roguemckenzie

Hello
My husband and I are planning to drive "the countryside" for a week in October before heading into London without the car. Any suggestions on rental companies? Things we should be aware of! We plan on driving to Newark-on-Trent for the Antique Show for a day, then up to York area and Edinburgh and Lake Dist., all depending on the time it takes and what we see to stop at! Suggestions on what not to miss is also helpful. Thank you, Debra

Patrick

I'd still recommend AutoEurope. Last year I checked a lot of companies and while some are supposedly better, we couldn't do drop off at Stansted which we needed or had other problems trying to get a quote.

I will say this. Although we didn't take the full insurance, checking that our credit card would cover, I'd never do that again. We ended up with a bad accident and totaled the car. It has now been over three months and after dozens of calls, emails, packages of forms and materials sent, we're still working on about $6000 of damage charge. Oh how that extra $125 or so would have been worth it to walk away!

PLMN

Patrick,

I am so sorry to hear you had an accident. I hope you and yours are okay.

How did the accident happen? A crazed foreign driver going at the speed of light? You took a turn too sharply?

Is there something you can warn us of regarding driving in foreign land?

Again, hope you did not have any injuries.

Patrick

A real fluke, but definitely our fault. My partner has done a lot of driving in Europe including UK (wrong side, etc) so it wasn't that. Basically we entered a huge roundabout with a ton of traffic and he couldn't stop the car so we slammed into the back of a trailer, bounced off, spun around in traffic and came to rest at the side. I think in the panic we was pumping the clutch and the accelerator, no brake, but we'll probably never know exactly what happened. No injuries and no other cars damaged -- remarkable.

PLMN

Eeek. Roundabouts. I remember them in Washington DC I think.

One thing that has given me some peace of mind is that we rented an automatic transmission. I drove a stick shift for a little while years and years ago so I am out of practice and decided that getting familiar again in unknown territory is not the time to get back in the saddle.

Glad your okay.

roguemckenzie

Thanks Patrick for the heads up on the insurance, yes we have always relied on our CC to cover, but you never know til you need it! We rented fro Autoeurope in Germany and they actually used the Dollar Rent a car counter and cars, was that the case in England? thanks again, I think I will call my CC company and give them the worst case scenario thing that someone suggested, but after your notes, I think we will pay the extra!!

Patrick

By the way, I have no doubt that Visa will end up paying, it's just the amount of hoops you have to go through to get there. I'm still dealing with the police department in Wales not sending me a copy of the accident report. They say they can't send it to me because it contains "restricted" information including the name and the address of who we hit, but that the insurance company needs to request it. But Visa Enhancement Services (who handles the insurance for Visa) says they can't get one either because they aren't actually an insurance company.

AutoEurope is a "wholesaler" for lack of a better word. You contract with them, but they use various suppliers. Ours in the UK happened to be Avis, but they used about five different firms there. If you check a pick up location on their website, that determines which supplier it is. If you call them, they will compare the prices and advantages of their various suppliers for the best deal.

PLMN

REMINDER: If your credit card offers any car insurances please be sure to double check it covers the country you will be visiting.

None of the credit cards I have that offer free or very low cost insurance cover rental in Italy. There are also a few other countries usually listed as exclusions.

Don't rely on the "word" of any rep. ONLY rely on what is WRITTEN in policy descriptions.