-
Can anyone share tips on renting a 7-seater in Spain for next summer? Collection and drop-off at BCN.
Can someone help please?
I am looking to hire a car abroad. I am a supplementary on an Amex plat.
1. When I book, if I opt out for CDW and Tp, am I covered by Amex insurance fully?
2. Do I need to pay with the amex plat(supp)? It is pay on collection and better to use a non fx card to payCan someone help please?
I am looking to hire a car abroad. I am a supplementary on an Amex plat.
1. When I book, if I opt out for CDW and Tp, am I covered by Amex insurance fully?
2. Do I need to pay with the amex plat(supp)? It is pay on collection and better to use a non fx card to payFor any insurance questions, you really want to read your policy yourself as you won’t be able to rely on any random response to get Amex to pay a claim. If you look under the heading ‘Eligibility’ you will see the car hire section isn’t one of those that require use of the card.
Just found this thread through todays post.
Have to say, Rhys hilton option is coming out tops! I have access to travel industry rates as well but I’m getting 11 days rental for the price of a week elsewhere.
Thanks Rhys
Just found this thread through todays post.
Have to say, Rhys hilton option is coming out tops! I have access to travel industry rates as well but I’m getting 11 days rental for the price of a week elsewhere.
Thanks Rhys
For the benefit of those with short memories (like me) this is referring to @Rhys tip in this thread from 30 December 2021:
I have found the cheapest deals by going via the Hilton car rental portal. Got me the cheapest rates in the US and Santorini, oddly
What does the Hilton car rental portal show as for the credit card transaction? Would it trigger a Hilton offer or Cashback?
DP on Avis wierdness. Trying to book a shortish rental at MCO. Carhireba will only offer Budget not Avis.
Tried every AWD code that I could find on the Avis site and result was zero discount for any of them. Then tried the BA discount AWDs for Bronze/Silver/Gold and got no cars available message for each one, so they’re blocking BA AWDs for some reason.
Ended up going for the 10% Amazon gift card offer and hopefully 4 x at PAW.
Wanted to go Sixt on the the two FL rentals but their rates have gone through the roof. 10 days has gone from £260 to £480 in the last couple of weeks, where Avis stayed at £255. Hope I don’t regret it as the reviews for all Avis Miami locations are abysmal.
We had fantastic service from Avis at Key West and FLL last Christmas. Got an amazing upgrade from a Chevrolet saloon to a Cadillac SUV, and they changed our drop-off location from MIA to MCO free of charge and without quibble.
We had fantastic service from Avis at Key West and FLL last Christmas. Got an amazing upgrade from a Chevrolet saloon to a Cadillac SUV, and they changed our drop-off location from MIA to MCO free of charge and without quibble.
Yes but KW isn’t Miami! I need to drive from Miami to KW. Avis locations are normally great but go read the reviews on all the Miami ones (Budget reviews too). And I would refuse that kind of upgrade, for me it would be really inappropriate due to the fact I don’t like SUVs.
Anyway this gets stranger. I went through the main avis home page, get to the payment page, logged in as Avis Preferred and it told me on the payment page I was BA Silver and gave me the 15% discount. So may in the end be a triple dip, Amazon 10%, 15% BA Silver and PAW
Well I have to admit we decided to avoid Miami altogether on that trip as the local news reports made it look horrendous! We felt like we’d really lucked out, we love the space you get in an SUV (there were 3 of us plus a lot of luggage), but prices were so high when we originally booked we settled on the largest saloon, which was half the price they wanted for an SUV at that time!
I’m a bit :-/ on “upgrade” to SUV as well.
Ordinary saloon cars of the Camry/Elantra type from Avis US have always been fine. Stood and banged on the desk (*asked politely) for my upgrade last time and got a Jeep SUV that was absolutely vile. Wasn’t that they gave me a broken one – it was almost brand new – just a horrible car.
Avis Austin offered me a lovely Kia Sportage, only issue was the same as with most of the SUVs, no load cover. I tend to park at trail heads and various places where my luggage would be on full display. SUVs guzzle more gas, and when you expect to do 2500 miles on a trip there’s a real cost to that “free upgrade” to a vehicle they want rid of on my one way rental.
I would refuse the jeep.
After specifically reserving and paying in advance for a ford hybrid saloon at SFO I was told they had none. I politely retorted that I’d just walked past three of them in the garage and would the nice lady check again… miraculously she found one.
Car rental must be one of the only areas of retail business where the customer doesn’t get what they paid for 9 times out of 10
I feel I bang in about this but in the US at large airport locations National are really good. Once you get Executive status you can just select from an aisle of cars. Often a lot of SUVs and trucks, but that’s the US for you, but in my somewhat limited experience there’s always a couple of proper cars too.
I’m sure I originally got Executive status from a World Elite Mastercard which many have.
Whilst I believe Avis have a limited version of this choose your own car thing, it’s much less available in reality, where for National it’s their typical operation.Unfortunately Enterorise/National have some of the highest one way drop off fees in the US, Avis typically are anywhere from zero up to $200 and most of my rentals are long distance one way across multiple states.
