Wayne

I have just plowed through about 30 pages of fine print in a booklet issued by Hertz to cover all of the rules for renting a car in Europe or certain other foreign areas. There are some pretty significant changes that everyone should be aware of, and the same type of rules will probably apply to every other rental car company also. <BR><BR>If you rent a car, read and know the newest rules. Here are just a couple of examples: (1) If you rent a car and the charges are against your credit card, Hertz can (at its sole option) convert those charges to the currency of the country in which the card was issued. This would seem to give them the option of doing some profitable currency trading on the side.<BR>(2) If you have more than one potential discount voucher or discount number and you want to apply them to your rental, Hertz may (at their option) decide which of these to apply to your rental, and you don't get to say.<BR><BR>There are many more changes. This is just a "heads up" to those who are renting.

paul

Wayne, don't get your shorts all twisted up over this. You know, when you use your credit card in another country, the amount is shown on your receipt as say Pounds, but when it shows up on your monthly bill why my goodness it has been converted to US dollars. So, no matter, the amount gets converted somewhere along the line. If you want to worry about something like that worry about the fact that many credit cards are now charging you a fee just for using the card outside the US PLUS the standard currency conversion fee.

Wayne

Sorry, Paul, but you missed the point. If you would read the new rules, you would see the difference, and you would also see that Hertz can now tack on an additional 3 percent currency conversion fee when the conversion is made. One of the advantages of using a credit card in the past, as touted by many, was that it was the lowest cost way to obtain a currency conversion. That is no longer the case, with Hertz anyway. I assume you haven't read the new rules.

Ellen

I always thought the advantage to using your credit card was so that you would have automatic insurance coverage and you wouldn't have to pay the additional fee. Amex is the card I use. Am I wrong here?

Ann

And, Paul, Hertz is using their exchange rate, which is higher than the bank's.

urt

Ellen do not assume that you have coverage. It varies from card to card and then from country country. Be sure to verify with the card BEFORE you go that you are covered in the country or countries that you plan to rent in. It is important to find out BEFORE you go.