The car hire tips thread

[mycity]

Hi Jen or anyone, can’t remember but do I have to pay the car rental with the Amex plat to get the benefits or can I use any Amex? Thnks

[Graham-Walsh]

Just looking at the Hopper app for prices but the cheapest ones are not known companies to me. Nu and Fox’s. Sure I read bad reviews about one of them.

As for paying on the Amex Plat card, don’t think you have to but better check.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Graham-Walsh wrote:

Just looking at the Hopper app for prices but the cheapest ones are not known companies to me. Nu and Fox’s. Sure I read bad reviews about one of them.

As for paying on the Amex Plat card, don’t think you have to but better check.

Today I skipped a Fox rental that was nearly half the price of the next cheapest offer. Mates don’t let mates rent from Fox.

[Graham-Walsh]

I did check those two and as expected not good reviews. Seems to be vary per location on how good or bad they are.

[FatherOfFour]

Sorry to go slightly OT, but is there any view as to when the chip shortages will ease and get the supply chain back to normal?

As we require a people carrier/ mini van, prices in Italy are more than cost of our flights, so we’ll either postpone, or take our own car and make a trip out if it. Not practical for a planned trip to Aus in a couple of years!

[davefl]

FatherOfFour wrote:

Sorry to go slightly OT, but is there any view as to when the chip shortages will ease and get the supply chain back to normal?

It really depends on the company that is ordering and the type of chip as to what their supply line looks like but I’ve seen computer/networking industry estimating 12-18 month lead times on some items. For cars it’s anyone’s guess but I’d say 12 months at least before supply can meet demand.

[JenT]

mycity wrote:

Hi Jen or anyone, can’t remember but do I have to pay the car rental with the Amex plat to get the benefits or can I use any Amex? Thnks

Any Amex is fine (I think). To get the Hertz Amex Platinum rate it forces you to pay with the Platinum card so that one is sorted!

[SteveJ]

According to Rob’s article: You receive full car hire insurance – with no requirement to pay with your card

https://www.headforpoints.com/2021/01/06/review-amex-american-express-platinum-charge-card/

[janed9388]

I seem to remember reading on here a while ago that one of the major rental companies gave you a ??4 hour late return window without charging if you had status or used a particular rate code. Does that ring any bells or am I imagining it ? could do my trip with a 24 hour rental but an extra 4 hours without having to pay for 2 days could be useful.

[SteveJ]

@janed9388 yes, Hertz is the one with 5* membership:
https://www.headforpoints.com/2020/09/04/hertz-4-hour-amex-grace-period/

[janed9388]

@SteveJ, thank you. I knew I had remembered it. Just need to work out now whether my timings for getting an amex platinum bonus again fit in with the holiday dates and whether the prices are going to go up or down before August. This holiday planning is hard work.

[Liz]

I am sitting here pricing up the costs of car hire for our 2 USA road trips – yes the prices are eye watering but hey ho. We no longer have the platinum card but our Avis Preferred account is linked to an old Platinum card. Can we book with that login and just change the card to our BAPP. The prices don’t seem to be any different whether we are logged in or not.

What are the names of the UK companies that allowed you to buy the excess insurance that others have previously used.

Also, I have been reading the comments that others have mentioned about changing the country to get a cheaper quote – does this not affect the level of insurance you have paid??? What would happen in the event of a claim – I’m not sure I would like to risk it by paying a much cheaper price using a different country webpage. Have others had experience of having to claim having done this.

[SteveJ]

Liz wrote:

Also, I have been reading the comments that others have mentioned about changing the country to get a cheaper quote – does this not affect the level of insurance you have paid??? What would happen in the event of a claim – I’m not sure I would like to risk it by paying a much cheaper price using a different country webpage. Have others had experience of having to claim having done this.

Correct, this totally does change the level of Insurance cover, only seems a recommended step if you have the Platinum Card and the associated car hire insurance, not otherwise.

[JenT]

@Liz Avis Preferred won’t be affected by what card you have stored on there – there is no discount code like Hertz. You may have been given a higher Avis Preferred tier with a previous credit card but once you have that status, it will stay until it expires or you have enough rentals completed to retain that status. If you are keen to use Avis, check booking through https://www.carhire-ba.com/ as you’ll get extra Avios and sometimes a better price.

We have used icarhire insurance before when we didn’t have an Amex Platinum card. Coverage was excellent. Only in Mexico did one rental company query it as we declined all of their coverage (it was a local company well known for trying to overcharge/fleece customers) and they did say that icarhire didn’t cover loss of the vehicle following a nuclear disaster, but their policy did. I said returning the car following a local nuclear diaster was probably going to be the least of my worries, and off I went!

If you book through Hertz’s USA site, for example, you don’t get the insurance automatically added on. You can still add it on as you book (if you are happy with the prices) or decline everything and have alternative insurance in place. I’ve claimed with icarhire insurance and had no problem. Other companies are available too.

