Hi guys
Any tips appreciated
Iv put a deposit for atlas choice car hire to secure a quote of $260 for 5 days. Budget sized car including insurances.hoping to pay a small fee when I get there hoping to be upgraded to a convertible on arrival.
Has anyone used this company.found them on skyscanner but reviews are horrible. But to be fair so are all the other company's .
They are an agent for doller car rentals.
Most American bargain sites such as Hotwire or priceline don't include insurance.
Iv used webcarhire on my last trip but they a little more expensive these days.
Any fellow Ozbargainers keen to share their experience?
Car Hire in Hawaii big island
LGotchas on 02/03/2015 - 14:16
Comments
Did you rent your car from Kona or Hilo on the big island? I dont see Enterprise car rental from Kona airport. Most of the searches come up with Dollar and I read pretty bad reviews about them.
Hilo.
Did the booking through discount hawaii car rental. Enterprise was the cheapest at the time for me.
Travel insurance generally covers excess on claims but does not provide car hire insurance unless you get specialist cover which don't know if it even exists.
These are the guys to use to get a cheap quote for Hawaii: www.discounthawaiicarrental.com we used them when we were on Kona. You don't pay anything until you get to the specific car hire company on the other side, so no harm done if you don't actually take up their offer.
Important points to note with car hire:
* Always be wary of the upgrade offers, it's never usually a small fee. Get a quote for a convertible upfront so you know how much it would have cost you upfront and then you can decide whether you're getting a good deal or not.
* Do not buy prepaid fuel, it is very hard to return a car empty. It is always better top start with a full tank and return full.
* Do not buy the expensive bundled insurance waiver; take out travel insurance that covers the (often large) excess amount you have to pay if you have an accident. Bear in mind that you will have to pay this excess upfront if you crash and claim the money back from your travel insurance company which can take time. If you don't have the funds available on your credit card of choice take a spare one or opt for the rental companies insurance, otherwise it could ruin your holiday as you won't be able to buy anything.Thanks
Will only upgrade if the price is right
Im thinking they will rather sell me the bigger car for a small fee then it just sitting there when they can rent small cars very easy
What I understand is that car insurance is different to ours were they don't pay an excessIncorrect; just because they don't call it an excess doesn't mean there isn't a portion of the cost of the vehicle that you will have to pay if you have an accident. I can't find any figures, but using Hertz as an example; why else would they try and sell you all of this if you weren't at risk of losing a lot of cash in the event of an acident: Hertz Optional Services
Ok maybe
But still our travel insurances only pay the excess on insurance claims . If there is no insurance to begin with then one is not covered. Correct?
I have called my policies underwriters to confirm this.@Peanut money: It's an old post, but it seems to support your opinion on the term 'excess': Whirlpool: USA Car Rental. In this case I suggest you take the necessary precautions.
@moola:
Good find.hope this will inform others that they might not have sufficient insurance when hiring a rental car
Hey Peanut,
I went through rentalcars.com (formally known as TravelJigsaw and CarHire3000). Got 10 days on Oahu in late April for $359, compact sized car with all insurances included. Rental is through Dollar.
rentalcars.com is a broker, they seemed to get great reviews on TripAdvisor. Search CarHire3000 on there to find the threads.
Very happy with the service thus far, very easy online rental.
Nostril
Thanks a lot
Will look into itTry arguscarhire.com. I have used them and rentalcars.com when I have been in the States. Both much of a muchness and no dramas. Costs are all inclusive and the majority of times the car hires are through Dollar.
Thankyou
Last time I went to the big island, I just hired a different car each day. Sounds like a lot of hassle, but because we were just doing day drives from our hotel it was ok. If you go to the rental companies front desk after 9 am, they will rent you what they have left for cheap. We hired a Mustang convertible each day for approx a quarter of the full day rate. Just an idea, especially if you don't need a car for the entire time.
Dang sorry, It's been so long since I hired cars in US I can't remember the facts. All I can say is my credit card travel insurance covered any liability I was at risk of, without paying for the insurance they try to convince you that you need.
Car hire in US isn't complicated. UK and Ireland are trickier.
I'm going to Hawaii in April, so we need to brush up again before then. Hopefully here :)
I booked a small car in Oahu once. Got to the airport and found that I would have to pay $5 per luggage item to store our gear while we drove around the island (we were only there for 24 hours)…we had 5 items of luggage so I asked how much to upgrade to a Cadillac…$10…so we took it and all our luggage fit in the boot! (trunk in US speak). They're pretty laid back in Hawaii.
Used Enterprise for oahu and big island. No issues at all, skipped insurance as I already had travel insurance which covered car hire excess. They may ask you again if you want insurance when you pick up the car.