LAX car hire

[kiwi2768]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Sorry to dig up a thread that is several months old but we are also going to hire a car at LAX. Looking at Hertz, it says Loss Damage Waiver and Liability Insurance Supplement are included. Is LDW the same as CDW or will we have to pay for CDW on pick up? If so, how much will that add to the total cost? At the moment we're looking at hiring from August 26th til October 17th. Hertz website shows $2483.54 if we pay at time of booking.

 

[Boris spatsky]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Hmmm just hired from Thrifty LAX last week and also got caught out on insurance. I declined everything except LDW, he said i couldn't decline CDW because i was a foreigner and did not have my own American insurance. I showed him my travel insurance policy, but to no avail - he also forced me to take towing because i was travelling greater than 50 miles (which i also tried to argue).

I argued and argued because those two inclusions would double the quoted price - in the end he told me to go next door to National if i didn't like it, and 'they will say exactly the same thing'.

The result: $95 a day instead of the quoted $45 a day. Ouch.

 

[cove]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

I still use Argus platinum and book ahead by a a couple of weeks. Often I get a car for up to a month so the all included insurance and a free tank of fuel works well. Often the car is from Thrifty so you go to the counter and decline all the "enhancements" offered. It is a car trawler site that works ok and if the car I drive is a crab or thinks it is a fish I go back and swap to another one.

 

[AdMEL]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Sorry to dig up a thread that is several months old but we are also going to hire a car at LAX. Looking at Hertz, it says Loss Damage Waiver and Liability Insurance Supplement are included. Is LDW the same as CDW or will we have to pay for CDW on pick up? If so, how much will that add to the total cost? At the moment we're looking at hiring from August 26th til October 17th. Hertz website shows $2483.54 if we pay at time of booking.

Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) is the same as Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) - some car rental companies use one and some the other. LIS also has different names - Avis call it Additional Liability Insurance.

If you are booking with Australia as your location, most Hertz rates include all required insurances and other charges. The two mentioned are the key ones.

Have a look through some of the other threads for further details.

 

[AdMEL]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Hmmm just hired from Thrifty LAX last week and also got caught out on insurance. I declined everything except LDW, he said i couldn't decline CDW because i was a foreigner and did not have my own American insurance. I showed him my travel insurance policy, but to no avail - he also forced me to take towing because i was travelling greater than 50 miles (which i also tried to argue).

I argued and argued because those two inclusions would double the quoted price - in the end he told me to go next door to National if i didn't like it, and 'they will say exactly the same thing'.

The result: $95 a day instead of the quoted $45 a day. Ouch.

As noted in my post above, LDW and CDW, therefore they won't have both. They cover the rental car only. Do you mean you declined Third party liability (I can't recall what Thrifty call it)? Or vice versa?

Either way, the Thrifty agent was likely correct - you need both! If your travel insurance was issued in Australia, it will not provide the cover you need in this scenario - it will excess only, which is almost unheard of in the US. And the Thirtd Party legal liability cover will likely exclude cover when using motorised vehicles, like cars.

 

[serfty]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Hmmm just hired from Thrifty LAX last week and also got caught out on insurance. I declined everything except LDW, he said i couldn't decline CDW because i was a foreigner and did not have my own American insurance. I showed him my travel insurance policy, but to no avail - he also forced me to take towing because i was travelling greater than 50 miles (which i also tried to argue). ....

As noted in my post above, LDW and CDW, therefore they won't have both. They cover the rental car only. Do you mean you declined Third party liability (I can't recall what Thrifty call it)? Or vice versa?

Either way, the Thrifty agent was likely correct - you need both! If your travel insurance was issued in Australia, it will not provide the cover you need in this scenario - it will excess only, which is almost unheard of in the US. And the Thirtd Party legal liability cover will likely exclude cover when using motorised vehicles, like cars.

I did some car rental bookings using Netflights over the weekend and made sure I was fully cogniscient of the inclusions.

They are listed here: Car Hire Conditions (Note these can vary depending on the company / location)

Some very important parts:

Included Within our Rates
We choose only to promote Fully Inclusive rates in the USA and these include, Unlimited Mileage, Collision Damage Waiver (CDW explained below), $1Million Liability Cover including Uninsured Motorist benefit, Airport Tax, Road Tax, State Taxes, Customer Facility Charges (CFC) and 24 Hour breakdown assistance.

...

Insurance Inclusions Explained

Collision Damage Waiver - LDW

Collision Damage Waiver is an agreement with Alamo Car Rental that the renter is free of any financial responsibility for damage to or loss of the vehicle, provided the renter remains in accordance with the terms and conditions of the rental agreement. Only keys are excluded.
In short this means the car is completely covered, without excess.

$1 Million Liability Cover
Liability Cover provides additional 3rd party liability cover to you and any other authorized drivers. It provides US$1 million of cover in the event a liability lawsuit is brought against you by a 3rd party. It also incorporates Uninsured Motorist benefit up to an aggregate, single limit of $100,000. This provides benefit to the renter and any family member related by blood, marriage, or adoption, who, while physically occupying the Alamo vehicle whilst it is being driven by the renter or an authorised driver, suffers bodily injury or death caused by a negligent Under or Uninsured Motorist, or a "hit and run" driver.
In short this means you are well covered for any claims made against you.

 

[kiwi2768]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

OK so now that we have the CDW/LDW question covered, are Supplemental Liability and Third Party Liability the same thing? I'm looking at Netflights and Argus at the moment. One has Supplemental Liability included and the other has Third Party Liability included. This is doing my head in!

