Road Tripping in the USA!

We got free car hire through Virgin holidays for next month . I think we have a 7 seater like a dodge caravan . The insurance for 28 days was not including CDW etc so that was an extra £600 .
 
Free hire cars through packages are a con, it's usually better to ignore the free car and book your own. USA trips are not worth booking through tour companies.
 
[TW]Fox;25101512 said:
USA trips are not worth booking through tour companies.
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Unless the President of the USA has a hissy fit about not getting unlimited spending, all the state run parks & museums you want to go to are closed, and your self arranged trip doesn't have insurance to cover it :p.


(Normally I'd agree and have arranged the USA & Canada trips ourselves rather than tour companies)
 
[TW]Fox;25101512 said:
Free hire cars through packages are a con, it's usually better to ignore the free car and book your own. USA trips are not worth booking through tour companies.
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To book flights , villa and car worked out cheaper just going through Virgin .
 
Westyfield2 said:
Unless the President of the USA has a hissy fit about not getting unlimited spending, all the state run parks & museums you want to go to are closed, and your self arranged trip doesn't have insurance to cover it :p.
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You honestly think if you booked a USA trip inc flights, accomodation and car hire through a travel agent or tour operator you'd get a full refund because the national parks are closed?!

Best thing I've read all day, that :D
 
[TW]Fox;25102880 said:
You honestly think if you booked a USA trip inc flights, accomodation and car hire through a travel agent or tour operator you'd get a full refund because the national parks are closed?!

Best thing I've read all day, that :D
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Of course not a full refund as there's more to the place than just the state run parks... but I'd be pretty ****** off about it all if I'd been planning/saving for a while and then stuff was just 'shut'!
 
Westyfield2 said:
Of course not a full refund as there's more to the place than just the state run parks... but I'd be pretty ****** off about it all if I'd been planning/saving for a while and then stuff was just 'shut'!
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So would I but I have no idea what your point is, you'd be equally affected by that whether you'd booked everything yourself or through a travel agent :confused:
 
[TW]Fox;25102877 said:
No it didn't because as you've discovered you've now got to pay at least £600 more for insurance on your 'inclusive' hire car :p
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Don't have to pay it as it comes with basic insurance as it is , So the CDW etc is optional on top .

We just paid £5700 for the following for 4 weeks for 6 people as a package
5 bedroom villa -
7 seater (including the CDW that we paid extra for as it was optional)
Flights with virgin

Flights alone would have been £3300 , Car alone with insurance would have been £897 with additional driver and a 5 bedroom villa was coming in at £750 a week . So the total would have been £7197 .
 
Skywalker said:
Don't have to pay it as it comes with basic insurance as it is , So the CDW etc is optional on top .
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You pretty much do have to pay it because CDW is essential for renting in the US, the financial consequences of not doing so are quite harsh (Which you obviously agree with or you'd not have paid some £600 for CDW). Most UK based rental agencies refuse to rent cars to UK citizens booking from the UK without offering them a rate which includes CDW as a result. It's a known 'scam' from holiday companies to throw in a 'free' hire car only to then result in you paying a fortune for insurance.
 
Yes I know you are a little slow if you don't take the CDW because of what may happen but there are plenty of people that probably don't add the CDW on and take the free hire with basic insurance . But as you can see above the "free" car hire works out £297 cheaper by taking the "free" option then adding the CDW .
 
Skywalker said:
Yes I know you are a little slow if you don't take the CDW because of what may happen but there are plenty of people that probably don't add the CDW on and take the free hire with basic insurance . But as you can see above the "free" car hire works out £297 cheaper by taking the "free" option then adding the CDW .
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You'd be mad not to take it!

The reason it's not included on US policies is because Americans can use their own car insurance on rental cars.
 
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