Reply to: Car hire in the US

[saptastic]

This year I used rentalcars.com and they had quite a few offers for a free sat nav included in the price which I took up. Otherwise the sat navs work out expensive.

[woohoo]

You really don't need a Satnav in the USA, just ask a friendly Policeman for directions (don't do this if you are not white).

[Fred Bloggs]

Navmii do a free app that you download the maps to in advance so it doesn't use any data. Doesn't give live traffic (obviously) but it's a completely free sat nav solution.

Thanks, useful to know. I "think" if you know what you are doing (and I don't) you might be able to do that in Google maps too, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

[TheFaQQer]

When we last had the Avis car in Florida, we bought the USA maps for my daughter's TomTom device. But these days, probably better to use a data SIM and Google maps, I reckon.

Navmii do a free app that you download the maps to in advance so it doesn't use any data. Doesn't give live traffic (obviously) but it's a completely free sat nav solution.

[TheFaQQer]

It can get quite expensive, child seats, GPS - 100 notes?

Depending on the age of the children, it may be cheaper to buy a seat out there.

Some car rental scraping sites will offer to include one seat FoC (can't remember which one I used in the past that did, sorry) but my children only needed a booster seat. So I found out where the nearest Wallmart was to the collection point for the car, pre-ordered online for in-store collection and went there before picking the family up.

Bought 2 booster seats in Atlanta, only needed one of them so kept the other on in it's packaging and returned it in Colorado when we were on the next leg of the trip (needed to see if we needed a seat in CO as well). Cost $15 for the car seat.

[Fred Bloggs]

When we last had the Avis car in Florida, we bought the USA maps for my daughter's TomTom device. But these days, probably better to use a data SIM and Google maps, I reckon.

[sal]

I used myco's 3 mifi device in new York for navigation via google maps. So long as you're not heading too far off piste that might be an option.

This ^ for navigation. Or a sim only deal for like £25 all you can eat data in an old smartphone running google maps. Three has USA in the "feel-at-home" destinations, which is essentially no roaming charges. You should have a baggage allowance for the child seats included, so you can bring your own, if the ones you are using daily a too bulky, you can buy some cheapo throwaway seats and bring them with you. As the cost to hire them is usually higher than the cost of new ones.

Can't really comment on the car hire part, never been to the states.

[barrydidit]

I used myco's 3 mifi device in new York for navigation via google maps. So long as you're not heading too far off piste that might be an option.

[ladymuck]

I think (because I'm trying to remember what a friend told me) if you have platinum Amex, you also get gold membership to one of the major car hire companies and I guess that gets you discount/upgrades or some such.

If the trip is a while away, might be worth checking out, applying, and then cancelling the card when you return. You'll get charged the annual fee on first use but they do a pro-rata refund (again, IIRC).

[Fred Bloggs]

I used AVIS recently. I was happy with the price, and if you go through the UK site you get all of the various insurances included as standard. Cars were a decent standard, and no funny business with extra costs. We had a friend stateside that could lend us a GPS.

Could be cheaper to buy a sat nav first. https://www.amazon.co.uk/GARMIN-NUVI...ds=sat+nav+usa

Yes, last time in the US we hired an Avis vehicle via the UK website and a fully comp zero excess insurance deal was thrown in. Well worth having.

[NotAllThere]

Buying a satnav on arrival will be cheaper than hiring it. I used to use worldwideinsure.com for car hire insurance (now it comes as part of my credit card deal). When I had to make a claim, they coughed up very quickly. £35 for a year, IIRC.

[Scratch It]

I used AVIS recently. I was happy with the price, and if you go through the UK site you get all of the various insurances included as standard. Cars were a decent standard, and no funny business with extra costs. We had a friend stateside that could lend us a GPS.

Could be cheaper to buy a sat nav first. https://www.amazon.co.uk/GARMIN-NUVI...ds=sat+nav+usa

[woohoo]

Need one for four adults + 2 kids for nine days in the US for summer hollibobs.

It can get quite expensive, child seats, GPS - 100 notes?

Any recommendations on making this process cheaper? Prices are coming in at 700+ notes for Avis and Hertz.

Worth becoming a member for any discount? I have heard that it's cheaper to book when you land stateside but I need something for 6 passengers so they might not have anything available?

qh

I think I used rentalcars.com to book my hire car. I did try to book directly on the USA website but was much more expensive going directly.

The other thing I noticed when booking online is if you choose say a jeep chances are when you get there its pot luck and you may be saddled with a cheaper car. I've had to argue both visits to the us to get what I paid for. Last time I tipped the guy in the car park to give me a better car. Not sure if that is usual or not.


I researched it and nationalcars have one of the better reps. Some providers will try to up sell and have long queues. Nationalcars are a bit more expensive but queues are small and generally seem good. Best of a bad lot.

[WTFH]

Flights already booked and paid for (BA) but if that's the going rate then fair enough, cost will be split with my folks anyway.

Cheers

qh

If they are booked directly with BA, you can go onto their site and add stuff on (possibly including car hire)

I used to have a holidayautos.com discount code, but don't think it works any more. Other option is to go onto moneysavingexpert.com and look on there.

Oh, and get your own insurance, don't pay for the insurance the renter tries to sell you.

[quackhandle]

You could try looking at booking it with the flight (sometimes cheaper), but yes £1k is probably not far off

Flights already booked and paid for (BA) but if that's the going rate then fair enough, cost will be split with my folks anyway.

Cheers

qh