 

[UP4014]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Hmmm just hired from Thrifty LAX last week and also got caught out on insurance. I declined everything except LDW, he said i couldn't decline CDW because i was a foreigner and did not have my own American insurance. I showed him my travel insurance policy, but to no avail - he also forced me to take towing because i was travelling greater than 50 miles (which i also tried to argue).

I argued and argued because those two inclusions would double the quoted price - in the end he told me to go next door to National if i didn't like it, and 'they will say exactly the same thing'.

The result: $95 a day instead of the quoted $45 a day. Ouch.

National wouldn't have said the same thing re towing. But yes on the CDW.

m

 

[AdMEL]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

OK so now that we have the CDW/LDW question covered, are Supplemental Liability and Third Party Liability the same thing? I'm looking at Netflights and Argus at the moment. One has Supplemental Liability included and the other has Third Party Liability included. This is doing my head in!

More than likely, yes. You still need to check what they include, to ensure they include a resonable amount of the legal liability (min. say $1M) and cover you if the other party is uninsured - see serfty's post above.

Other things to make sure are included: theft of rental car, vandalism.

 

[drron]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Well I have just booked cars for Canada/US in august/september.I use Avis as they do help with preferred status.But booking through the UK site it was half the price of AU or US sites and does include the necessary insurances.
I used to use Thrifty but they nickel and dimed me once too often.Actually sent a complaint to the Calfornian attorney general re charging for a full tank of petrol even though I brought it back full.Got a reply and he called it a scam.Got my money back.

 

[gruntfuttock]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

+1 on the UK site - just booked Avis ex LAX in June at a good price (look for the 15% discount promotions at avis.co.uk) and zero excess. Nicer than the office's AWD which offered me excess "up to the value of the vehicle."

Also worth noting you can probably get breakdown service & some towing through American Auto Association as reciprocal benefit of your Oz auto club membership. Haven't needed to use it yet, but you'll need a certificate from your club as well as your membership card.

Look for the International Handbook for Motorists at aaa.asn.au

 

[kiwi2768]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

At the moment Netflights is looking good. A Chevy Impala, everything included, for GBP1055 = AU$1615 for 52 days and the only thing I can think of that they may try to sell us at the desk is insurance to cover vandalism. That sounds awfully cheap considering some of the others I have looked at have been over $3K. I can't find a contact link anywhere on Netflights' site, just want to check that it is OK to take the car in to Canada.

Thanks for the info regarding reciprocal arrangements for auto club members, gruntfuttock.

 

[cove]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

If you think that the commission on up selling a customer into high priced products like a GPS, insurance and so on can be as high as a third you can be pretty motivated to avoid high pressure sales people at the counter.

 

[serfty]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

If you think that the commission on up selling a customer into high priced products like a GPS, insurance and so on can be as high as a third you can be pretty motivated to avoid high pressure sales people at the counter.

Yep, even armed with the T&C's as I posted above, I am bracing for the key collection dance at the counters ... :-|

I will be armed with printed copies of all relevant documentation and more ...

 

[file51]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

I use Netflights every couple of months and have never, ever had an issue (over 25 rentals in recent years)

They mainly use Alamo now, which is OK… I preferred when it was with Thrifty as my Blue Chip membership
helped with expediting the rental process, and on 75%+ occasions, an upgrade to a better car.

Regardless of not having a problem, I still have the printout with all the inclusions listed, and always take
the Premium Gold upgrade (used to be Platinum Package) which includes additional drivers and a full tank
of gas

 

[cove]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

Dance well everyone !
The lady I discussed this with earns $150k in Los Angeles dealing with those who cannot dance. She loves her black Mercedes sports car she bought from her up selling commissions.

 

[PLANT]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

On first trip:
I used this mob in America....Cheap Car Rentals - Hire a Car with Nova Car Hire....ended up support is in Ireland so nice Irish chicks to talk too....all was included(insurances) but still required printouts as the upselling and the added tank of fuel I did not want.
Sent me to ALAMO and got a small car which ended up being a Corolla in America is= a CAMRY in Australia. I waited and kicked the tyres until a RED or White one came in....need to be seen and in something big over there! AIRBAGS and cruise.

In Canada there was a GURU on here that told me to use National and with bonus coupons I got huge discounts.......I ended up doing it my self as Nova Car hire could not beat the deal I got. ....ticked the insurance boxes myself. All online and printout to confirm......they upgraded me to a New 15Kms Ford Focus Titanium.

Told there are only 3 owners of HIRE Car companies now as the smaller guys are owned by the big three.

 

[drewbles]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

I have to thank this thread. I saved close on 50% by using Netflights (and another tiny little site somewhere for one quick rental) in the USA over using legitimate corporate discount codes (I'm very dubious about using corporate codes on Hire cars after some stories i've heard first hand).
I tried Nova but they were a tad pricy. I used airportrentals.com for a quick day in LAS and got a car for around $23 for the day (got 12 hours in LAS and it's just easier than taxis when I need to get around the place).

Another feather in my knowledge cap on travel

For domestic stuff i've used airportrentals.com as well and got reasonable prices out of most AU airports. Got a hire car in PER for around $55 for 2 days. No CDP though in Australia like Netflights have, so that is a gotchya.

 

[PLANT]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

airportrentals.com in LAX did they include insurances for your $23 a day?
Or did you use Netflights for car hire?
How do you change the currency from pounds to US dollars in Netflights.com?

 

[drewbles]

Re: Car Hire out of LAX

airportrentals.com in LAX did they include insurances for your $23 a day?
Or did you use Netflights for car hire?
How do you change the currency from pounds to US dollars in Netflights.com?

I used netflights out of LAX and used my 28º card to minimise forex fees. I used airportrentals.com for LAS as for some reason, netflights was showing up 'nothing' when I searched (for any dates). $23 was for LAS.