Transcript
I am putting up a few details, for everybody as a reference pointers: 1. I take rental car, sponsored by company. When i am in Seattle area, i book AVIS. The reason being, AVIS have a better collection in Seatte area compared to Enterprise. 2. Usually, when you need a Rental car, you will book it online on their website. You could choose AVIS, ENTERPRISE or HERTZ, where are the 3 major players. 3. AVIS and HERTZ have the advantage of allowing u to gain "frequent flyer" points too! 4. You first would give the period of time for which you would want to rent the car for. Followed by the type of car. The cars would be of the following categories: Compact Car (Economy) --> Aveo/Accent Intermediate --> Usually Corolla types Standard Size --> Pontiac G6 types Full size --> Malibu, Ford Fusion types Standard SUV --> Ford Escape types Full size SUV --> Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Tahoe... 5. In my experience, i used to always take damage waiver Insurance and not the 3rd party damage related Insurance. And the cost of rental would usually be around $900 (rental) + $400 (insurance) for a Std size/Full size for a period of 30 days. I love the Ford Fusions! 6. When i am in Dallas Area, i make it a point to take 3rd party Insurance too. In that case, the cost of Insurance would be almost the same as the cost of the car rental itself. 7.When booking the car, it is better to fill all the details on the website itself, to save time standing infront of the executive at the car rental place. Stuff like Address, DL details, Accessories needed, creditcard details. 8. Whenever you take a car, the Rental company would BLOCK a particular amount of money on your credit card and NOT deduct that, at the time of renting. The amount would be transfered only when you return the car. 9. The paper work what they provide while renting is a very very important document, to prove that i have rented the car and these are the insurances that i have bought. This helps when you are caught by cops. So never drive without those papers in the car. 10. When you are taking the rental for say 31 days.. the charging would be done in the following way: Rental charge for a month + Rental charge for 1 day. So the amount of money that would cost AFTER a 30 day period would be greater than the cost for a 30 day period itself. So if you have plans of renting for say 45 days, make sure you book for 30 days first and then extend it by 15
days later or book for " A month + a fortnight". 11. Most of the cars on AVIS and Enterprise stable are very good condition cars. I have also got a Toyota Corolla 2009 last time around, straight from the Toyota Dealer. I even went to the Toyota showroom to receive the car directly from there, where the Odo showed 48 miles But then, after a month's time, i was asked to return the vehicle back to Enterprise as it was one of the cars "called back" by Toyota for the "Sticky Accelerator pedal" issue which came up early this year. 12. Actually, the longest i have driven in US is pretty short :( Bellevue (Seattle) - Portland - Pacific beach - Olympia - Bellevue (900 miles in a single day!) Other than that it has been shorter drives. 13. The best car in Rentals that i have come across, both interms of FE and decent power: Nissan Altima 2.5 (a gem) And the worst , interms of FE : Dodge Caliber (or any other Dodge in general).. they drink like crazy. So be aware. 14. When you rent a car in Airport Avis/Hertz/Enterprise centers, the extra cost adds up, because of Airport charges, taxes and stuff. So, it is always a good thing to better take a pre-booked car service or Shuttle to reach home and pick a car the next day, from the nearest rental. Taxis are expensive in US, mind u. When i say Pre-booked car service, they are NOT metered Taxi. 15. Finally, never compromise on Insurance. It could break us, if some unintended incident takes place, that too, when we are away from our dear Country.