Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers

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Sat 17 Feb 2007 23:12
Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers - LHM
I hope to visit the USA later this year and have been looking at car rental websites.

I found that a two-week rental on Dollar's .com site was priced at USD550 - with no request to state the driver's nationality. Using the same company's .co.uk site produced a figure of about GBP400 for the same rental. Now, even allowing for non money market rates, this is a big difference!

So, do US rental companies 'load' foreign drivers - or would they honour (or honor) the dollar amount quoted? Do UK-based ones do the same?
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Sun 18 Feb 2007 02:08
Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers - ukbeefy
Do check what is included and make sure u are comparing like with like. u tend to find with US rentals that all the extra insurance and tax often costs more than the base rental cost. Alot of US based drivers can decline all the insurance coverage as they can add rental cars to their own car insurance policy. I would imagine a UK site may offer a price that includes say high levels of Third Party cover and LDW automatically as Brits are going to need both and maybe local taxes/fees too.

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Sun 18 Feb 2007 10:03
Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers - Bill Payer
As above, US drivers car nsurance often includes cover for hire cars so they don't need the extra cover.

If you take up the $ price, then you'll have to buy extra insurance at the desk (which will cost a medium size fortune) or else leave a substantial deposit. If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident then you'll be in a lot of trouble.

UK based consolodators tend to be cheaper than Dollar UK (although they are starting to get their act together). Try people like www.usrentacar.co.uk/ - they're recommended on the WDW forums. You get a completely inclusive price, with the option to upgrade for a few £ to include extra drivers and pre-paid fuel.

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Sun 18 Feb 2007 21:22
Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers - Cardew
Always hire from a UK company.

You can hire with fully inclusive insurance from £99 a week from Alamo/Budget/Dollar.(via a broker) Full size are £135 and convertible/luxury for £171.

As said above you will neeed to add taxes, insurances etc to the price from USA sites.
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Mon 19 Feb 2007 12:31
Do US rental Co's 'load' foreign drivers - BazzaBear {P}
What the other posters in this thread have said is true. The cost in dollars you've been quoted includes no insurance of any type, because for US drivers it's usually included on their own car insurance.
But the answer isn't necessarily to do it through a .co.uk site and pay the extra.
This company (and there are a few others I think):
www.insurance4carhire.com/
will provide all the necessary insurance to allow you to use the dollar price, and save a bundle. If you do a fourm search on here for US car rental, you'll find it has been recommended by several people. For myself, it saved us enough money to mean we could afford to spend our honeymoon in a convertible rather than a Neon.
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