Hi all
I realized that there are a few topic on car hire in LA already but none really honed into pacific companies and their experiences.
Where possible, can the Ozbargain crew who has been to LA, hired car give us some in depth details of the companies that they've used and what's your thoughts is?
My plan is to hire a car via the Virgin/Velocity trade partner net work, as for insurance, i'm not too sure if the travel insurance will cover car hire as well.
Thanks
Thank you
Used www.carhire3000.com for a 18 day car hire with Alamo, got a Ford Fusion cost was $560AUD including all insurances. It's in GBP so use a 28 Degrees MasterCard or similar.
They do have an aussie site (http://www.traveljigsaw.com.au/) but the cost is $100+ more per booking. But if you call up the via the aussie hotline and quote the UK price they will beat it by $10-$20.
Pick up was easy, Alamo didn't try to up sell any products (insurance, gps, pay upfront for 1st tank ect) as they saw everything was included.
Thank you
Travel insurance that you typically get in Australia does NOT cover rental car insurance in the US. This is because the US runs a very different insurance setup to the rest of the civilised world.
In the US, you hire the car with no insurance at all. You can then buy what is called a 'Loss Damage Waiver' which means the hire company waives any right it has to sue you to recover damage caused to the rental car, however it happens to be caused.
Then there is the Liability Insurance Supplement, which every single international traveller should be buying on their US rental cars. This gives you usually around $1,000,000USD worth of insurance cover for any damage you might cause to other people (health) or their property.
Travel insurance typically only covers the high ($5000+) standard excesses that exist on car rental insurance policies that are automatically included (covering damage to the rental car and any third party) when you rent a car in places like, oh, pretty much everywhere other than the USA.
When I hired a bunch of cars in the US last year (did a round-loop trip over 3 months and used 3 separate rental car contracts, 1 month each, to do so), I signed up for Hertz Gold Club (free), then took advantage of the cheaper weekly/monthly rates, and the underage fee (under 25) waiver that comes with Gold membership. I also ensured I made all car hire bookings from the Hertz Australia webpage, which automatically includes LDW and LIS in the rental cost.
If you hire from the US website, LDW and LIS is NOT included, and will have to be added for an (extortionate) daily rate.
Hertz were brilliant nation-wide - in Seattle they upgraded us for free from a compact to a Mustang, and at LAX they upgraded us from a Cruze (automatically assigned) to a Camaro convertible for about $8 per day. Hertz New Orleans were a pack of assholes though. We had a VW Passat at that point which got a huge crack in the windscreen from a stone (thank goodness for LDW - we had no liability to pay for repairs as a consequence - not even an excess!) and they wanted to swap it out for a Camry (I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate Camries, and I was NOT going to do any road tripping in the US in such a god-forsaken vehicle). They wouldn't give us a V6 Charger depsite having heaps on the lot and them being in the same class as the Camry. :( We ended up getting a V6 Dodge Journey which despite being a mum-mobile was an absolute godsend when a third friend joined us in Florida - such a huge (and surprisingly powerful) car for the price of a Chevrolet Sonic :D
Thank you
Just a question, were you charged in AUD or USD?
Thanks
AUD - was pretty damn good at the time when the exchange rate was much closer to parity than it is now!
you will get charged in USD if you go for the "pay later" option, but if you pre-pay up front its all charged in AUD.
Thanks for your reply xyron :)
I had another question - Hertz Gold membership.. i know it says "save $60 year membership fee".. so after the first year do you get charged?
Hi,
Visited LA last year and used AVIS and Budget for the duration there. It would be prudent to go online and see if there are any specials (eg. free upgrade, free extra days. etc.) Car rental companies do have specials and if you are lucky, you may save yourself tens/hundreds depending on length of stay.
Take note, if you plan to hire your car in LA and return via another city (eg. drive from LA to Las Vegas and drop off in Las Vegas), there is usually a sizable surcharge. It is highly advisable to buy car insurance while driving around as accidents can and do happen, particularly driving on the "other" side of the road in the US. Always go for a "unlimited mileage" package so you can drive everywhere without fear of being penalized for every excess kms driven.
Finally, (pardon the plug), we chose not to rent the GPS Satnav there because it was too expensive and decided to buy one when we landed. We still have the Tom Tom GPS with USA/Canada maps. If you need a GPS, drop me a line and would be happy to on sell it to you for cheap. The Satnav saved us multiple times because LA is a night mare to drive in with highways and exits as convoluted as spaghetti. Also be aware if driving in San Francisco and some highways, there are toll charges that apply, most car rentals do have the "e-tags" in case you charge up tolls.
Finally, have yourself a safe and happy journey!
Good advice Lexus101, we bought a TomTom GPS at Kmart in Honolulu for about $60 which lasted us the entire trip (and had unlimited free map updates, and we got significant map updates probably 3 times while we were over there…good value). I'd be happy to on-sell mine for cheap too to anyone going to the US, driving around, and is located in Adelaide (probably not worth the effort to post it anywhere).
