Car Rentals -- Any good tips?

[mikephoen]

Thanks for all the help so far!

Someone asked which island, and I'll be flying in to the Kona airport, which is on 'the big island', I guess. It will be my first trip to Hawaii, so I'm not very familiar with the different islands.

I don't think I want to try Turo, for the same reasons I avoid Airbnb. Amateurs doing the jobs of professionals means some times it goes great, and some times it's a complete disaster.

I'd prefer a German brand car, because that's what I prefer in my day to day life, and I have even less desire to drive something crappy on vacation. I'll do it if the price difference is too extreme though.

I've had a couple PMs with some discount codes/tips as well, so extra thanks for those guys!

[Fuzz]

Are you planning on driving up to the top of the volcano? I think you need a 4x4. Check with the rental company on that if they allow it. We had to take a crappy Jeep. Saw a 2wd really struggling.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Are you planning on driving up to the top of the volcano? I think you need a 4x4. Check with the rental company on that if they allow it. We had to take a crappy Jeep. Saw a 2wd really struggling.

We took a Nissan Versa up the Maui volcano. Pretty much was flooring it the whole way.

[Huntingwhale]

I'll mirror what Sureloss said about the insurance. Many cards do cover you. But you have to read the fine print. I recently just rented a car for an upcoming trip to Spain. My Visa Avion covers my insurance. But from what I have read, the card offers NO 3rd party liability coverage (someone correct me if I am wrong).

Also to be eligible for the card's coverage, you have to book the car with your credit card AND refuse the extra coverage the car rental company offers you. I interpret this as if you are covered with your card and you purchase additional coverage, you might have issues if a situation arises and you have double coverage. Your card's coverage might then be useless. However since you are supposed to refuse the company's coverage, what about additional 3rd party liability?

-Do most credit cards offer 3rd party liability coverage?

-To be covered by your card's insurance, you have to refuse the over the counter insurance at the check-in desk. What about 3rd party liability? If you accept this, are you still covered by your credit card?

Has someone here gone through this already? This is something that I will call in with Visa in the upcoming weeks to figure out. I'm not an insurance expert so I'm hoping to get clear picture of what I do/do not need but still be covered in case of an incident.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I'll mirror what Sureloss said about the insurance. Many cards do cover you. But you have to read the fine print. I recently just rented a car for an upcoming trip to Spain. My Visa Avion covers my insurance. But from what I have read, the card offers NO 3rd party liability coverage (someone correct me if I am wrong).

Also to be eligible for the card's coverage, you have to book the car with your credit card AND refuse the extra coverage the car rental company offers you. I interpret this as if you are covered with your card and you purchase additional coverage, you might have issues if a situation arises and you have double coverage. Your card's coverage might then be useless. However since you are supposed to refuse the company's coverage, what about additional 3rd party liability?

-Do most credit cards offer 3rd party liability coverage?

-To be covered by your card's insurance, you have to refuse the over the counter insurance at the check-in desk. What about 3rd party liability? If you accept this, are you still covered by your credit card?

Has someone here gone through this already? This is something that I will call in with Visa in the upcoming weeks to figure out. I'm not an insurance expert so I'm hoping to get clear picture of what I do/do not need but still be covered in case of an incident.

These are all good questions that I also will need to investigate. I tend to go for CCs that have no annual fees, but those also tend to have none of the bells and whistles that come with fees, like insurance. Historically, this has been good for me as I wouldn't have taken advantage of any of these, but in this case I might be on the hood for the rental agencies various goon fees.

[Amethyst]

Check with your regular car insurance. It might cover rentals - mine does.

[sureLoss]

From my research on car rental insurance:

Most Visa cards will cover collision damage up to a certain amount on rental cars. Like $40k or $50k it may depend on your card. My understanding is that this service is provided by VISA and not individual banks, so it may apply to most cards, your personal insurance may also provide this coverage. This will cover damage to the rental car.

My understanding is that VISA will not cover 3rd party liability in any way. 3rd party liability coverage protects you in the case you do damage to someone else's property or hurt others while driving your rental car. This is where you want your personal auto insurance to cover you, especially for the US where there are personal injury lawyers hiding in bushes waiting to sue the pants off someone.

[Ryan Coke]

I’d definitely check your personal vehicle insurance and get it added if it isn’t already on there. It’d still probably be cheaper than getting insurance through the rental company.

[Huntingwhale]

Nice, thanks for the info. I'll call both my insurance company and Visa just to confirm. For now, it looks like Visa will cover everything except 3rd party, and 3rd party will come from my own insurance company. Once I get it all sorted out, I'll update this thread.

