First time car renter - What should I know?

[16hypen3sp]

Hey all,

My gf and I are travelling to the Southern U.S. this October. We will be renting a car. Is there anything special I should know? I have never rented a car before. I am planning on using the rental insurance provided by my RBC Infinite Avion card. Is this a wise thing to do?

Thanks!

[suntan]

Don't hit anything, and don't let anything hit you.

[civicHB]

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Hey all,

My gf and I are travelling to the Southern U.S. this October. We will be renting a car. Is there anything special I should know? I have never rented a car before. I am planning on using the rental insurance provided by my RBC Infinite Avion card. Is this a wise thing to do?

Thanks!

check the car thoroughly for any damage prior to renting, and ensure they mark it up on their damage sheet.
avoid parking in places where it may get door dings

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Rental cars are the fastest cars in the world.

[ga16i]

Can't comment on insurance since I've never had to make use of it. I do go for insurance if I think I'm driving in a crazy area full of people who can't drive i.e., Vegas, Vancouver, etc.

Other things to note for first time car renter might be:
Bring your driver's license and credit card at pickup.
Don't be surprised if you don't get what you had "reserved".
Prepay a tank of fuel and return it with the fuel light on. If you're flying, it sucks trying to find a gas station near the airport while potentially running for a flight.
Make sure your rental has unlimited mileage or keep an eye on how much you drive.
Stick with the major rental companies that you've heard of like Hertz, National, Budget, etc. If rental location is even slightly offsite from airport, there's likely a free shuttle.
Check that they're actually open during the time/day you're wanting to pickup/drop off.

[03ozwhip]

FYI @16hypen3sp the RBC Avion includes insurance for a rental, so when the rental place asks if you want insurance, decline it.

I made the same mistake and talked to RBC yesterday as I'm leaving for Vegas as I type this.

edit: already drunk and kinda skimmed your post but ya...lol the answer is, yes it's fine to use it.

[redblack]

use a credit card for Collision insurance (CDW), buy liability insurance (SLI) as some states cover different amounts.

[botox]

I always do a quick walk around video cause sometimes you miss things by just looking or there's shitty parkade lighting. Prepay tank of gas is really convenient if you are running late. US uses miles, don't change it. One time I changed it to KM and when I returned it just after a few days driving my receipt said I drove 25k KM because it was displaying KM's now. It wasn't a big deal cause I had unlimited mileage but just in case you don't. If you're flight is late, make sure to call them cause some airports aren't open all the time and will just stick around for a bit when an expected flight is coming. You can negotiate upgrades if you are that type.

[D'z Nutz]

Sometimes getting (and returning) a rental anywhere but the airport will save you quite a bit of money, so if your daily rate looks a little unreasonable, try playing around picking up and/or returning to a rental place other than the airport, especially if you have a rental location near your hotel and the airport provides a shuttle there.

[Xtrema]

When they ask if you want an upgrade, they may be out of cars you booked. Ask for what kind of car it is and only say yes if it's free. Chances are that the upgrade may cost you more in fuel or it could be a bigger car than you want in some cities. But being Southern US, nothing is too big there.

Also credit card will cover CDW or LDW. As for liability, it's state by state but your own insurance coverage should provide coverage as well, check your policy.

[ExtraSlow]

Yes, use the credit card insurance. Also, unless you really need a specific type of vehicle alway reserve a low end car and ask about upgrade specials when you get to the desk. They often run out of smaller cars and will give cheap or free upgrades into whatever they have on hand. To the company a subcompact is about the same as a midsize in many cases.
I've never found it a hassle to find a gas station, but prepaying for fuel is an option of you will be late.

All airport locations allow after hours drop off by just leaving your keys in the secure box. They just close your rental in the morning. It's no big deal and you can get your invoice by email the next day.

[taemo]

-inspect the vehicle for damages before you leave their lot
-decline all their insurances since your credit card will cover you

i had to use my rbc infinite avion last year and was great, came back with a scratched front bumper (900us$), called rbc and they took care of it.

[Mitsu3000gt]

They will try very hard to sell you insurance, flat tire coverage ($15/day LOL), etc. followed by horror stories. Ignore them.

Your credit card and also your normal insurance (check, though) should cover you. The only thing you may not be covered for is some states have loss of use, which means you have to pay them what they might have been able to rent it for while the car is in the shop if you damage it. I don't believe the CC insurances cover that.

