Best car rental company for usa

[DontGetMeStarted]

My husband and I are looking for car hire in the USA March 3rd -22nd Pick up LAX and Drop off LAX - Presume it has to be the airport. But I am amazed at the difference in costs with the various companies. We are looking for an SUV with GPS or similar as we will be doing a few thousand miles in that time including Grand Canyon/Monument Valley
Cheapest so far is National at around $1286.00 and dearest is Avis and Hertz at $2K plus..any information or help would be appreciated, is one company better more reliable than the other?, any you would steer away from and do you take any of the extra insurance that is on offer. Our travel insurance for this trip will be covered on my ANZ Platinum card so wondering if that will be sufficient too, we have hired before and not taken extras as told that our insurance here would cover most things.
Thanks....

 

[sampson]

Beware that cards only give insurance IF you take out the rental company's minimum cover.

I've seen other forums say $A750 (when the $Awas 92c) for 21 days in a 4wd with a one way drop off and including insurance and nil excess. Posters here will know where to get good rates.

 

[Travel Guru]

Go for Dollar Car Rental, they're awesome to deal with and their rates are always good.

Have a look at Drive Away Holidays International & Local Car Rentals Book Today! as they contract them and their rates are inclusive so insurance issues.

TG

 

[BAM1748]

My husband and I are looking for car hire in the USA March 3rd -22nd Pick up LAX and Drop off LAX - Presume it has to be the airport. But I am amazed at the difference in costs with the various companies. We are looking for an SUV with GPS or similar as we will be doing a few thousand miles in that time including Grand Canyon/Monument Valley
Cheapest so far is National at around $1286.00 and dearest is Avis and Hertz at $2K plus..any information or help would be appreciated, is one company better more reliable than the other?, any you would steer away from and do you take any of the extra insurance that is on offer. Our travel insurance for this trip will be covered on my ANZ Platinum card so wondering if that will be sufficient too, we have hired before and not taken extras as told that our insurance here would cover most things.
Thanks....

National, Alamo, Dollar are ok. I wouldn't bother with the GPS if you're trying to keep the price down. A $15 map of the Western US is more than enough for Monument Valey and of course the Grand Canyon being what it is can be found easily.

I have used Alamo about 10 times and am going to give their sister company National a try in January.

 

[drron]

We use http://www.driveawaybookings.com/default.aspx
Insurance is included.We have in the past used Globalcars but they changed their website and it became harder to book.
Have had no problems with either.Cheaper than booking direct.Only catch is prepaying.Probably better to wait until the New year-have always had earlybird specials for USA rentals in past years.Both include insurances.
Only problem with USA rentals has been recently Hertz nickel and diming-book a full size and they insist an intermediate car is a full size.

 

[trooper]

As far as I am aware ANY travel insurance you get here covers you for the rental Car Excess only... so the one thing I always ensure I have is "CDW/LDW" I decline all other supplementary insurances...

I now always go for the "inclusive" rates offered by non-US based companies... always seems to work out cheaper...

www.cheap-car-rental.com is one of our standards.... for your dates the "IFAR" (Intermediate SUV.. exampled as a Jeep Liberty) is quoted as USD$855... or if you need something bigger USD$1134 for a Jeep Cherokee-ish vehicle ...

But... are you sure you NEED an "SUV"? The best way IMO to "do" Monument Valley is to take one of the "Jeep" tours offered there... as you simply are not allowed to drive very far in anyway...

drron... I tried that site.. and it wanted me to log in with some sort of TA ID???? Any idea how to get in there?

 

[serfty]

... drron... I tried that site.. and it wanted me to log in with some sort of TA ID???? Any idea how to get in there?

Have a look at the site T/G's referenced - it's the Oz version.

Drive Away Holidays International & Local Car Rentals Book Today!

 

[BAM1748]

As far as I am aware ANY travel insurance you get here covers you for the rental Car Excess only... so the one thing I always ensure I have is "CDW/LDW" I decline all other supplementary insurances...

I now always go for the "inclusive" rates offered by non-US based companies... always seems to work out cheaper...

www.cheap-car-rental.com is one of our standards.... for your dates the "IFAR" (Intermediate SUV.. exampled as a Jeep Liberty) is quoted as USD$855... or if you need something bigger USD$1134 for a Jeep Cherokee-ish vehicle ...

But... are you sure you NEED an "SUV"? The best way IMO to "do" Monument Valley is to take one of the "Jeep" tours offered there... as you simply are not allowed to drive very far in anyway...

drron... I tried that site.. and it wanted me to log in with some sort of TA ID???? Any idea how to get in there?

Trooper, that rental site is still more expensive than National direct, by about $200 for the month I looked at. (middle of Jan through to middle of Feb)

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

Thanks everyone..decided at this stage to go with National for 20 days with GPS. Road Side Assistance came out as AUD $1406.00 quite a few hundred dollars difference than the others including Drive Away.com. Interestingly though the other day my husband got a quote from National for all the above and it was $1978.00..today $1406.05 (AUD $)...so in January will try another go at booking and see what the cost comes out as. Believe that National is the sister company of Alamo and Alamo were more expensive too..why so much difference I wonder . Trip will be from LAX to Barstow to Lake Havasu to Vegas, Page, the Canyon/Monument Valley, Kingman, Palm Springs, San Diego/La Jolla and back to LA, I think we just feel a bit safer in an SUV on the road and will have a fair bit of luggage to cart around too.

