mclaurie

Our friends are coming from the UK and renting a car in FLL and dropping it in Miami. Have been stunned to see how high the rates are for UK residents (vs US residents). Any advice? Any discount codes? Found whizzcarrental.com suggested on biddingfortravel. Anyone know them/use them? Is Priceline a good idea?

emd

mclaurie, I am thrilled to give you some info, since you have helped us so much on our NYC trips. My daughter still knows your screen name from our Memorial day 2004 trip (mclaurie who sent us to Pearl River, which she loved).
Tell your friends to check this out: go to http://www.floridacarhire.com/
This is a site where a group of Brits who own Florida rental homes have worked out deep dicounts for Brits going to Florida w/Alamo and Dollar. Also, rates do not change regardless of where they pick up and drop off the car in Florida.
I bet you wish you were in Florida right now. Wind is HOWLING here in DC but we didn't as much snow as you.

mclaurie

Thanks for the info emd. Yes, I'm on the eastern end of Long Island and we really got pounded. Hopefully I will be in Fla. in a week's time soaking up some sun.

For your info and anyone else reading this, the rates on whizzcarrental.com are about 25% lower than those on the floridacarhire website. Would still love to hear from anyone else with either experience with whizzcarrental or another option. Thanks a lot.

gail

A general word of caution. It is sometimes difficult to compare actual costs of renting car, since various insurances are never included in the quoted price. Many US citizens when renting a car in US decline optional insurance since our own car insurance will cover a rental - or we have a credit card that offers that same insurance. Is it possible that those from UK are required to buy this "optional" insurance because of some legal thing that your own insurance does not cover you here? If so, the actual cost of renting will be significantly higher than the quoted cost when you add in the insurance.

Postal

I hope there's sun for you to soak up when you get here! Orlando is under a freeze warning tonight!

Where2Travel

I don't think Priceline will work for a one-way (Orlando-Miami) rental.

Are there any codes on www.rentalcodes.com that will help reduce the cost? A year or so back I found Dollar had the cheapest overall cost for us (travelling from the UK with an Orlando pick-up and Miami drop-off).

Is the only difference in costs you are comparing for UK vs US residents the insurance cover add-on?

mclaurie

I did check the rentalcodes, thanks. The difference seems to be more than just insurance. On Avis, for example, I think using the same discount code, for same dates/car class etc. the price for a US resident is $193.18+ all insurance =$272.05
For UK resident, it's ~$322 + all insurance = $461.90!!

On the whizzcarrental site I found recommended on biddingfortravel,, the cost was $357.80, supposedly including all insurance. On the website emd recommended, it was 245 GBP which is 478.463 US !!!

Patrick

I'm no expert on this, but at a recent dinner party with two UK couples, they were discussing this issue. Both have seasonal condos here in Florida and have been hit hard by the high cost of car rentals when they come. I do know that one said he got a special AAA certificate of insurance through his RAA (right letters?) that gets him a major discount on the insurance when he rents here -- in fact he does the advance rental through them and says it saves him a lot.

Where2Travel

On a number of the car rental sites I don't think they ask for country of residence. I'm pretty sure this is the case with Dollar and a few others.

In this case, people in different countries shouldn't be charged different amounts.

emd

Whoa! Now I know why the British man whose house we rent in Orlando keeps a car in the garage to use when he comes to town 5-6 times a year.
I had no idea that site was so high. It had been recommended to bu some Brits I know but I won't give out the info again.