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Rental Car Advice

nb06

nb06

Active Member
Feb 5, 2007
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I am taking a vacation to California in September. We are flying into SFO and will be staying for a week.

I need to rent a car and wondered if anyone had any advice on the matter. I have never rented a car before so I was hoping to gain from others experience.

I am only 24 so I know that will cost me, but any other advice that can help me save a little money would be fantastic!!

Thanks!!
 
may want to double check this one, but I've heard some people say their regular car insurance covers a rental car and to not worry about paying their extra insurance. As I said, may want to check that, i haven't rented a car in about 4 years
 
I have rent cars through work and usually do National because it is the cheapest option and I am part of the Emerald Club which makes renting a car a breeze.

I just looked at the National rate and it looks like being 24 was an additional $25 a day. I would compare rental companies and see if you can get a good deal, but it looks like it would easily be almost $1000 which seems really expensive because this isn't even including gas in SF either.

Also I almost never get anything additional either. The only thing I have done is the refuel option when you return the car, but you need to pay attention to the rate. I have seen it as much $1.50/galloon more than the market rate. Also when you refuel it before taking it back, keep the receipt. I have been challenged because the guy didn't think it was on a full tank. He didn't make me pay anymore but I started keeping my last refuel receipt after this.
 
nb06 said:
I am taking a vacation to California in September. We are flying into SFO and will be staying for a week.

I need to rent a car and wondered if anyone had any advice on the matter. I have never rented a car before so I was hoping to gain from others experience.

I am only 24 so I know that will cost me, but any other advice that can help me save a little money would be fantastic!!

Thanks!!
Click to expand...

You must get a company discount or the rates are doubled.

Do you work for a company with rental car agreements?

If not, can you talk to your parents? The same last name is the key.
 
Normally I'm against getting the additional insurance but I recently bought it completely by accident and it really bailed me out.

Rented a Suburban on a recent vacation and backed it into a tree. No problem, I thought, my credit card will cover it. Oops, for some unknown reason I used my Discover card to make the reservation, which I never use, and they don't offer additional rental car coverage.

So I thought my personal insurance would cover it but I was going to be on the hook for a $1000 deductible, which was a bummer but not the end of the world.

Well about two weeks after I reported the accident to my insurance company, I got a pleasant call from them. Because I had last rented from National under my company's rate plan, they had automatically enrolled me in their Emerald Club and that entitled me to my company's contract plan for personal rentals. Fortunately, my company's contract INCLUDES insurance so my mishap didn't cost me a dime. Color me lucky.

Point is, as someone else alluded to, if there's any way you can rent the car under some type of employer plan you might find they won't gouge you for being 24 and it might include the insurance.
 
Lived there awhile and get back occasionally. Like most airports; lots of choices at SFO. Just check the regular companies. However as an alternative BART goes right to SFO. A great system and you can take to downtown. From downtown (Market Street) you can take San Francisco municipal Railroad (MUNI) everywhere. MUNI has light rail (totally separate from BART) and the normal buses.
A Car in SF is sometimes an impediment if you are doing stuff downtown.


nb06 said:
I am taking a vacation to California in September. We are flying into SFO and will be staying for a week.

I need to rent a car and wondered if anyone had any advice on the matter. I have never rented a car before so I was hoping to gain from others experience.

I am only 24 so I know that will cost me, but any other advice that can help me save a little money would be fantastic!!

Thanks!!
Click to expand...
 
I just got nailed by Dollar Rental company. I paid an upfront cost for the time with the car, then at the end of my trip they stuck me with $350 of underage fees, insurance coverages and a bunch of other bull.

I'd avoid renting if you can. Otherwise, get ready to wipe your chin and said thanks at the end of your trip.
 
Your credit card should cover insurance for the rental, no need to get it through them, double check tho. If you show up without a reservation you can haggle and find the best price between all the companies, but not as fast or easy that way, may not get what you want either, may not even with a reservation tho either.
 
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They also offer a loaner car service out there. We did that last time and took a BMW for the afternoon. Pretty good option if u don't need all the time.

I'll repost if I remember name of it.
 
Ditto on what everyone else about insurance. Make sure you're covered or buy it.

Mt one learning experience involved the pre-trip inspection. Mark all those little scuffs and dings down before you chek out of the lot with your ride (they give you a form to do this). I got into a tit-for-tat over a little door scuff that was there when I picked it up, but didn't mark because I thought it was so minor.

In the end I didn't have to pay anything but there were a few minutes at drop off that got a little dicey.
 
I recently rented through national with no problem. The under 25 fee wasn't bad but I only had the car for a day.
 
Reserve your car using one of the sites like Expedia. Right before you leave, check the rates again as they usually drop significantly the closer to the date that you get. Reserve the cheaper rate and cancel your previous reservation. In the past, I have gotten up to half off the original price by doing this.

I just checked my car that I reserved for Memorial Day weekend in Hartford, and the total price for 3 days has already drooped form $100 (reserved about 2 months ago) to $72.
 
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Definitely try to find a way to do it under a business/corporate account, or check for options outside the national chains. If you have any good friends who own a business, check with them. I needed to rent a car in NY when I was 24 and was going to get raped on the underage fees... I ended up setting up a corporate account with Dollar and got around it without much trouble--just had to fax a couple forms back and forth. They eventually cancelled my corporate discount since I wasn't using it enough, but by that point I was 25 so it didn't really matter.

Regarding insurance, check with your credit card company to make sure, but I believe most (all?) Visa/Mastercards offer rental car insurance coverage as long as you use that card to pay for the rental.
 
I rent cars many times per year for work. I checked with my insurance company to make sure I was covered for rentals. I think most people are, but you should check.

I've become a fan of pre-paying for tanks of gas. You buy the full tank (or whatever increment you want) at market value and return it without having to worry about filling up. Seems like a lot of airports don't have gas stations nearby, or they're more expensive, or you could just be running late. Enterprise does this and maybe others do too.
 
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