Booking car with flights - flights 24.5 hours apart is two days' rental.

[Warks]

I usually book flights interstate overnight arriving around 10-11 and departing around the same time the next day to minimise the car hire/rental costs to one day. However if I book through the airline which has the best prices sometimes it uses my flight arrival and departure times to work out the charges. So if my flight arrives at 1130 and departs the next day at 1200 it charges for two days' car rental. This is using Virgin's site. Can't comment on QF lately.

There's no way to modify the times to make it one day's hire so I usually just cancel the car and book it through the car hire company's website which can be more expensive. My question is would Hertz/Thrifty/Europcar charge me for the time I actually had the car or would they use the times I booked? There should be some overlap as obviously I don't get straight off the plane and into the car although it's pretty quick. On departure though I'd always be there around an hour before flying so I'd be well inside the time.

It's a question of convenience I guess plus not wanting to be ripped off.

 

[Blackbird]

Book it with the rental company and input your FF number.

 

[harvyk]

Time booked will most likely be the charge. However why not simply book it direct with the car hire company? Unless I'm missing something they will still allow you to collect FF points for bookings.

As a side note, it seems strange that they won't let you adjust your booking for times which suit yourself. I know that I don't always want a car the full time I'm at a destination (when in big cities cars can be a liability not an asset).

 

[jetpack]

I believe they start counting from when you collect the car keys. The time the clock stops upon return may depend on whether you hand the keys back to a person or drop it in a drop box. Anyway if you don't want to return it early I believe some hire car companies have a 29 minute grace period.

 

[Warks]

Book it with the rental company and input your FF number.

Yes this is what I normally do but it's easy to do both together on booking the flights especially if the price beats what I can get through the car rental company. It should NOT be an issue though. If I could just alter the pick up and drop off times. Their loss. Just another nail.

 

[Warks]

I believe they start counting from when you collect the car keys. The time the clock stops upon return may depend on whether you hand the keys back to a person or drop it in a drop box. Anyway if you don't want to return it early I believe some hire car companies have a 29 minute grace period.

Usually they are pretty good about this. I was just wondering if they'd insist on the full cost as that's what the booking said - 24.5 hours = two days. I think I might be able to have it sorted out on pick up. Good luck on return in some locations though, there's no one around so the keys just get dropped in the box.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I usually book flights interstate overnight arriving around 10-11 and departing around the same time the next day to minimise the car hire/rental costs to one day. However if I book through the airline which has the best prices sometimes it uses my flight arrival and departure times to work out the charges. So if my flight arrives at 1130 and departs the next day at 1200 it charges for two days' car rental. This is using Virgin's site. Can't comment on QF lately.

There's no way to modify the times to make it one day's hire so I usually just cancel the car and book it through the car hire company's website which can be more expensive. My question is would Hertz/Thrifty/Europcar charge me for the time I actually had the car or would they use the times I booked? There should be some overlap as obviously I don't get straight off the plane and into the car although it's pretty quick. On departure though I'd always be there around an hour before flying so I'd be well inside the time.

It's a question of convenience I guess plus not wanting to be ripped off.

Do you need to pre-pay the car rental through VA or is it just a reservation only which is paid direct to the car rental company? If pre-paid that would be a PITA as you'd have to try and obtain a refund for one day whereas reservation only you could have the pick up and drop off times adjusted so the rental is under 24 hours.

The time your rental starts should be time stamped on your rental agreement so if your flight arrives at 1130 by the time you get to baggage claim then the car rental counter etc it's probably going to be 1145-1200 ish so as long as the car was returned and scanned in at a time prior to the pick up time the day prior you should be fine.

Once upon a time car rental companies eg Hertz used to give you a 59 minute grace period

 

[oz_mark]

I nearly always book through the car rental company itself (although sometimes I have found Cartrawler via Virgin to be cheaper). In this case, you can always adjust the times to be realistic as you won't be picking it up at the landing time, or dropping it off at takeoff time.

Typically they will charge on the booked period. While there is a grace period, I think it has narrowed a bit for some companies down to 29 minutes.

 

[odysseus]

Yes, I wouldn't rely on pick-up/dropoff times as being the determinant. My understanding is they would go by reservations times if you return early, or pickup late.

In the same vein there have been complaints elsewhere where people may book for 3 days, and return in two, but then still be charged for 3 (or have rates adjusted achieving same result i.e. dearer rate for shorter bookings than longer).

 

[JohnK]

Once upon a time car rental companies eg Hertz used to give you a 59 minute grace period

The 1 hour grace used to be good if you were running a little late. Now as mentioned most car rental companies give you 30 minute grace.