[The Savage Squirrel]

Liz wrote:

What are the names of the UK companies that allowed you to buy the excess insurance that others have previously used.

Insurance4CarHire are the best known. Have used them previously although (thankfully) no claims experience to report. Was confident with them when they were part of Towergate who do specialist insurance products in all sorts of things. They changed ownership last year and don’t know anything about the new owners.

[Liz]

@JenT – The BA Avis price is £130 more for the same vehicle which makes a mockery of the 7 days for the price of 5 deal. The Avis site direct is a better deal if we pick up in downtown Seattle instead of the airport and drop off at the airport – there is a saving of £432.

I have Hertz 5 star via IHG spire but have always found Hertz to be more expensive – I didnt read the T&Cs for Hertz but I don’t drive in the USA so not sure my status would cover my husband driving. Thinking we will stick with our usual Avis and just buy the excess insurance annual policy separately as we have 2 road trips booked this year.

[Liz]

Managed to find a good deal via Kayak and Europcar for an intermediate SUV for half the cost of Avis. Most of these deals are saying there is £0 excess costs. Still going to take out the excess policy to cover tyres, glass, undercarriage etc. Never dealt with Europcar before – hoping they are ok

[Lady London]

The Savage Squirrel wrote:

Liz wrote:

What are the names of the UK companies that allowed you to buy the excess insurance that others have previously used.

Insurance4CarHire are the best known. Have used them previously although (thankfully) no claims experience to report. Was confident with them when they were part of Towergate who do specialist insurance products in all sorts of things. They changed ownership last year and don’t know anything about the new owners.

Liz voldesites are where you will find a choice of offerors. I’ve had excellent experience with Bettersafe also, they are very nice to deal with, also Questor is good and will cover a wider range of vehicles.

[Liz]

For anyone looking at USA car hire deals, Kayak have some great deals atm with Europcar. Just booked 2 separate road trips. I’ve booked the Kia Sportage which is intermediate SUV – first booking £855 compared to Avis pricing for a Mazda CX5 £1580. 2nd booking for same vehicles are £1282 compared to £3118 with Avis. Small deposit paid with free 48 hr cancellation. Happy with those prices. Will just buy the excess policy nearer the time for around £50.

[Magic Mike]

Both Hertz and National do the “book a midsize and take anything from the <whatever> aisle” at major US airports (depends on status as to which aisle). FT has useful threads as to what is typically available at different airports. Pickings can be slim at peak times, but I’ve had some really interesting rentals – a Mini Countryman, a Dodge Charger with a ridiculous engine, a pickup truck (fitted in well in Texas).

You won’t get this choice at city centre locations, but you may well save a packet on not paying airport fees. Quite often you can pickup downtown, and return to the airport.

[JimBurgessHill]

Following Magic Mike’s post above mentioning saving a packet by opting to collect from an off airport location, I just looked at other San Diego pick up options for our June trip (currently booked to collect from airport).

As per my earlier post on this thread I’d already booked a “pay later” rate of $1893 using Hertz’s India website, happy that I’d saved $500 compared to UK site.(5 passenger SUV Group L).

We’re staying with relatives in Santee to begin with. We’ve always collected from airport before but it turns out there’s a Hertz depot 24 minutes from their home in Santee. Astonishingly, for the identical June dates, (and this is using Hertz UK website, no switching to India or other countries!) the cost for the 2 weeks is $806 versus today’s quote of $2817 for airport collection! And that’s returning to airport at end of trip which is clearly more convenient. So I’ve cancelled the existing booking and rebooked to collect the morning after we arrive, saving over $2k! Absolutely gob smacked!

[The Savage Squirrel]

Liz wrote:

For anyone looking at USA car hire deals, Kayak have some great deals atm with Europcar. Just booked 2 separate road trips. I’ve booked the Kia Sportage which is intermediate SUV – first booking £855 compared to Avis pricing for a Mazda CX5 £1580. 2nd booking for same vehicles are £1282 compared to £3118 with Avis. Small deposit paid with free 48 hr cancellation. Happy with those prices. Will just buy the excess policy nearer the time for around £50.

Yeah, I wouldn’t.

“Since January 2020 Europcar is serviced by Fox Rent A Car in the US”

[Liz]

I ended up cancelling the 2 bookings after reading the reviews about the 3rd party intermediary QEEQ – lots of stories of the cars not being available which would be a nightmare for us trying to do a road trip. I was going to rebook direct with Europcar but I see it says go to the Fox counter – and after reading their reviews they seem to be a bunch of scammers too. So it’s back to the drawing board with Avis and Hertz tomorrow. I can see the first trip being a disaster and the 2nd trip being cancelled altogether at this rate.

[Liz]

I cannot get anything under £2000 with Hertz for 18 days hire and that’s with Hertz 5 star.

[JenT]

@Liz What have you tried so far? There are probably still other ways to find a price you are happy with. If you can provide dates and locations that may help too.