 

[clifford]

Well Noreen, good luck with whatever you choose.

As for me I always use Cheap flights, hotels, holidays and car hire from netflights.com - 1.0.2.62 for car rentals in the USA. They include everything and are the cheapest as well. I rented an SUV off them last week at LAX.

Just did a quote on their website (you can do it too). GBP 475 for the 20 days, all inclusive (that's approx AUD 865). They use Thrifty and Dollar and I can personally vouch for them (they are a part of the Thomas Cook group).

 

[Febs]

so the one thing I always ensure I have is "CDW/LDW" I decline all other supplementary insurances...

You know that third party (aka "LIS") isn't included in the CDW/LDW though, right? If you're only taking out the CDW/LDW and you don't have any personal insurance (travel insurance usually won't cover you for this, as there's no concept of an "excess"), then you're not covered if you hit something expensive like a Bentley...

Cheers,
- Febs.

 

[straitman]

The car hire page on the Netflights web site appears to be functional again.

Noreen,

Several of us have used Netflights in the past for car hire and they have always been good and I have used them in the USA and had excellent results. You pay in English pounds but that is no issue and the insurance etc inclusions are excellent.

 

[serfty]

Hmmm ... the cost of a rental I was looking at has increased - Thrifty is up to £45 from £26

 

[lovestotravel]

Thanks everyone..decided at this stage to go with National for 20 days with GPS. Road Side Assistance came out as AUD $1406.00 quite a few hundred dollars difference than the others including Drive Away.com.

For that price I assume you haven't taken any of the insurance options ?
You also don't seem to be quoting the extra taxes and charges which you will pay.

20 days with National for a "Midsize SUV" came out at $1631 USD
With Insurance $1948.22

Hertz for 20 days for a Midsize SUV costs WITH Insurance costs $1458

As others have said I am yet to find any insurance policy that will cover you unless you take out insurance with the rental company.

Therefore you need to add insurance to your quote.

 

[Maca44]

Remember that netflights has the following in their T&C's
Car Hire Conditions
Additional Items and Charges

Amendments & Cancellations

A £50.00GBP charge applies for amendments and cancellations.
These charges will apply in all circumstances without exception, and cannot be waived.

 

[lovestotravel]

The car hire page on the Netflights web site appears to be functional again.

Several of us have used Netflights in the past for car hire and they have always been good and I have used them in the USA and had excellent results. You pay in English pounds but that is no issue and the insurance etc inclusions are excellent.

20 days for a Midsize SUV $931 Australian WITH insurance

Pretty good price :mrgreen:

 

[auriga]

Glad to see netflights are back!

Another option is to use the car companies UK sites to book. The prepay rates can be very attractive... in fact very close to netflights!

 

[OzGrant]

Have a look a

traveljigsaw dot com dot au
www dot uscarhire dot co dot uk

I have used both of them regularly in the last 3 years. All insurance is included, apart from PAI which your own travel insurance covers.

It's hard to beat TravelJigsaw on pricing.

Both are UK brokers and use Alamo, Budget and Dollar. Usacarhire bill in Pounds. I find calling TravelJigsaw usually gets you another 5% off the internet rate.

Tip for LAX. Alamo shuttle busses seam to pickup / dropoff more often at the terminals compared to other care rental companies.

Comes in handy when you are running late, to catch your flight

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

For that price I assume you haven't taken any of the insurance options ?
You also don't seem to be quoting the extra taxes and charges which you will pay.

20 days with National for a "Midsize SUV" came out at $1631 USD
With Insurance $1948.22

Hertz for 20 days for a Midsize SUV costs WITH Insurance costs $1458

As others have said I am yet to find any insurance policy that will cover you unless you take out insurance with the rental company.

Therefore you need to add insurance to your quote.

Thanks but as you can see from the below this was the quote in US & AUD $$, I will check our credit card insurance again with ANZ but thought we would have been covered for LDW etc now I am confused and like I said in my prev mail that we received two different quotes days apart and there was a huge difference...so do I now have a dilemna ? I will today check out all the other suggestions from the others too

...................................................................................................

Unlimited distance-time & distance Included
(20) Loss damage waiver full Included
(20) Supplemental liability insurance Included
Customer facility charge Included
Concession recoup fee 10.60 pct Included
Tourism fee 3.5 pct Included
Sales tax (10.250%) $51.53 Included
Guaranteed Base Rate Included
Unlimited Miles Included

Sub total.....................................................$957.95

Special Equipment:
(1) Gps Navigation Device ($11.99/day; $69.65/week; $179.99/max Amt) $179.99

Coverages:
Loss Damage Waiver Full $0.00
Roadside Plus $99.80
Supplemental Liability Insurance $0.00

Surcharges:
Concession Recoup Fee 10.60 Pct $29.66

Taxes:
Sales Tax (10.250%) $21.49

Total Estimate..............................................$1,288.89
(Country of Residence: AU) (AUD)
Approximate Estimated Conversion: $1,406.05

 

[drron]

Noreen you are covered and that is quite a good price.Although i use one of the prepay sites generally I do always check the rental agencies direct as sometimes you do for some reason get a great price.I on 1 occasion did deal direct with Hertz as they didnt charge a drop off fee so saved $500 on the rental.The day before i booked and when i checked a week later they were nearly $1000 dearer than the price I booked.Put it down to yield management and needing to relocate a car.
However if your booking can be cancelled do check the prepaid sites in the New Year.usually some time in January they will have Earlybird deals which can be at a significant discount.