Road Tripping in the USA!

Roland Butter · 2 May 2017 at 15:55

Got my hire car yesterday in Vegas, I was promised a Altima but ended up with a choice of Camry , Malibu or Fusion.

I had done all the research on the Altima, but knew eff all about the other 3, 5 minutes to choose the car you'll drive
5000 miles in in the next two weeks ?

I chose the Malibu but should have chosen the Fusion.
I was so annoyed, the Malibu doesn't even have a goddamn 3.5mm socket for my MP3 player or a ****** CD player [ Aaaaarrgghhh ]

Booking via voucher is a bit cheaper [ watch out for taxes and fees added when you pick up the car ] but the
choice of vehicle is a bit of a lottery, you get what is left on the lot.

Anyway, onwards to Monument Valley and we'll see how good the Malibu's suspension is
[ mwah haha ]

[TW]Fox · 2 May 2017 at 15:58

That's always how it works, with the exception of guaranteed rates for more special cars nobody is going to guarantee you something as mundane as an Altima, it's just an example.

Howard · 2 May 2017 at 16:05

Orlando in first two weeks of October (Saturday to Saturday) for £557 with Norwegian Air... Book now or wait?

nitram100 · 3 May 2017 at 12:05

Hoping for a bit of advice guys.

June 1st to 27th road tripping with girl and her sister around south west. Picking up a car in Oakland, CA airport from Budget.

I have paid the full amount of £1209. Now, my question is and I can't get a definitive answer, even from Budget! Is how much are the going to hold on my credit card when I collect the car? There is a $0 excess CDW and it states

"The credit card authorization hold at the time of rental which at most locations will be the cost of the estimated rental charges or $200 dollars whichever is greater. Those funds will not be available for use until the vehicle has been returned and your financial institution has released the funds back to your account."

So wtf , does that mean they are going to hold another £1209 on my credit card? I really don't understand at all.

Thanks for any help, I've emailed them again asking what they mean by 'rental charges'

OllyM · 3 May 2017 at 14:26

Does it really matter what hold they put on your card, unless you have a tiny credit limit?

Roland Butter · 4 May 2017 at 06:04

It's purely as an insurance in case you renege on any contractual agreement e.g. not returning the car
with a full tank of gas.

I wouldn't worry about it. They don't literally remove money from your account at the
start of the rental and replace it at the termination.

The fact that they have your credit card details is enough, it's merely a form of security.

That's why they treat people who don't have a credit card as a lifeform lower than pond life.

Rids · 6 May 2017 at 12:40

Just about to book the hire car for our roadttrip in October. Have seen usrentacar.co.uk spoken of well here so planning on using them - one query I have if anybody can enlighten me - looking at the Gold package as we have 3 people who will be taking turns in driving so - should I be looking at the platinum package? Only differences that I see are Windscreen / Tyre and Undercarriage cover, is this worth a £45 price difference in your experience? What would you go for?

Thanks

Peerzy · 8 May 2017 at 12:05

nitram100 said:
Hoping for a bit of advice guys.

June 1st to 27th road tripping with girl and her sister around south west. Picking up a car in Oakland, CA airport from Budget.

Isn't that a bit.... odd?

Rids said:
Just about to book the hire car for our roadttrip in October. Have seen usrentacar.co.uk spoken of well here so planning on using them - one query I have if anybody can enlighten me - looking at the Gold package as we have 3 people who will be taking turns in driving so - should I be looking at the platinum package? Only differences that I see are Windscreen / Tyre and Undercarriage cover, is this worth a £45 price difference in your experience? What would you go for?

Thanks

It's an insurance product really so completely up to you. I never bother and have driven roughly 12,000 miles in the US over the past 3 years and never had a windscreen or tyre issue. Equally you could get a puncture 1 mile into your trip.

Roland Butter · 8 May 2017 at 15:57

Indeed, I've driven over 45,000 miles in the US over the last 10 years and the worst calamity was a tyre that had a very slow leak.

These are 1 to 2 year old cars with regular servicing, they don't break down, as for punctures, some don't have spare wheels at all, some have
skinny emergency wheels.

You takes your chances, frankly at $7 per day for Roadside Assisstance I'd rather spend that on something more fun.

nitram100 · 8 May 2017 at 18:45

Peerzy said:
Isn't that a bit.... odd?