Re: tolls - if you are going to be spending any time using toll roads (not a risk in California except for San Francisco, and even then, it's only an issue over the Golden Gate Bridge, which doesn't have cash booths) - DON'T use the platepass system. It is insanely expensive and they charge you per day for your use of the platepass system, even if you don't use any toll roads on that specific day. Unfortunately in California there is no straightforward way to use their electronic tolling system without setting up an ongoing account. We didn't run into any significant issues with toll roads until we got to the north-east - you really should buy yourself an EZ-Tag (can get them from numerous places in New York and Pennsylvania, pretty much impossible to get them in New Jersey though, oddly enough) if you are going to do any driving through those areas. Getting into New York from New Jersey while avoiding all the electronic-toll-only roads was an exercise in utter frustration. If we accidentally used platepass on one of these e-toll-only roads (such as the New Jersey Turnpike), we would have been charged $5 per day for the entire month of that particular car rental contract, even if we only used platepass for one journey!
Florida was another state where toll roads were a nuisance (especially in Miami), but we avoided them all and still got around without much real hassle. You can buy a prepaid SunPass from most convenience stores if you want to use Florida's toll roads (particularly the notorious Florida turnpike). Florida has no cash toll booths anywhere in the state.
Most other toll roads in the US still have cash booths, although it is much cheaper to use an EZ-Tag (around half the price per journey in Chicago, for example, as against paying cash each time, and in Chicago, you need exact change).
Thank you
Thank you
Lexus101,
Would be happy to purchase the GPS from you, but can you confirm that I will be able to update the maps?
We booked ours through rhino and were pretty happy with the deal.
I had a friend who flew into the US, bought a car at auction, drove it for his holiday, then sold it and came out ahead!
Thanks
Thank you
rentalcars.com have amazing prices.
Just booked a large suv for 8 days in LA for August, under $400 AUD including insurance.
Thank you
Read the Wiki here for details on car Rental insurance.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/category:travel
Scroll down to car insurance.
Even the insurance provided by the car rental companies is lacking AND expensive.
Travel insurance only covers the excess, you get charged for damage to the rental car. If the basic insurance is lacking, which it is, then your liability for damage to others property,cars etc is inadequate - read the wiki.
On personal note I have rented from Alamo, and their sister company National. Always had great service and no hassles. Even no issues when someone tried to break into the car, and there were scratches from the tools they used. Even when I pointed this out to the Alamo agent on return they didnt charge me anything. I had already contacted the independent insurance company (from the Wiki) about this and they said they would cover it if Alamo were to charge me.
I have also rented from Dollar, and while not as flash a location as Alamo (at LAX) there were no hassles or issues with them. They were just a little pushier in trying to sell upgrades.
Also in LAX their are no economy cars, a past trick was to book this and they have to upgrade you. But the last few trips the economy cars weren't any cheaper.
At Alamo, you are not assigned any car, you just go to the lot, and you choose from the various rows of the cars that are in your class of booking.
Arriving from Oz around 10-11 always seems to be a good time, as often the day vistors have cleaned out the compact cars and they put higher class cars in those rows. One time I thought my Chevy was pretty powerful for a 4 cylinder and it turned out to be a six, when I checked the engine bay. I then noticed it had classG on the keyring, all for the Class A economy price of $90 a week.
It depends on whether you are wanting to save money (Bargain) or want a flash car. SUV's and convertibles are flash, but can also attract the wrong attention (thieves) simple cars like Nissan Sentra's, Corolla's go well and dont stand out. Also cheaper to run and still go well on the freeways.
Finally when you book you dont pay if you use their website, so you can recheck a week or so later and can find the prices change. If it drops then rebook, and cancel the old booking. You can keep doing this, if the prices keep dropping. At some point they start rising again, so you keep the "current" booking.
While the car rental market in LAX used to be ultra competitive, consolidation of brands has lessened that. The $90 a week deals are now harder to get.
As for GPS, I personally think a Tablet with GPS software is better, especially if you have a passenger. Plus the tablet can be used for internet access and on the plane for books etc and can be used for booking accommodation while on the road.
Tablets like the ipad, have apps like Gas Buddy which will help you find cheaper Gas. If you know the next town costs more, you can pull into the one before etc.
Finally join the frequent renter schemes of the car rental companies, most are free (Alamo, National Dollar) are all ones I have. That will often save you dollars on your booking, plus give extras like free additional driver.
Also keep in mind many of the Frequent Flyer rewards you can gain from car rental, might see a surcharge applied to the price. Ok I suppose, if your company pays, but for a private individual its you who is paying.
And try to get in and out of LA at midday, less traffic, and you can most times use the car pool lanes, if you have a passenger, which the LA locals dont usually have.
BTW just click the vote button if you like, no need to post a thank you reply for each suggestion.
And finally when you get back from your car hire, if you have excess cash before you catch the plane, you can pay some of the hire cost with cash, far better than having to exchange it back at the airport/bank.
Enjoy your trip
I have got really good deals with accom and car in a package. Try bookit.com, they use dollar rentals which i have always found pretty good although as mentioned they do try to upsell you on everything.
+1 Alamo. We've used them a few times. I can't remember all the details of LDW etc as mentioned above, but I was pretty confident that they included everything I needed, with the travel insurance covering the excess.
