I've been looking at a few sites to compare quotes.
Unlimited mileage and taxes I can understand :-) - but . . .
Is Loss Damage Waiver (Hertz and Airline Network) the same as Collision Damage Waiver (Alamo)? (Alamo offers Theft Protection, which the others do not mention)
Alamo offers $1 Million Liability Coverage (EP) as well as Third Party Liability (state min).
Airline Network offers Supplemental Liability Ins. and Uninsured Motorist Protection
Hertz offers Vehicle Licensing Cost Recovery & Liability Insurance Supplement, (and for an extra fee Personal Accident Insurance / Personal Effects Coverage)
And for that matter, I can find nothing about an additional driver on the Hertz site, whereas the others give prices.
are all these quotes comparable? All clarifications welcome!
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What you do need is:
Loss damage waiver (same as collision damage waiver) although this carries normally a pretty steep excess/deducible
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At least $1m liability coverage which normally requires something called supplementary liab cover...(state legal min can be as pathetically low as $15k)
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Uninsured motorist protection
Then you have the choice to perhaps lower the deductible/excess for a fee on the damage waiver although you can now buy coverage in the UK for this off the shelf and is generally cheaper and better.
Personal effects cover and personal accident cover is not required as you already will have this on your own travel insurance (or possibly personal effects cover within your contents insurance)
So make sure you tick/initial the right boxes on the form. I have found that often the desk clerks either deliberately or accidentally misdescribe what each covers to imply you should take all of it without question.
Other charges that may appear on the quote are things like airport drop off fees, licence taxes, state taxes, environmental tax etc...all of these you can't get out of.
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its usually significantly cheaper to get the car from a non airport site
my usual practise is to book limo from airport to car rental site 10 to 20 miles away from airport and take car from there, or more often book limo to hotel near a car rental site 10 or 20 miles from airport have a nights sleep and pick a car up the next morning, oh and limos are same price as taxis if prebooked
you will find some of the high end credit cards provide some of the extra US car hire insurances as part of their travel cover, can be most cost effective way to organise
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Have a look at www.usrentacar.co.uk - I've used them many times and everything you need is included. In the main tourist places I generally use Dollar (booked through USRentaCar) - Alamo is noted for still trying to sell you more cover even if you're all-inclusive.
With Dollar, if you get the Gold? package it includes a tank of fuel and extra drivers and hardly costs any more.
Both Alamo & Dollar have UK versions of their sites which do quote all inclusive rates. That used to be a pretty expensive way to book, but I guess the weakness of the $ has brought their prices into line (although they still use a rate that's way off the actual rate).
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Best tip you can have, check that car for any bodywork damage no matter how small because when you return it and they find even a scratch it could cost megabucks. Best to hire your car through a UK tour operator as any problems are easier to solve. I.E. I had a Neon which had a puncture and they said get it fixed and pay. I refused and they were pretty nasty about it 'til I set Virgin on them. Result? a big upgrade and 'have a nice day sir'
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