Rental Car with Winter Tires?

[eblend]

Hi guys,

Was driving wife's car after dropping her off at work and got hit by a guy turning left. Car is still drivable, and I have an appointment on Monday to deal with the appraiser. At some point here the car will be taken in for repairs, and I was wondering if anyone rents cars with winter tires and AWD or anything like that, or are you just given any eco-box with bald all seasons and they send you on your way? Wife's car is a AWD Vibe with Winter tires and it does a great job in the snow etc, and one of the reason I bought it for her was for its AWD capabilities and winter tires just to keep her safe. I don't really want her driving any old rental, so was wondering what my options are, am I allowed to make a special request or anything like that?

Never been in an accident so don't know the process or how all of this is handled.

[ExtraSlow]

At least one major company in town has lots of awd vehicles with winter tires. Suspect your insurance company isn't going to pay for these "extras", but you can request the upgrade and pay for it yourself.

[eblend]

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At least one major company in town has lots of awd vehicles with winter tires. Suspect your insurance company isn't going to pay for these "extras", but you can request the upgrade and pay for it yourself.

Good to know. It was not my fault for this accident, so technically wouldn't the other guys company be paying for this, and my insurance company would just forward the bills? I know I have $2500 in rental car coverage under my policy.

[88CRX]

My awd, winter tire equipped car got hit a month ago and their insurance company is covering my rental.... I requested awd and winter tires. Neither is/was available. Been slugging it in a shitty FWD Hyundai Sonata. Giant piece of shit.

[k1l4m]

I rented an Elantra from Budget on 26 St with winters about a week ago. Long shot since most rentals in AB don't have winters.

I rented 5ish cars in Ontario over the past year and all had winter tires with no extra charge which was nice.

[ExtraSlow]

I should clarify when I saw awd and winter tires are available. All the major rental companies in Calgary have them in the fleet, but the small branch location you are sent to may not have any the day you show up.

As I said in the rental car thread, if you want the best selection, rent from the airport mid-week, and be prepared to wait for a specific vehicle. Most of the branch locations have e five or six vehicles at any one time, the airport will have several hundred.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Got my rental car today, I asked and there were no options for winter tires but I was assured over and over that the vehicle had "all season" tires so I was fine I can see how that might coerce people into buying the extra insurance when otherwise it would be unnecessary - that's probably why they do it. I got a Tuscon with 50,000 KM, and they are going to contact me to downgrade me to a shittier car when one is available because a SUV isn't covered by my insurance

I'm surprised it isn't law for rental companies to provide winter tires during Dec-March or something like that.

[eblend]

Thanks for the info guys. I did look a bit more online and saw enterprise and avis did list winter tires mounted cars as options, so we will see what they offer me. Intact said they try to match as much as possible to what you have, and I asked for Winter tires directly and the insurance agent included it in the request to Enterprise, just have to see if it will be available when my car goes in.

[msixty]

I requested winter tires at Hertz a few years ago, they said no problem we can handle it. 2 Days before, on a reservation booked 1 month ahead, I get the call that they don't have any winter tires and offered me a Jeep with new all terrains instead.

[rx7boi]

Last year I got a Mini Cooper Countryman with all-season tires which was still better than my RWD with winters

Let's just say I was sad to give up the AWD when my car was repaired.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Thanks for the info guys. I did look a bit more online and saw enterprise and avis did list winter tires mounted cars as options, so we will see what they offer me. Intact said they try to match as much as possible to what you have, and I asked for Winter tires directly and the insurance agent included it in the request to Enterprise, just have to see if it will be available when my car goes in.

I went through Intact / Enterprise as well and maybe they just didn't have any, but they told me they didn't have winter tires. Also my adjuster said it would be stretch to get them and he would have do some checking to see if they would be approved. Sounds like you had a little bit better luck than I did. On the plus side my rental has a heated steering wheel