Which Car Rental company? worried about damage fee etc

[KitKat]

Hi
I am planning to rent a car for about 3 days in Tassie over the Easter break. Just wanted to know from my experienced friends here which company I should go with. I rarely rent cars and as I am quite worried about being slugged for any damage, I usually purchase the highest level of cover from the rental company. I have looked at all the various insurance T&Cs for the big four companies (Avis, Thrifty, Europcar, Hertz) and still cannot come to a conclusion. Would be interested to know your opinions of each (from your experience). Thanks

[markis10]

If you do enough travel to maintain WP then have a look at annual travel insurance for $250+ which will drop your excess right down and cover a lot of other things at the same time, you won't need to worry about those extras the rental companies offer!

[KitKat]

Thanks. Silly me, I have an annual travel insurance with TID, so I should be covered up to $4000 for rental vehicle excess...

[drron]

Thanks for coming.Tassie needs you.

[Princess Fiona]

Wouldn't touch Europcar with a bargepole after being slugged twice by them for what I presumed to be pre-existing damage ( once in UK, once here). I do all my rentals with Avis and haven't had any problems with them ( yet)
I also have annual travel cover but I can't abide being made to pay for another drivers damage and claim it back

[AdMEL]

As far as I understand, in Tassie, most if not all of the big 5 (Hertz, Avis, Budget, Thrifty, Europcar) are franchises/licensees, rather than company owned. This tends to mean, among other things like charging more, they keep their cars longer and can be a bit more diligent with regard to charging for damage.

Having said that, I recently hired a Falcon XR6 from Avis at Launceston airport and apart from trying to give me a GPS which I did not order (and charge me for it), they were as blase as I have found every other Avis in Australia with regard to damage - no checks at the start or end of hire.

$4,000 will cover the excess for Avis and Budget, mostly cover it Europcar, but will not cover a significant amount with both Hertz and Thrifty in certain circumstances, so be careful of the following:

- Hertz have a non waivable excess of $9,900 for damage on unsealed roads

- Both Hertz and Thrifty have a standard excess of $3,300 plus an additional excess of $2,200 if no other car is involved, i.e. A total of $5,500 (Avis, Budget and Europcar do not have an additional single vehicle accident excess, yet)

- Almost always the excess from airports is increased by the % of the airport charge (varies between approx. 15 and 22% depending on the airport). Tassie is at the lower end. This will likely mean the excess with Hertz and Thrifty for an accident with no other car involved is over $6,000. In my experience, the call centre reservation staff don't even disclose this when asked what the excess will be, so be careful.

In your situation, my first choice would be Avis (excess approx. $3,400), followed by Budget (excess approx. $3,200), then Europcar. Note that Europcar excess is likely to be about $4,500.

Do you have access to a discount or corporate rate through any car hire company? This could be through your employer (most large companies and the government have corporate rates for both company use and leisure), if you're a member of a union, or even an association, such as CPA. These will generally provide a significantly lower excess (usually approx. $700 - $1,500) and lower rate.

One final thing to remember - in the event of damaging the car, the car hire company will charge the entire excess to your credit card immediately and you will be out of pocket for how ever long it takes your travel insurer to pay your claim.

[markis10]

- Both Hertz and Thrifty have a standard excess of $3,300 plus an additional excess of $2,200 if no other car is involved, i.e. A total of $5,500 (Avis, Budget and Europcar do not have an additional single vehicle accident excess, yet).

In the case of Hertz that extra Single Vehicle charge is only applicable when the event has occurred outside of a metropolitan capital city or if its an under 25 driver or water related excluding partial/full immersion.

[AdMEL]

In the case of Hertz that extra Single Vehicle charge is only applicable when the event has occurred outside of a metropolitan capital city or if its an under 25 driver or water related excluding partial/full immersion.

Oops, I forgot about Hertz changing their terms with regard to the Single vehicle Accident (SVA) Excess for non #1 Club Gold members. As I read the terms and conditions, this amendment does not apply to #1 Club Gold members, i.e. their terms have not changed and SVA excess applies for any damage not involving another car.

With regard to partial/full immersion in water, my read of the terms are that there is an additional $2,200 excess payable over and above the SVA and standard excesses, i.e. if you run the car into a river without hitting another car, the excess would be $7,700.

[Stephen65]

I use Hertz and despite on occasion returning one of their vehicles with a scratch or chip that wasn't there when I took it I have never been asked to pay (I didn't go out of my way to draw the damage to their attention though).

Some credit cards will cover you for rental excess if you use the card to hire the car, eg Amex plat charge.

[markis10]

Oops, I forgot about Hertz changing their terms with regard to the Single vehicle Accident (SVA) Excess for non #1 Club Gold members. As I read the terms and conditions, this amendment does not apply to #1 Club Gold members, i.e. their terms have not changed and SVA excess applies for any damage not involving another car.

With regard to partial/full immersion in water, my read of the terms are that there is an additional $2,200 excess payable over and above the SVA and standard excesses, i.e. if you run the car into a river without hitting another car, the excess would be $7,700.

Nope - partial/full immersion does not attract the surcharge:

Your liability to Hertz for Damages to the Vehicle resulting from water damage (other than by total or partial immersion) is limited to the amount of the ADE plus $2,200 (inclusive of GST) or such other amount in addition to the ADE as is specified in the Additional Terms.

I would imagine the water damage is for people who leave windows down, although hail is water!


On a broader note, not sure how accurate this table is but it is a nice summary for comaprison purposes, SVA issues aside (from Terms & Conditions: Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz, Thrifty | Car Hire Insider ):