I don’t mind an SUV if I know I’ll be in bad roads, but let’s be honest, they’re a fashion choice and the driving experience is poor compared to a decent saloon. I don’t consider them an upgrade in any way. That’s unless you’re replacing a ropey US saloon (US “concept of luxury” = just make your bad car even bigger) with a well put together German SUV…
Just returned from a MIA trip, Usual carnage at return, about 50 cars in the lot infront of us, 2 agents doing the checking, and the couple ahead having been there 25 minutes already and no sign of being any nearer the actual agents. Given the state of MIA and the number of people around, we just left the car in the queue and went off to check in. Lo and behold a few days later, the invoice from Avis including $13.99 refuelling charge, apparently fuel only on 7/8 full and 1 mile more than we left it on. Very odd, especially the mileage as it’s usually copied down in situ as part of the check, but as I say it was very busy. Fortunately I’d taken a photo of the dash before leaving it, very much full. All sorted after a few days emails, but a little suspiciously like profiteering?
Not all SUVs are the same, you know! In this case it was a $60k Cadillac XT6 and we found it wonderful to drive and incredibly comfortable. The raised driving position and larger size I find very important in the US where you’re going to be on multi-lane highways surrounded by pick-up trucks and other gargantuan vehicles. We did over 1000 miles and only filled up twice – and with US fuel prices it didn’t exactly blow the holiday budget (that went on tipping … 😂)
All sorted after a few days emails, but a little suspiciously like profiteering?
Very much par for the course for Avis IME – there’s always some random charge after a rental but they’re pretty good at reversing them when challenged. I hate it but accept that it’s how it works – enough people don’t challenge the random extra charges that they’re effectively a subsidy of the diligent by the slack.
Unfortunately Enterorise/National have some of the highest one way drop off fees in the US, Avis typically are anywhere from zero up to $200 and most of my rentals are long distance one way across multiple states.
My one ways tend to be CA to AZ or NV so never a problem with one way fees.
In regard the vehicle debate it’s tricky, SUVs typically don’t drive well, they’re fine chewing up miles of freeway, but in cities can be a pain to drive and park, especially the stupidly large ones. Too often an upgrade is just a larger vehicle, not a better one. I had a VW Tiguan earlier this year, surprising how poor it was compared to European one, it’s just the US expectation of softer ride and handling, I don’t like it. Having said this, it was much better ride than a Chevy or Ford SUV. The luxury brand SUVs tend to be blinged interiors, which can be nice, but they don’t really drive any better than the mainstream brands.
Cars can be better to drive, but the US models don’t seem to be, agree with Dave that the properly hidden boot is vastly better than the exposed luggage in the back of an SUV. My personal pet hate is the Chrysler 300, an awful car. I still remain slightly bemused how how little room there can be in what seem huge vehicles.
Just returned from a MIA trip, Usual carnage at return, about 50 cars in the lot infront of us, 2 agents doing the checking, and the couple ahead having been there 25 minutes already and no sign of being any nearer the actual agents. Given the state of MIA and the number of people around, we just left the car in the queue and went off to check in. Lo and behold a few days later, the invoice from Avis including $13.99 refuelling charge, apparently fuel only on 7/8 full and 1 mile more than we left it on. Very odd, especially the mileage as it’s usually copied down in situ as part of the check, but as I say it was very busy. Fortunately I’d taken a photo of the dash before leaving it, very much full. All sorted after a few days emails, but a little suspiciously like profiteering?
There’s a thread on Flyertalk about this. A lot of newer cars have some limited comms with the Avis backend systems. If you check the app during a rental you’ll possibly see the mileage and fuel levels. I was recently given a Suburban (size of a one bed flat), the fuel gauge on the dash was definitely full on collection. After I filled it up, pump clicked off as full, I checked the app within a few minutes and it supposedly had 1.7 Gallons more fuel than when I collected it. https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35767225-post21.html shows an image from the app if anyone should be interested. Both on collection and after fill, the dash gauge showed full.
Avis definitely do telemetry from some/most cars to the back end systems. Last drop at phoenix was scanned with a handheld that he pointed at the windscreen and it recorded fuel and mileage and I was “good to go”.
I still remain slightly bemused how how little room there can be in what seem huge vehicles.
Yes!
The Jeep Grand Tinypenis manages to be both large, and also too small for my legs to fit comfortably while driving[0], at the same time. It’s an absolute miracle of design, I don’t know how they do it.
[0] I am neither fat nor unusually large and fit very comfortably in a Smart ForFour
Hertz Points zeroing; i assume many others may have found their balance zeroed by the nice people at Hertz changing the activity requirement from 18 months to 12 months with no warning.
In case it helps anyone, I persevered with their Customer Service (in Colorado?) and they reinstated my points but I forgot to ask the new expiry date. Looking on Flyertalk, several people reckon it’s 31-Dec-23 for them so I’m just off to collect a £30 1 day rental.
Next thing will be trying to use the points, I’ve never managed this, is it just trial and error on the App or am I missing soemthing? 🙂
looking for a car hire from Lyon in April next year, the best price I can find is via booking.com with Thrifty but the excess is for damage is huge. booking direct is more than double.
Is this where an insurance against the excess comes in useful – or am I miss-understanding how it works ? I’ve never felt the need before but seen them recommended on here a number of times – any recommendations on a good company to use ? (No platinum amex right now, two years not up till October 24).Just found this thread through todays post.
Have to say, Rhys hilton option is coming out tops! I have access to travel industry rates as well but I’m getting 11 days rental for the price of a week elsewhere.
Thanks Rhys
For the benefit of those with short memories (like me) this is referring to @Rhys tip in this thread from 30 December 2021:
I have found the cheapest deals by going via the Hilton car rental portal. Got me the cheapest rates in the US and Santorini, oddly
I also just found that the hilton car rental comes out cheapest of all options i tried so far…
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
