Car Hire in the States

LFCFan

I know this is outside of Ireland but most of these rental companies are worldwide. Does anyone know of a decent site/company for hiring an 8 seater minivan in America? Nearly every site I've checked have 7 seaters (why 7 FFS?). Thanks!

John R

Does that 7 include the driver?
Could it be a regulation thing, over 8 seats here requires a minibus licence, is it 7 in the US?

LFCFan

yeah, 7 includes the driver. It seems there is no such thing as an 8 seater rental in Maryland

sovtek

I just checked at www.hertz.com and they have 8 seater vehicles for Maryland. They aren't mini vans though. Something like a Ford Excursion.

Verdammt

I work for Hertz, and yes you need a minibus licence for an 8 seater. Not much call for the unfortunatly, that's why we don't rent them.

LFCFan

Originally posted by sovtek
I just checked at www.hertz.com and they have 8 seater vehicles for Maryland. They aren't mini vans though. Something like a Ford Excursion.

Yeah, they have them at the Amtrak office in Baltimore. After Insurance etc it would cost nearly €2,000. Rediculous. We're renting a 4 bedroomed house in Orlando for less than that.

lynchie

Make sure you make a reservation online as you will find that they may not have any SUV/Minivans available when you get over there. Tried to get a 7 seater last week while I was in NY. Neither Avis, Hertz, Budget or Enterprise had any available. Had to settle with a cadillac.

Would suggest you go with somebody other than Avis, had a bad experience with them last week with two of our tires getting blowouts in the space of 5 hours. Getting a blowout in the middle of the bronx with no mobile phone is not a good way to spend an hour of your day

It shouldnt cost more than $150 a day for a car/suv. It'll be cheaper the more days you require it. I find it hard to believe it'll cost $2000 - How long was that for? 2 Months??

Ripwave

Originally posted by LFCFan
Yeah, they have them at the Amtrak office in Baltimore. After Insurance etc it would cost nearly €2,000. Rediculous. We're renting a 4 bedroomed house in Orlando for less than that.

Budget have a 12 seater for about $600 a week (I just checked availability at BWI). It mentions that you need special insurance if you are transporting a sports team or school group - they don't mention family groups.

https://rent.drivebudget.com/Home.jsp

Ripwave

Originally posted by LFCFan
Yeah, they have them at the Amtrak office in Baltimore. After Insurance etc it would cost nearly €2,000. Rediculous. We're renting a 4 bedroomed house in Orlando for less than that.

By the way, you're not planning to drive from Baltimore to Florida, are you?

LFCFan

Originally posted by Ripwave
By the way, you're not planning to drive from Baltimore to Florida, are you?

Yep. Why?

LFCFan

Originally posted by lynchie
I find it hard to believe it'll cost $2000 - How long was that for? 2 Months??

It was actually $2470 for 17 days including CDW and Insurance.

LFCFan

Originally posted by Ripwave
Budget have a 12 seater for about $600 a week (I just checked availability at BWI). It mentions that you need special insurance if you are transporting a sports team or school group - they don't mention family groups.

https://rent.drivebudget.com/Home.jsp

Dunno where you got that price but When I enter the details I got a quote of $1,974.92 before any insurance options

Ripwave

Originally posted by Ripwave
By the way, you're not planning to drive from Baltimore to Florida, are you?

Because most US rental companies explicitly restrict you to travel within the state that you rent, and immediately neighbouring states. Some companies install GPS units in their cars, and will cancel the unlimited milage offer, and charge you 30c a mile instead, if you travel outside the listed states. That's over $600 right there, but you'd be well advised to make it clear before you make your booking that you intend to drive to Florida, because your insurance my be rendered void if you don't tell them.

Ripwave

Originally posted by LFCFan
It was actually $2470 for 17 days including CDW and Insurance.

How much was the CDW/Insurance, and how much was the rental?

(You might be better off trying to see if you can get private insurance here that will cover you, as renatl insurance is way expensive).

LFCFan

Originally posted by Ripwave
Because most US rental companies explicitly restrict you to travel within the state that you rent, and immediately neighbouring states. Some companies install GPS units in their cars, and will cancel the unlimited milage offer, and charge you 30c a mile instead, if you travel outside the listed states. That's over $600 right there, but you'd be well advised to make it clear before you make your booking that you intend to drive to Florida, because your insurance my be rendered void if you don't tell them.

With all the rentals I've tried so far it states that the car can be brought to Canada but not Mexico. It says nothing about going State to State. I've gotten quotes for one way drop off with some companies not charging any extra for one way. Some only charge and extra $100 for one way rentals so I'm sure that going into other states is implied.

Can you get insurance here to cover rentals over there? Might give my insurance company a bell and see if they do anything like that.

By the way, the $2470 rental was $1790 for the rental and the rest for insurance and CDW. If I said I was a resident of the US though the price was only $1800.

Ripwave

Originally posted by LFCFan
With all the rentals I've tried so far it states that the car can be brought to Canada but not Mexico. It says nothing about going State to State. I've gotten quotes for one way drop off with some companies not charging any extra for one way. Some only charge and extra $100 for one way rentals so I'm sure that going into other states is implied.

If you use the Enterprise website to rent a car from JFK, they explicitly say the unlimited milage only applies if the car stays in NY, Connecticut or NJ. Most other companies only say that in the small print on the contract that you sign when you pick the car up. I've seen it in Texas (TX and OK) and California too. Here's a New York Times story that stopped me cold (because I've broken this condition on more than one occassion, but never been "caught").

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/business/13gps.html

BUSINESS TRAVEL; Some Rental Cars Are Keeping Tabs on the Drivers
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT

Byungsoo Son's recent western trip was mostly for pleasure. But the car rental bill he was hit with at the end is a cautionary tale for the business travelers who make up the bulk of the auto rental industry's customers.

Mr. Son, who manages a grocery store in Georgetown, Ontario, and his wife, Junghyun, picked up a Ford Escort at a Payless Car Rental outlet in November in San Francisco -- their son, Jaehwa, is an intern for a credit card company there -- and embarked on a 12-day road trip with him.


First, they drove to Las Vegas, 50 miles east of the California state line, and from there 200 miles to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, before circling back to Palm Springs, Calif. They then traveled west to the coast to drive on the scenic state Highway 1 back to Northern California.

Mr. Son received a shock when he returned the car. The $259.51 bill he expected had ballooned to $3,405.05 -- most of it a result of a $1-a-mile fee for each of the 2,874 miles driven. It turned out that by crossing the state line, he had violated his contract with Payless.

.....

Can you get insurance here to cover rentals over there? Might give my insurance company a bell and see if they do anything like that.

It's definitely worth a call, even if it seems unlikely that they'll offer coverage. I don't know if any of the Irish insurance companies are owned by US insurance companies, of have any direct business ties with them, but it's worth a try.

By the way, the $2470 rental was $1790 for the rental and the rest for insurance and CDW. If I said I was a resident of the US though the price was only $1800.

I just went to the URL above, typed in BWI as the pickup and drop off point, and picked a week in May. Then I selected the 12 seater van. I just tried it again with a week in April, and here's the quote it gives me:

Vehicle
FORD E350 VAN 4DR/12PSGR or similar
Full Size
Automatic
Air Conditioned

Rate
Base Rate: 449.99 USD for 7 days
Surcharge Summary: 67.75 USD
Taxes: 59.54 USD
Estimated Total Rate: 577.28 USD | 478.14 EUR

Rate Code: CQ

Additional Equipment
Modify Additional Equipment Selection

Mileage
1000 free MLS
0.25 USD per MLS

It doesn't mention insurance up to that point.