I've just picked up a hire car in Atlanta, and the situation with insurance and added extras is mind boggling. I did a bit of reading before I left, and took out separate cover for the car itself, but not any 3rd party liability, as I read that no matter what they tell you at the rental station, the company ARE OBLIGED to provide you with basic 3rd party insurance. I know that any extras offered should always be refused, but I'm now wondering whether I need to add anything on to my policy I took out to cover the vehicle, or whether the state insurance is enough. In 23 years of driving I've never had an at fault accident so I'm not overly worried, but I'd still like to know. Likewise, the guy at the rental station offered me some deal to prepay my tolls. As I was tired, not planning to use many toll roads, and my instict told me to refuse any extras offered, I told him I wouldn't bother either. Is it true that you can't use cash on US toll roads at all any more? I'm pretty sure that they can always be avoided, but he seemed insistent that in certain areas they can't. TIA
I'm planning to get off the highways and having just checked on Google there's only one route near Miami where skipping the toll road will add any significant time to my journey. What was the deal with insurance in Canada?
Spanish story. Two weeks ago I picked up a car at Alicante airport. I had booked it through Rentalcars.com and got a pretty good deal. Ford Focus for 7 days plus FULL PROTECTION was about £105. When I got to the Centauro desk at the airport I was told that I wasn’t fully covered and was persuaded to take out their insurance instead. With a very complicated fuel calculation policy on top I ended up spending about £220 on the hire including fuel. I think I fell victim to a bit of a scam there and it spoiled the holiday. Several emails have not resolved it and I don’t think I will be getting anything back
I don't see how the rental company can offer a deal to prepay tolls when they don't know where you're going. I get the impression though that most tolls are collected electronically, so presumably the charges will go to the rental company who will pay on your behalf and recharge you.
Doesn't mention tolls though, sorry. I know there were no tolls in Louisiana between Baton Rouge and New Orleans when I went recently
Most US tolls are cash free and are manned purely by camera. If you drive through one, the hire company will be billed and will kindly pass on the charge (usually a couple of dollars) with a hefty admin fee. I’ve paid an 11 quid charge on a fifty-cent toll before. Best thing to do is read up on toll locations and program a GPS to avoid. The prepay toll charge, particularly if its billed by Day, usually doesn’t make sense either.
I've just checked my route and there are indeed no tolls on it for the most part, so the rental guy's claims were b/s. However, if I were to be using the tolls in Florida a lot, it would have been a fair idea to have pre-paid the transponder, due to the insane administration charges. But then it sounds like there are several different transponder companies in Florida with different rules! Best just to avoid tolls full stop. As for the insurance issue, from what I have found out the car hire company is definitely obliged to provide 3rd party cover in Georgia and Florida, but I'm not sure about Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, where I'll also be. Any ideas?
I read ahead about added extras in Spain and ended up going for a slightly more expensive hire recommend by a friend with everything included, which worked out better. I've just taken out an annual policy for around £70 which covers me for up to £50,000 damage to the vehicle I'm driving. It doesn't cover 3rd party liability though.
Each state has their own rules, if it`s not too expensive I would cover yourself with extra 3rd party. The state of driving here in Michigan is awful, probably similar in the states you`ll be visiting.Phones are allowed while driving but not texting so kids are distracted and the amount of people that change lanes without looking is dam scary. Basically cover your ass!
I mean each state has their own rules like you say Florida has to provide 3rd party cover yet California might not. You may be able to text on your phone while driving in Texas but not in Michigan.It`s confusing,
Had a month driving over in the States a couple of years ago. I took out the extra cover for car before I went as you did. Never went on a toll road in the whole time. Was never in a rush but most freeways weren't toll anyway. Biggest laugh was in (I think) Virginia where signs say that speeding is patrolled by aircraft! Apparently that lasted about two months before they realised how much it was costing. They left the signs up. As for hire car in Europe. DO NOT PAY the rip off insurance at hire places. You can buy an annual excess policy in this country before you go for about £40 (or cheaper for a one off trip). They work - I've used them (even got the money back for the wreck of a car in the Ukraine for Euro 2012 !) Only drawback is giving your credit card number to cover the excess but that only gets used if you have any damage and then you claim it all back.
We've hired a car in Florida but didn't go through any tolls sorry. We had also read not to get any extras so we just paid the standard basic charge.
I've figured that I can do it all without tolls, all good! Once again just an attempted rip-off on a tired tourist from a car hire company. I think he figured quite quickly that I'm well travelled and had read up on my stuff, but tbh I didn't feel confident with the insurance issue as it's so random over there!
You're covering some mileage there. I landed at Orlando, went down the Atlantic Coast to the Keys and back up the Gulf side (going no further north than Daytona Beach) and hit 2,000 miles...