Car Rental America - Alternatives

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

Hopefully someone here might have been in a similar boat. I'm looking at a week long rental in America. Unfortunately I'm under 25, so I'm hit with a levy. Not an issue.

Looking through the major suppliers:

Hertz

Base Rate (Intermediate Class): €174

Avis

Base Rate (Intermediate Class): €167

Dollar:

Base Rate (Jeep) €148

What strikes me is how much cheaper Dollar is for a larger car compared to the 'big hitters' such as Avis and Hertz. Their intermediate class is €85. Almost half the price. The problem is Dollar doesn't tell you the cost of your insurance as they have 3 (Sliding scale of excess)

Does anyone know roughly how much the insurance is for Dollar? Potentially I could be saving €100 or more with Dollar but would I be better off staying with the larger suppliers?

Many Thanks and any additional input appreciated.

dar83

I used Dollar last time I rented a car in the US. I got myself a Dodge Charger and got the insurance from them as well, I can't quite remember what the insurance levy was per day on top of the rental, but I think over the 5 days I had the car it worked out about $24, which isn't exactly much. I was 26 at the time though, if that makes any difference to them or not I don't know.

ironclaw

dar83 wrote: »

I used Dollar last time I rented a car in the US. I got myself a Dodge Charger and got the insurance from them as well, I can't quite remember what the insurance levy was per day on top of the rental, but I think over the 5 days I had the car it worked out about $24, which isn't exactly much. I was 26 at the time though, if that makes any difference to them or not I don't know.

Cheers for that.

Generally its a flat rate of $25 per day for under 25's as a levy. Which I've accounted for. Its the cost of the normal insurance I'm trying to figure. To put some perspective on it, it would have to cost over €100 total to make Dollar the same price as Hertz / Avis.

dar83

Yeah, I did a lot of research at the time as well and decided on Dollar because they were just the cheapest. I read through most of the companies T&C's also to see what Dollar didn't offer that the others did for the difference in price and I can tell you it isn't much (if anything really).
The only reason I even took the additional insurance thing from them in the office when they offered it, was because it worked out at $6 a day extra and it included break down assistance. Given that I was driving from Manhattan to Cleveland to decided I'd be better off with it and it turned out I was right, as I got a puncture on the Freeway on Easter Sunday and the car had no Tyre iron in the boot, so I couldn't even change it to the spare, had a Sheriff come across us and he radioed in to get a recvovery truck out.

ironclaw

dar83 wrote: »

Yeah, I did a lot of research at the time as well and decided on Dollar because they were just the cheapest. I read through most of the companies T&C's also to see what Dollar didn't offer that the others did for the difference in price and I can tell you it isn't much (if anything really).
The only reason I even took the additional insurance thing from them in the office when they offered it, was because it worked out at $6 a day extra and it included break down assistance. Given that I was driving from Manhattan to Cleveland to decided I'd be better off with it and it turned out I was right, as I got a puncture on the Freeway on Easter Sunday and the car had no Tyre iron in the boot, so I couldn't even change it to the spare, had a Sheriff come across us and he radioed in to get a recvovery truck out.

Seems like a no brainer really. Just seems odd that its half as expensive. Too good to be true type of scenario.

Caliden

Try carhire3000 or budgetcar.

I've used those in the past and found they were the cheapest with options for drivers under 25

kaahooters

alamo is another one.

also, make sure your using the correct region site, if your not, you may get prices without any insurance.

PCPhoto

also just to throw it out there.... a "compact" in USA could be a decent sized car in Ireland/England ......so ensure you know what you want/need when renting.

I cant remember how much I paid when I have been renting ...drove LA/Vegas/Tijuana/San Fran and also drove in Hawaii (which was expensive I think)