allowed to bring it back full.I was only going to Napa and back and didn't need a full tank.
3-LAX.Again the full tank.Agent said it was Californian law-it isn't.Emailed Dollar customer service.No answer in 2 days so sent another saying I would email California's AG if no reply.No reply so I emailed the AG.2 hours later got a reply from Dollar.Told it is now Dollar policy that all cars rented via International vouchers will be charged the full tank of gas.To me this is a rip off.
Today it was announced Dollar has accepted a take over bid from Hertz.

 

[UP4014]

Going back to the very first post....

I've hired cars all over the place as well, the only place I've never had a problem is LAX or anywhere else in the states.

Love those road trips USA style.

 

[aussiedom]

This does not directly address OP's hassles with Thrifty, but I thought some of the info below may be useful.

I guess a lot of this has been answered in this thread already, but there are quite a few differences between renting cars in the US vs at home in Australia. When looking at renting cars in the US, it is important to be aware that Aussies (and other non-Nth Americans) will generally need to pay for 'CDW' (Collision Damage Waiver) insurance also known as 'LDW' (Loss Damage Waiver), which is not built into the base price quoted on US car rental websites.

The reason is that US renters are generally covered by their own car insurance policy when renting a car, which is definitely not the case for us, even within Australia. Americans will often also be covered for rental car insurance if they use a 'Gold' credit card to rent the vehicle. Again, this is unusual here - if it is offered at all usually it is only coverage for a few thousand. It's also not covered by your travel insurance - sure, there might be rental car coverage, but only for a few thousand. The other point of difference is that when you are offered the additional insurance here in Australia (equivalent to CDW) it is to waive the $2500/$3000 or so 'excess' for which you would otherwise be liable if the rental car is damaged or stolen. In the US, unless you have CDW/LDW or are covered in some other way you are liable for the total value of the car if it is totalled or stolen. They have no concept of 'excess' (deductible) in this regard.

The other major insurance you'll probably need is 'SLI' (Supplemental Liability Insurance), also known as 'EP' (Extended Protection). This is to cover you if you damage someone else's car or property, or cause bodily injury. Similar to Third Party in Australia. I understand that as in Australia, some liability insurance is included when registering a car. However, the mandatory level varies from state to state in the US and I think is generally regarded as inadequate protection, hence the need for SLI.

So, this means the prices on US websites will look a lot cheaper at first glance than the rate you will end up actually paying! Adding CDW/LDW and SLI/EP will probably double the 'base' rental quoted on a US-based website.

CDW/LDW and SLI/EP are the main ones you need to make sure are sorted, one way or the other. The other forms of insurance rental car firms might offer such as 'Personal Effects Insurance' (in case someone steals your stuff from the car) are most likely covered by travel insurance.

There are a number of options that may work out cheaper than simply renting through a US site and ticking the box for 'CDW' or adding it to the contract when picking up the car. Many of these have been covered in this thread, such as going through third party operators or travel agents to get 'all inclusive' deals with the major firms.

I've done lots of research on this for our US trips, put various options into spreadsheets etc and so far I've always found the best option to be using the UK sites of major rental firms such as Budget, Avis, Alamo and others, Because the Brits are in the same position as us vis a vis CDW/LDW and SLI/EP insurance, they will automatically build these into the rate if the rental is in the USA. I think they must get a decent deal on volume, as a lot more Brits travel to the US than do Aussies I think. Last I checked, the AU branches of these firms simply kicked you to the US website if the rental was for the US, which really doesn't help ypou get an 'all-inclusive' rate!

Anyway, the British arms of the majors are quite happy to rent to non-British customers and I've confirmed with them that there is nothing dodgy about Aussies renting in the US via the UK-based arms of these major firms. We used them for most of our rentals during our 11 week US trip in 2004 and again in Hawaii in 2009 and 2010 and for Alaska in June this year. One advantage of using the major firms directly (through the UK branch) is you don't have to pay up-front and can view or cancel your reservation online if your plans change or a better deal comes up. This has always worked very smoothly for me. Having said all that, I will check out Cartrawler and some of the others mentioned here and see if they can offer a better deal next time we're in the USA.

