lhoward0921

Hi:

We are traveling to Scotland and England in September. We want to pick up a car at the Edinburgh Airport and drop it in York, where we will grab a train into London. I have read multiple posts about car rental in the UK and I am hoping for some advise to clear things up. I went to my bank and opened a new Visa card with a chip and pin so I can book the car with that card. If I use this card through the entire rental process, and decline the rental CDW, my card will cover any damage up to the value of the car and/or theft, loss of use and towing. I have read that I should book through Kemwel because they will advocate for me in the event there is an issue. Currently Kemwel has a "daily deal" on a Europcar for my dates. Looking at Europcar directly, the two prices are virtually the same. Should I book through Kemwel, or is Europcar reputable (I have read mixed reviews)? Alternately, I could book a Hertz car through Kemwel for about 50 USD more. Would this be a better option? We do use Hertz in the US and are gold members. (Price is much better through Kemwel, so I would not book Hertz directly.) Also, should I rely on my VISA insurance or buy it through the car rental company? I could save over 200.00 USD with my VISA insurance, which is more money to spend enjoying time in Scotland.

Please help, based on the mixed reviews I have read, it is seeming as if the car rental is the hardest part of the trip to plan!

Thanks so much.

janisj

>>I went to my bank and opened a new Visa card with a chip and pin<<

Totally unnecessary but never mind (and is it truly a Chip/PIN or a chip/Sugnature card). All rental agencies will take any major credit card - no chip/PIN required.

I would start w/ autoeurope.com. They are a broker based in Maine and are excellent. IME about 75% of the time they are cheaper than booking directly w/ any of the major companies. You'll end up w/ Hertz or EuropCar or Kemwell or Avis or one of the other biggies.

Then using the quotes you get from autoeurope, you can shop around to see if you can get a better deal from Hertz/Kemwell/etc. I find AE is almost always less or very close very close and you have the advantage of pre-paying in US$ and not having a foreign transaction fee.

dfourh

What I do is book direct (e.g., Hertz, Alamo - - whatever is the best price) unless there is a savings booking AutoEurope or something else with a prepay. In most of Europe I save with brokers, but in the UK booking direct is nearly the same most of the time, in my experience. I rely on my credit card insurance and don't take the additional, but YMMV.

RM67

I use Europcar - they are cheap and reliable and I really don't understand the trepidation seen in some of the posts asking about them. You can book online and they will even drop off and pick up for free in some regions.

janisj

The last rental I had in the UK (just a couple of weeks ago) was w/ Europcar through autoeurope Collected in Newcastle and dropped at LHR. Autoeurope was about 15% cheaper than my quote directly w/ europcar. W/ the currency conversion (or lack thereof) ended up almost 20% cheaper.

But again - sometimes booking directly w/ an agency works out cheaper.

ParisAmsterdam

Be sure you check exactly what the insurance is with VISA. You also need to know up to what amount they cover. The amount is often $50,000 which seems like a lot but cars are very expensive in the UK. Only when you know what the card insurance covers yo for can you decide to go with it over the rental company's plan.

I'd go with AE ... they will match the lower price you found and I had an experience where their 'clout' won me an argument with a rental desk clerk.