If they just send you out to a parking lot and tell you to pick any car, you don't have to worry nearly as much about damage. If they assign you a specific car, take pictures of everything. 99% of the time the person returning the car does not GAF though, and as soon as it changes hands they can't come after you for damage anymore.

Do not prepay for fuel, their prices are outrageous and 99% of the time there is a gas station within 2 minutes of the rental place. For the 5 minutes it will take you to go fill up it's not worth it.

Other than that just enjoy your rental. Drive it however you want, park wherever you want. Few things get abused like rental cars do.

[Feruk]

Be careful with insurance because some of the advice in this thread is dead wrong. A CC does NOT provide you liability insurance (SLI) - a few people have pointed this out, the others are wrong. Cheapest place to get that is by calling your insurance company here and getting rental car insurance tagged on. You 100% NEED this insurance, otherwise you are liable if someone sues you for injuries related to an accident, which in the US could bankrupt you. That can be WAY more expensive than any damage to the vehicle.

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Prepay a tank of fuel and return it with the fuel light on.

I disagree. It's more expensive to do this and IMO saves little to no "hassle." There's usually a station by the airport, and if not, you can usually drive quite a distance after fill up and the car will still appear full when they check. Why would you pay some insane rate for a "service" that you could do yourself in 5 minutes?

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Stick with the major rental companies that you've heard of like Hertz, National, Budget, etc.

Absolute nonsense. I've always gone with whoever is cheapest and find the experience can be good or quite shitty, same as with the big names. Only one I'll never use again is MexCar. I usually find the best deals on Skyscanner.ca. Car rental places are all greasy, the big brand name doesn't do anything except increase cost.

[kenny]

Don't prepay for gas, just fill up on your way to returning the car or fill it up the night before (it doesn't have to be absolutely full when returning). Thrifty for example has a policy that the car needs to be refueled within 10 miles.

Also, if you are relying on your credit card for insurance, make sure the full rental cost is on the credit card (ie. Don't use a gift card or voucher for part of the rental cost) or you will lose your coverage.

[ExtraSlow]

Your auto insurance MAY already cover you for liability and damage to non owned automobiles. Very good idea to know first.

[Isaiah]

I've rented hundreds of cars and written off one rental so I can tell you a few things from experience:

· Your credit card may already have coverage; mine did. I wrote off a car in Ecuador and was fully 100% covered. The issue with this may be if you don't have a high enough limit on your card to pay for the damages or replacement value. They charged me almost $10k which I then had to submit documentation from the rental company to be compensated for, which took about 3 months

· Ensure you check the tires and rims. Can't stress this enough. My last rental was in Miami about a month ago and I didn't notice any damage during the cursory walk around the vehicle. On the second day of the rental, while parked outside in the sunlight, I noticed that there was serious curb rash on the rim and a large gouge in the driver's side front tire. The gouge was so large and deep that I felt it was unsafe to drive the car and took it back to trade it for another. Thankfully they believed that I had taken it out like that but I was fully expecting to have to pay for a new rim and tire since I hadn't spotted it when I had rented the vehicle. Even in the sunlight, the damage wasn't obvious unless you were staring right at it but in a dimly lit parking garage it would have been impossible to see unless you specifically inspected the wheels

· Prepaying for a full tank of gas is going to cost you at least between $15-$75 more than filling it yourself. Consider that if you're doing a lot of driving, you'll have probably filled up at some point within the past couple of days so you'd only really need a top-up, whereas if you prepay you're actually paying for a full tank. The prepaid gas rate is usually around $0.20 above the current market rate so even if you're empty anyway, you're still paying about an extra $10-15 depending on the size of the tank

· Smaller rental companies, whose rates look close to or the same as the larger ones, can actually be substantially cheaper because their rates include all the fees, whereas the larger companies have a bunch of add-on fees which are not included in the rates they post online. For example, just on the SunPass alone (for toll booths) we were charged $100USD ($50/week) whereas smaller companies like King include it

[16hypen3sp]

Thanks for the replies everyone. There is some very useful info here. This is why I love Beyond. I'll check with my insurance and make sure I'm covered for rentals. I'll do a thorough walk thru and take pics. I'll just fuel up prior to returning it.

Now is there anything special to know about a one way rental? My plan is to drive from Memphis to Vegas.

[suntan]

I had a slow leak once. I told the guy when I returned it, he thanked me, he marked the tire and that was that.

[Quizzes]

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Now is there anything special to know about a one way rental? My plan is to drive from Memphis to Vegas.

Depending on the company and location, there may be a drop-off fee associated with one-way rentals. Have you priced it out online?