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Car hire in the US

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    Car hire in the US

    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
    He had a negative bluety on a quackhandle and was quadraspazzed on a lifeglug.

    I look forward to your all knowing and likely sarcastic and unhelpful reply.


    #2
    You could try looking at booking it with the flight (sometimes cheaper), but yes £1k is probably not far off
    …Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by WTFH View Post
      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
      He had a negative bluety on a quackhandle and was quadraspazzed on a lifeglug.

      I look forward to your all knowing and likely sarcastic and unhelpful reply.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by quackhandle View Post
        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.
        …Maybe we ain’t that young anymore

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by quackhandle View Post
          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.

          Comment


            #6
            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

            Comment


              #7
              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.
              Down with racism. Long live miscegenation!

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Scratch It View Post
                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.
                Public Service Posting by the BBC - Bloggs Bulls**t Corp.
                Officially CUK certified - Thick as f**k.

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                  #9
                  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).

                  Comment


                    #10
                    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.

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