[DoubleF]

I just added the insurance recently. The car rental insurance on your regular car insurance I believe is called the SEF 27 endorsement. I think it's something like an extra $40 per year and covers a few things that aren't covered by most credit cards. IIRC, some credit cards cover damage to your own vehicle only and have some caveats how it won't cover you in the event you need a replacement vehicle or costs to deal with dealing with a wonky rental car. I read my credit card coverage recently and I was surprised to essentially find out I'm barely covered. However, I do think the credit card will be ok working along side rental car insurance add on for your auto insurance as well as membership/benefits that cover travel and car rentals. However, really spend time to read the fine print as others have said.

I will say that Costco is not always the cheapest pricing, but I rarely bother checking elsewhere. No additional stupid fees for extra driver, any time free cancellations and unlimited mileage is great. IMO it's easily worth the extra $20-30 bucks (total on trip) for car rentals I occasion find. I believe you can also earn some type of rewards by registering your Aeroplan card to your Costco membership. Get that 2% rebate too if you have it.

An AMA membership also supposedly has some helpful travel benefits that can be used in the USA, but I've never needed to use it and I haven't looked up what it covers. I don't know if it covers general travel, travel of 125KM away from your home in your own car, or if car rentals are covered as well. I do think I read something that said the AMA membership covers you, not the vehicle you own.

[sa226]

Has anybody rented a car in Italy?

My research has revealed that it is one of 3 countries that credit card insurance is useless. Nit necessarily in a bad way. Apparently the rental companies including CDW, liability etc in their rates, but with an excess. So if something were to happen, you are covered, but have to pay the excess (about 1300 EUR for a small car)

So the only insurance options you can "prepay" is to buy "Zero excess coverage" through the company itself (expensive) or a third party.

So you damage the vehicle, the rental agency deducts the 1300 EUR excess from your credit card, then you make a claim for the 1300 with the 3rd party insurer.

This is how I understand things. Im a little wary of driving with crazy Italians and would prefer not to get screwed.

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[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by gasman

For Hawaii these guys were the best. You still end up getting through avis or discount, but it was way cheaper. At least it was 8 years ago

https://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com

I second this. They were still the best option in 2015 and 2016.

[Fuzz]

I rented in Italy a few years ago. Can't remember what I decided on for insurance...

They are a bit crazy but I found if you drove with confidence they were really good about giving you space to move where you need to. Hesitate for a moment though and they will take your space. I remember driving down this steep Mt Norquay like road, My Fiat Punto barely hanging on... behind me was a cube truck and it took all I had to keep speed in front of him. I have no idea how he stayed on the road!

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by sa226

Has anybody rented a car in Italy?

My research has revealed that it is one of 3 countries that credit card insurance is useless. Nit necessarily in a bad way. Apparently the rental companies including CDW, liability etc in their rates, but with an excess. So if something were to happen, you are covered, but have to pay the excess (about 1300 EUR for a small car)

So the only insurance options you can "prepay" is to buy "Zero excess coverage" through the company itself (expensive) or a third party.

So you damage the vehicle, the rental agency deducts the 1300 EUR excess from your credit card, then you make a claim for the 1300 with the 3rd party insurer.

This is how I understand things. Im a little wary of driving with crazy Italians and would prefer not to get screwed.

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I had a Fiat Panda driving around Cinqueterra and Tuscany. If you've ever seen the bumpers of a car in a major Italian city, you'd be running for the rental coverage they sell you. That and some of those narrow twisting winding roads they have can easily lead to some off road excursions.

While I didn't have an incident, a friend did and it was a huge relief to toss the keys back and say "I have full coverage".

[sa226]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

I had a Fiat Panda driving around Cinqueterra and Tuscany. If you've ever seen the bumpers of a car in a major Italian city, you'd be running for the rental coverage they sell you. That and some of those narrow twisting winding roads they have can easily lead to some off road excursions.

While I didn't have an incident, a friend did and it was a huge relief to toss the keys back and say "I have full coverage".

So what coverage did you have? Did you just purchase from the rental desk?

3rd party coverage for zero excess is only 25$ for my rental period, but purchasing on the spot from the desk would probably run me 60 to 80 euro.

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[bob-loblaw]

My advice is to rent as soon as possible as it's way cheaper to do it now than later. We went to Maui for two weeks in July 2015 with the inlaws. I rented a Grand Caravan for the entire time for about $830 USD and I reserved it in January.
I'm not sure about European vehicles, but there were a ton of rental Mustang convertibles all over the place.
For insurance most credit cards cover you to some degree but I'd be willing to bet you're covered by an endorsement on your auto insurance. I've never bought insurance from the rental companies.