Dollar Rent a car!

[CoraJack]

Hi all:

Just some information on Dollar. Yes, it is the least expensive. I called all of the rental companies that have an office at the Orlando airport. They have the best deals, hands down.

Their insurance policy stinks. We were terrified to drive the darn car! They do NOT accept insurance from private insurance companies. I had all of my insurance info available to hand to the clerk (after waiting in line at the airport for 35 mins). She told me that if we do get in an accident that WE are responsible to pay for the damages and any time off the road that the car has due to the damages. The daily cost for being off the road is over $100 a day. (I can imagine them being REALLY slow to repair!). This money must be paid by the renter unless you buy their insurance. Then the renter must go after the insurance company to get the money. We wished we would have spent the extra $150 or so to take their insurance so we were not terrified while on the road. I will not rent from them again due to this policy.

The return is also a complete mess. There were 2 people screaming in the garage that they were going to miss their plane. They had one guy checking in 4 lanes of cars, there were about 50 cars in total waiting to be checked in. We were running late too because of the wait--about 25 mins to drop the car off.

All of the other rental car companies had no wait to pick up or drop off the car.

You get what you pay for.

Christina

 

[EmeraldDolphin]

I'm using Americar this year for the first time... I've always used Dollar before, but Americar is less than Dollar... by a lot! The only thing that I won't like is the fact that it is not in terminal like Dollar... but oh well... I'll get over it! I never use insurance through the car rental company... I'm covered by my American Express.

 

[RickEff]

Be careful of their scare tactics. You have to realize that a HUGE portion of a car rental company's profits is made up by selling their extra insurance.

Technically, they are correct when they they won't accept private insurance from you (that basically means that they won't be insured by your insurance company) However, the fact is if you verified that your insurance company will cover you then the truth is YOU are covered, not the car rental company.

Also - if you have a Gold Visa, M/C or American Express card you're generally automatically covered. If something happens, call the credit card company, and they'll authorize a charge to cover any damage. Your story is a good reminder for all of us to dot the i's before we leave to make sure we have everything in hand!

Rick

 

[CoraJack]

Emerald--how do you get to the rental car office--do they send a shuttle?

Rick--so are you saying that ALL rental car companies are the same? That my insurance will not cover the rental car company and pay them directly? That they must pay me instead and I must pay out the money first? Here I thought that Dollar had a different policy than other rental car companies.

Last time I rented a car was in England several years ago. Seems that it should be more difficult to rent a car in a foreign country, but it was easy. No one threatened me regarding the insurance, I just showed my license, signed a paper, and off I went!

Christina

 

[Woody13]

RickEff was 100% correct. The bottom line is simple, never purchase the insurance sold by any rental car company. All of the rental car clerks are trained to sell the extra insurance and they mostly use various "horror" stories to get you to buy. If you rent the car with a good MC (for example) you have 100% coverage. Even your personal auto insurance will just be redundant.

 

[EmeraldDolphin]

Originally posted by CoraJack
Emerald--how do you get to the rental car office--do they send a shuttle?

Christina

yes, they told me that after I get my luggage, I go to the courtesy phone, and they send a shuttle to pick me up... when I rented from Hertz a few years back, that's how Hertz does it too... and I didn't want to have to do that again... and so I've always stuck with Dollar... their prices were the best, and they were in terminal... 2 big pluses for me... but then when I found the price of the Americar Rental... I couldn't pass it up...!!

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by CoraJack
Rick--so are you saying that ALL rental car companies are the same? That my insurance will not cover the rental car company and pay them directly? That they must pay me instead and I must pay out the money first? Here I thought that Dollar had a different policy than other rental car companies.

I've had these strong arm tacktics from rental car agencies in the past. Mostly from Hertx and National. Once on a buisness trip in Denver, they guy kept pushing the 4x4 car because they may get snow and if they did, you'll probebly wreck in the regualr car, so you should get the 4x4...and the extra insurance as well.

I just pay on my AMEX, it covers it for me. Hmm, I shouldcheck to see if that kind of coverage is on the Disney Visa...

 

[Debbie]

We have already discussed this for our December trip. My step-mom is getting the rental car yet she doesn't know her way around Orlando. I know she would prefer me to drive yet the rental companies will tell you that if I am not on her policy at home; I am not covered. Thus, "You will need to purchase our policy for $21.95 per day". This time we're not. If I drive her car here and get in a wreck; I'm covered. If she drives my car here and gets in a wreck; she's covered. I'm not even going to listen to them this time; they can save it.

 

[Bagheera]

Well, having had to deal with this situation recently, (I HATE construction on I-95 in the Boca Raton area!!!! :fork: :fork: :fork: ) I can tell you that Dollar will directly negotiate with your insurance company, though they will not give you a replacement car until you confirm that you have a claim number from your insurance carrier. We had lots of other problems with Dollar, though, and I wouldn't recommend trying to rent from the Fort Lauderdale Dollar location.

 

[CarolA]

I rented from Dollar this weekend. Insurance was never even mentioned when I was at the counter. I have FastPass and it says I decline coveage, the agent verified it and that was that. Dollar and all the other's will deal with your insurnace company, they just won't like it. Don't let them scare you! Your first misstake was to show up cluthing all that info. As soon as they start on that junk just tell them NO! I cut them off very early and often on these stupid speeches. And yes, I have wrecked a rental car.

As to the "loss of use", should you wreck the car your insurance company will help you with this, but I believe they can ONLY charge you loss of use if they can provide proof that ALL of the other cars in the size you wrecked were leased so they did actually LOSE revenue.

I use my Diner's Club which becomes my primary insurance and they will deal directly with the rental car company. WHen I wrecked the car, I sent everything to Diner's and that was the end of it. (Of course it was only about a $300 repair bill)

 

[Bagheera]

As a side note, the construction debris that came through the grill and crushed the radiator was no small repair job. The loss of use charged was 2 days at $39.99, which was the rental rate that we were paying for the minivan. I'm not sure of what the final damages were, because after they were done with subrogation with my insurance company, I just had to pay my deductible. Bottom line: if your existing auto policy covers rental cars, decline the coverage and don't let them scare you into taking it.

 

[Woody13]

Originally posted by Bagheera
As a side note, the construction debris that came through the grill and crushed the radiator was no small repair job. The loss of use charged was 2 days at $39.99, which was the rental rate that we were paying for the minivan. I'm not sure of what the final damages were, because after they were done with subrogation with my insurance company, I just had to pay my deductible. Bottom line: if your existing auto policy covers rental cars, decline the coverage and don't let them scare you into taking it.

Ah, but there is a big problem here! You had to pay your auto insurance deductible, so that was money out of your pocket. I always use my MasterCard to rent cars. My MasterCard will pay 100% of the damages (no deductible). Also, I would never allow a rental car company to subrogate a claim with my auto insurance company under any circumstances. I use State Farm and have full coverage for my auto insurance and I pay a low rate. I want to keep my insurance rates low. I let MasterCard pay the bill.

Here are the questions you need ask;

1. Does my personal auto insurance policy cover any damage to a rental car?
2. Does my personal homeowners policy cover the theft of my personal property from a rental car?
3. Does either my personal auto insurance, homeowners insurance or employee medical insurance cover injuries from an accident in a rental car?
4. Does my credit card cover me for damages done to a rental car or for third party liability?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, then you need to find the answers. Don't drive unprotected under any circumstance. If you are not already covered through an existing policy or charge card, buy the car rental company's collision and liability insurance. These allow the renter's financial responsibility for damage to the rented vehicle to be waived. There is generally a per day charge for this option. Most car rental companies do not provide primary liability with the rental.