I mentioned earlier that it is unusual for Australians to get CDW/LDW coverage by paying the rental with a gold credit card as is common in the US. I now have an AMEX 'Rewards Advantage' card which does give me CDW/LDW cover when I rent vehicles here or overseas. However, this does not cover SLI/EP. Even with the CDW/LDW covered I've still found it much cheaper to get an all-inclusive rate via Budget UK or whatever than to book directly through Budget US, for example.

When I pick up the vehicle in the US I always ask 'So we're covered for CDW and SLI?' It will be printed on the rental contract that these are covered, but I guess it can't hurt to sound as if you have some knowledge of these things! Sorry this has gotten so long...

Dom

 

[straitman]

Thanks aussiedom.

An excellent post.

You have a PM.

 

[aussiedom]

Thanks Straitman - I tidied up the font too - hopefully now it is a little easier on the eye ;-)

Dom

 

[lovestotravel]

Generally, there are rules against using say the .uk version of a rental car website to book a car, when you are not living in that Country.

EG - Those living in Australia, say their Country of Residence is the UK to get a cheaper rental overseas.

Not recommended!

 

[aussiedom]

lovestotravel - let me clarify here: I am certainly not suggesting that anyone say they are a resident of the UK in an attempt to get a better rate when renting in the US. As you say, this would be very unwise and could have severe consequences if anything went wrong and you needed to claim on the insurance!

In the many internet rentals I've done through Budget UK, Avis UK, Alamo UK and National UK for US trips I have always indicated Australia as country of residence. I've also booked with these over the phone and again provided Australia as my country of residence.

Just to be sure, I emailed the head office of Budget UK and asked them whether there was any reason why I as an Australian should not rent through them for US trips. They replied that this was perfectly OK. The only qualification they added was that they could not rent to US residents through the UK site.

So there is nothing dodgy here at all - for example the rental contract will correctly show my AU address and country of residence.

Dom

 

[straitman]

Dom,

I forgot to mention earlier that Netflights works well for US bookings also and includes most extras.

 

[Duxton]

lovestotravel - let me clarify here: I am certainly not suggesting that anyone say they are a resident of the UK in an attempt to get a better rate when renting in the US. As you say, this would be very unwise and could have severe consequences if anything went wrong and you needed to claim on the insurance!

In the many internet rentals I've done through Budget UK, Avis UK, Alamo UK and National UK for US trips I have always indicated Australia as country of residence. I've also booked with these over the phone and again provided Australia as my country of residence.

Just to be sure, I emailed the head office of Budget UK and asked them whether there was any reason why I as an Australian should not rent through them for US trips. They replied that this was perfectly OK. The only qualification they added was that they could not rent to US residents through the UK site.

So there is nothing dodgy here at all - for example the rental contract will correctly show my AU address and country of residence.

Dom

Hi Dom

Thanks for the excellent post. I had a look and Alamo via the UK site and it is almost half the price! So I have booked it. Re lovestotravels comment I suspect he didn't realise you have to add your country of residence which I did, so there are no secrets and its all above board.

 

[aussiedom]

Duxton, glad it helped. As I say, I have done lots of comparisons and this has so far always turned out cheapest, although some sites Aussies often recommend such as carrentalhawaii dotcom have come close.

Not sure what type of cars you rent, but roughly speaking from my experience it should be possible to get a Mustang convertible for between $50 and $70 per day USD, all insurances included, all taxes included etc.

On the Big Island last year we had a Cadillac DTS (luxury category), 4.5 litre V8, very nice for about $70 per day USD all up.

 

[drron]

Thanks aussiedom.A very timely post and solves my problem.I have been a fan of the consolidators but the prices for the aussie ones has gradually increased and the US rental companies are playing hard.Hertz i have given up selecting as they downgrade your car type quite frequently if you have a voucher(and then lie saying that car is now a full size-yeh right).On this trip dollar were pulling the return it empty and we charge for the full tank-and also lying saying it was a government regulation,it isn't.
So looked at avis.co.uk and a full size for a week in Nashville-GB165,cartrawler-GB178,Driveaway-A530-though the rental we just had was A395 through them.