The car hire tips thread

[NorthernLass]

@janed9388 – some of have used Bettersafe recently for excess cover, they have a few different options.

We had a good (if expensive) experience with Alamo at Limoges airport this weekend. Nice Renault Captur with all mod cons, and they called us on Monday to confirm that everything was in order (we returned the car out of office hours on Sunday night), and say they hoped everything had been to our satisfaction!

But yes – excess is often £2k+ these days in Europe.

[Rui N.]

Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the 10% back in Amazon vouchers from Avis? Finished a rental on Sunday and still nothing.

[stevenhp1987]

Rui N. wrote:

Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the 10% back in Amazon vouchers from Avis? Finished a rental on Sunday and still nothing.

I rented during the offer last year from BOS airport.

Never received the Amazon voucher. When I complained it was rejected because my account is setup to receive Avios via BA as standard.

I was basically told tough luck and to not add my Avis number to future bookings if I wanted the Amazon voucher in future.

Being a large corporation means you can trample on your customers apparently!

[JenT]

Rui N. wrote:

Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the 10% back in Amazon vouchers from Avis? Finished a rental on Sunday and still nothing.

I had to email to ask for a few – the others came within 2 or 3 days. Eligibility seems to depend on clicking through to the correct booking page for Amazon vouchers and the way my account was set up didn’t seem to matter.

[Rui N.]

Sounds very promising with Avis then… thanks both.
I’ve emailed them in any case.

[janed9388]

Thanks @northernlass; I’ll have a look at Bettersafe; the £2K excess was a bit of a shock, I’ve only really rented in the States before and never seen anything so large.

[Lady London]

Bettersafe 20% off offer still available through to 2359 Saturday 9th December code BLACKFRIDAY23

[dougzz99]

janed9388 wrote:

Thanks @northernlass; I’ll have a look at Bettersafe; the £2K excess was a bit of a shock, I’ve only really rented in the States before and never seen anything so large.

That’s odd, because in my experience rental companies repeatedly warn of this. An old cynic like myself believes rather than them making you aware for your benefit, it’s a sales tactic to frighten you into their zero excess insurance which is often expensive.

[NorthernLass]

Of course it is.

It’s a rather weird situation when something in the US comes with more benefits than the European equivalent, especially post-pandemic!

BA used to bury the excess figure deep within the small print but I think they’re slightly more transparent these days.

[Rui N.]

In the US they just include insurance on the price for non-US based people. It’s just a quirk of how car insurance works over there, as most people are covered in rentals anyway.

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

Of course it is.

It’s a rather weird situation when something in the US comes with more benefits than the European equivalent, especially post-pandemic!

BA used to bury the excess figure deep within the small print but I think they’re slightly more transparent these days.

It’s not that US rentals come with more benefits, it’s simply that personal car insurance and car rental insurance operate in a totally different manner in the US vs Europe. Europeans benefit from some aspects of the system but they are usually very exposed on SLI/ALI unless you buy that from the car hire company or an excess policy.

[NorthernLass]

If there’s no excess on my booking, as was the case with my last US (Avis) rental, I count that as a benefit!

[davefl]

NorthernLass wrote:

If there’s no excess on my booking, as was the case with my last US (Avis) rental, I count that as a benefit!

Ditto, didn’t even get an exchange rate penalty on the prepaid rate, or a fuel excess charge to quibble over. Was too smooth really… Karma will bite me on Sunday’s pickup I’m sure.

I now have a Sunpass toll tag too. That would require an entire thread on the process of buying one, and setting up an account for a non US resident – for anyone comtemplating it, it’s a nightmare but worth it if you’re going to do a lot of driving in FL and the 18 other states it supports

[JDB]

NorthernLass wrote:

If there’s no excess on my booking, as was the case with my last US (Avis) rental, I count that as a benefit!

The issue with ALI in the US is not the excess (which is commonly zero) but that the standard limits are often low/inadequate by local standards compared to the risks, which is why people take out excess insurance that includes more sensible levels of cover for this aspect. Cheaper excess policies don’t include it. It depends on your risk appetite.

[davefl]

Well as expected the Avis Miami location was awful and all the reviews are correct.

There is no Preferred service of any kind, and even though it appeared today was a good day in that they actually had cars I still waited 50 mins to collect the Camry. I suppose saving $240 over Sixt was worth it but don’t make time sensitive plans if you want to pick something up from them.

Now I have a problem in that the car is registered to someone else’s Sunpass account, hope it’s not Avis doing the dirty as I rejected the toll plan.

[Hbommie]

Looking for long term rental companies in the Algarve next year, staying for a month. Any tips?

[Man of Kent]

Avis has an offer on at the moment to get 10% back via Amazon Gift Card after your rental has finished. Just rebooked an MCO rental for February which had also dropped by £250 since May.

[JenT]

The Amazon offer is a good deal – just make sure that it appears, as I have had to chase several. The voucher amount seems to be based on the rental charge before VAT.

[lesscleverandrew]

Insurance for car hire in GVA Swiss sector then driving into France

Is anyone aware of car hire insurance issues hiring a car in the Swiss sector at GVA and then driving into France? I am not talking about the Vignette for Swiss motorways thing here. I read some time ago that there was a spat between Brussels and the Swiss that meant Swiss-rented and plated hire cars could not be driven into the EU/France.

As an aside is there a way to book a car collection in the French sector with BA. Chat agent said there wasn’t but wasn’t sure themselves.

[Richie]

The location is ‘Geneve Apt Secteur France’.

[Ash]

Does anyone know Hertz Gold Rewards status gives better rates if the status is achieved by the Amex Platinum card or by status matching to Avis Presidents Club.

Generally speaking what discounts have folks received from the Hertz Gold Rewards status?

They have a lot of hoops to jump through to sign up for it. Avis was much simpler.

[Rich_A]

lesscleverandrew wrote:

Insurance for car hire in GVA Swiss sector then driving into France

Is anyone aware of car hire insurance issues hiring a car in the Swiss sector at GVA and then driving into France? I am not talking about the Vignette for Swiss motorways thing here. I read some time ago that there was a spat between Brussels and the Swiss that meant Swiss-rented and plated hire cars could not be driven into the EU/France.

I had heard the same thing a couple of years ago. I mentioned it in my reservation that I needed a FR plated car, and again at the desk. The guy had no idea what I was talking about, and waved me away. Absolutely zero problem driving a CH plated car in France.

[Rich_A]

The route from international arrivals to Secteur France at GVA is only open to ticketed passengers. If you arrive on an international flight, you’re fine. But if anyone in your party didn’t arrive by air on the day, they might not be allowed through the magic door.

[dmm27]

Off to Miami in a week or so. Car hire via BA etc its about £700 for 18 days. There are a few aggregator sites that come up at ~£200-£250, presumably as no CDW etc inlcuded. Does anyone have experience of using these cheaper options then getting top up cover via Reducemyexcess or similar? We dont have Amex platinum.

TIA

[NorthernLass]

Prices in Spain seem to have come right back down. I’ve just paid £65 for 2 days’ SUV hire in Malaga at Feb half term via RentalCars. Same kind of arrangement at Limoges last month was 140 euros!