I found using Hotwire really useful for providing a list of cars and their rental rates including ALL insurance with no excess. I ended up booking a car through Enterprise…HOWEVER, on further research, I read a lot of people bitching and whining about them and then found that their office is not very easy to get to from where you arrive, so I contacted Hotwire and tried to cancel the booking which they were happy to do (really good service!) and the consultant I was talking to was extremely helpful and found me a comparable deal with the same conditions car level etc through Thrifty.
If you read reviews of any car rental place you will find people who love them or hate them…doesn't seem to be any middle ground. The only way to love a rental car company is to have NO SURPRISES. So read the reviews, find out what people got caught out on, understand what you need to do in order to not get caught out yourself and then enjoy your holiday stress-free.
I liked Thrifty, they are one of the closest car rental places to LAX airport, you simply walk out of the terminal and cross to where all the different free shuttle buses are and wait for the Thrifty (blue) bus to turn up, you wont be waiting too long and then it's about 1-2km up the road on the same side of the road…piece of cake. Don't forget to have a couple of dollar bills to tip the driver as a nice gesture.
With Thrifty, you only choose the class of car you want, they then tell you to go to a section and choose the car you want…you are free to go through every car and look at anything you like. I went for something that had really low mileage and not many marks. I then got out my DSLR and took photos of everything…PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO THE WINDSCREEN…that is the one item not covered by insurance. Get the guy at the gate to note every single chip…they might be all "that's ok", "no big deal" etc at the exit…but they're not the guys checking the car over as it comes back in who are looking for extra profit opportunities…if any damage is not marked on your rental slip at the time you exit the carpark - then you are responsible for it on return. It's pretty simple. If it's bucketing with rain when you hire…either wait or drive the chosen vehicle undercover and complete your inspection before driving off…this single process is what causes probably 90% of all rental company gripes…get this right and you should be good.
Also (based on my experience with Europcar in QLD), check the tyres (they call them tires in the US) for tread wear and sidewall damage…particularly the passenger side front tyre (tire). That's the one that usually gets damaged first…a low mileage car (<5000mi) is unlikely to have much wrong with it. Thrifty had cars with mileages between 1,200mi up to 80,000mi. You don't want the 80,000mi one…even if it is the coolest car on the lot.
Returning a car…it will either be tank empty or tank full. Gas (get used to calling it that) is pretty cheap in the US compared to here…but not as cheap as it used to be. I think the tank full option is probably the best way to go as you could feel ripped off returning the car with 1/2 a tank…with Thrifty, the petrol station is right around the corner about 200m away. Rental companies that have a "return tank full" policy have been known to pull out dipsticks etc and charge stupid amounts to "top up" a full tank. Generally you have to fill the tank within 10km of the depot and present the receipt to prove where you filled up is within range. If you use the station right beside the depot you can't go wrong and Thrifty didn't seem to try anything stupid when I returned it and didn't even want to see the receipt…but just make sure you have a receipt, they can't argue with that.
Have a great time getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road!
Oh and with a booking on Hotwire…Thrifty will try to upsell you (they'd be remiss if they didn't)…but you may politely decline.
Whoever you go with, check if they have a membership club. We joined National car hire Emerald club for reasons that might not be applicable to you, incl pickups at all airports, free upgrades to best of category (book cheapest get most expensive/any car on lot in same category) and a disney discount code (lol).
Joined club while waiting for luggage, get emailed member code, used it for discount and upgrade 5 minutes later :)
I also have had a good experience with rentalcars.com and I recommend them.
Especially since… I had a really bad time with one of the USA majors. When my CC statement arrived after I got home, I had an extra charge of over US$300. When I queried the cost with their call centre, they told me that they had a whole lot of extra charges — like a penalty for returning the car a day late, with an empty gas tank and with damage.
None of those things were true but they would not budge until I sent them copies of;
an airline boarding pass that showed I was on a US Air flight out of that city (Charlotte) 24 hours before the time that they claimed I actually returned the car;
a fuel receipt from 11pm the previous night for $35 in gas (hence, filling the tank);
and stills from the 1 min video I ALWAYS take on my phone when I return a rental car, a quick walkaround showing that there is NO damage on the car.
They were just trying it on. They backed down and refunded the money, and I have never been back to them since.
I would not want to name the company involved. B[ut] U D[o] G[et] E[very] T[ip-off], right?
Alamo, with full comprehensive insurance $0 excess.
I hired a two cars and crashed both in 24 hours in LA. Paid $0.
Alamo you can choose your car also.
Thank you all
So it seems like all roads lead to ALAMO. Now all i have to do is to find something not too boring to drive and a dealer near San-Gabriel and i'll be alright.
Alamo is great - should you wish to use Alamo you can get their prices cheaper booking via rentalcars.com and that includes all insurance.
We used Alamo and often chose their insurance, even though we had travel insurance as well. IMHO the US is not somewhere you want to be underinsured. Often convertibles ended up pretty cheap, and they were fun to drive. To get around LA properly you really do need a car, they are not set up well for public transport.
Oh one thing we noticed, walk in rates seemed far more expensive than booked over the net