Haha, nah it works out well as we all love travelling, get on really well and saves cash when more people contribute. I've been to Ibiza with my brothers fiance.. now that was probably more odd haha.

Thanks for the info guys, reason I was asking is that my card does indeed have a small limit, only 1500 GBP and £500 of that I've already used to book a lot of the hotels.

I'll make sure there is a £1000 on there for the deposit just to make sure.

Thanks guys

[TW]Fox · 8 May 2017 at 19:34

That seems like a very low credit limit for a trip like that. You really should look into an alternative card.

nitram100 · 8 May 2017 at 19:42

Nah it's ok, just using the credit card for a few hotels. The main bulk of my cash is on my Caxton, about £2500.

NickXX · 9 May 2017 at 13:23

nitram100 said:
Nah it's ok, just using the credit card for a few hotels. The main bulk of my cash is on my Caxton, about £2500.

What happens if you lose a card like that? Why not use a credit card?

Jez · 9 May 2017 at 13:26

^^ interested to understand the benefits of a pre paid card like that over a regular fee free credit card. Surely a fee free regular credit card is far easier (You dont have to load it or watch the balance ready to load more onto it, and unload it afterwards), and more secure?

Peerzy · 9 May 2017 at 14:09

nitram100 said:
Haha, nah it works out well as we all love travelling, get on really well and saves cash when more people contribute.

Does it really save that much money? 3 lots of flights, food, drink and attractions means it's the exact same cost for those. Hotels - are you planning on sharing a room with your GFs sister? If not then won't having 2 rooms between 3 people cost more per person than 1 room between 2? Car rental will be split 3 ways but surely you are looking at a few hundred pounds saving? I'd much rather just got for 3 weeks and with my GFs sister?

Jez said:
^^ interested to understand the benefits of a pre paid card like that over a regular fee free credit card. Surely a fee free regular credit card is far easier (You dont have to load it or watch the balance ready to load more onto it, and unload it afterwards), and more secure?

There are no benefits over something like a Halifax Clarity.

nitram100 · 9 May 2017 at 14:11

Because my credit card is a bit rubbish and charges 2.99% per transaction or something like that when used abroad.

nitram100 · 9 May 2017 at 14:14

Peerzy said:
Does it really save that much money? 3 lots of flights, food, drink and attractions means it's the exact same cost for those. Hotels - are you planning on sharing a room with your GFs sister? If not then won't having 2 rooms between 3 people cost more per person than 1 room between 2? Car rental will be split 3 ways but surely you are looking at a few hundred pounds saving? I'd much rather just got for 3 weeks and with my GFs sister?

Yeh will be saving quite a lot to be fair as all 3 of us are sharing rooms with two double beds so have managed to save a lot and another problem is the car we got Mustang Cabrio will just about hold 3 peoples luggage let alone 4.

Peerzy · 9 May 2017 at 14:35

nitram100 said:
Because my credit card is a bit rubbish and charges 2.99% per transaction or something like that when used abroad.

So why don't you get the Halfix Clarity CC? It's free, fee free for foreign spend and you can even withdraw cash from an ATM. It'll cover you for fraud and you won't lose £2500 when you leave the card somewhere. Best of all you get the Mastercard exchange rate at the time of spend so there is no hedging the exchange rate with a prepaid card.

As an added bonus at the moment Halifax will give you £20 credit for using your card abroad once before the end of September.

Failing that there are other cards like the Nationwide Select CC which is the same as the Halifax but uses the Visa rate.

nitram100 said:
Yeh will be saving quite a lot to be fair as all 3 of us are sharing rooms with two double beds

Each to their own but that sounds rubbish.

nitram100 · 9 May 2017 at 16:18

Cheers for the helpful advice buddy, I'm with Nationwide so may be worth giving them a try? Although only have 3 weeks left!

The banter the 3 of us have is great so kind of looking forward to it!

Peerzy · 9 May 2017 at 16:25

nitram100 said:
Cheers for the helpful advice buddy, I'm with Nationwide so may be worth giving them a try? Although only have 3 weeks left!

The banter the 3 of us have is great so kind of looking forward to it!

I would be applying for a Nationwide Select CC today and ditching the silly idea of taking a prepaid card. 3 weeks *should* be enough time for the application to be processed and the card delivered.