Car Rental Insurance USA: Guide to CDW & SLI

UPDATE (December 2011): Great news! The much cheaper CDW/SLI insurance policies through iCarHireInsurance have become available again to residents of Australia and NZ, in addition to UK/EU residents.

UPDATE (November 2011): Please note that it has been brought to our attention (cheers Gary M.) that both our previously recommended CDW/SLI insurance cheaper alternatives – iCarHireInsurance and Insurance4CarHire – have just recently become unavailable to non-UK/EU residents. This is a VERY unfortunate turn of events for renters who already had such limited options and is due to their insurers imposing more restrictive acceptance criteria. That leaves everyone else completely out of luck. We are all losing out big time and will have to work to find suitable alternatives if they exist. You’ll be the first to know.

Car hires in the USA and their insurance options are a whole other can of worms. It’s a little off our main agenda of Australian car hire but after receiving many queries from readers, we realised dedicating a page to this topic is in order.
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Private Car Rentals: Drive Your Neighbour’s Porsche

Fancy an alternative way to renting that will give you access to a whole new world of choice? Hiring a car can be pretty ho-hum with the standard fare, but for Australian residents, we’re excited to share that there’s a new kid in town to spruce up the experience.

Introducing the Private Car Rentals Concept

DriveMyCar Rentals (DMCR) puts a unique spin on car hire by hooking up renters with car owners. This peer-to-peer car sharing platform attracts owners by allowing them to generate income from their cars which in turn furnishes renters with the largest, most varied selection of cars to choose from. Read more

Car Rental Insights from Our In-house Research

2011 is here and once again, we’ve scoured the big brand and independent car rental companies within Australia’s major cities to get a gauge on what’s on offer. The aim of our research was to help point people in the right direction when it comes to finding value and understanding all there is to know about renting a car. Along the way, we made some interesting observations.

To recap, 2010 saw a jump in prices from the Big Boys (Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty) as compared to early 2009 of almost 40-50%. Our hypothesis pointed at the global recession as a the culprit for this staggering increase (read more here). Fortunately, despite the increase in Premium Location Fees charged by airports to the rental companies for operating on-site, it appears Big Boys’ rental rates have now eased down by an average of 20% across the major cities’ airports*. Accordingly, downtown car hire prices have also dropped.

The independents, however, have not adjusted their rates by much. Their offerings remain by and large similar apart from perhaps a fleet update. That means the price gaps between them and the Big Boys are now smaller. Therefore, those too time-poor to research all the various independents out there for the lowest price wouldn’t be overpaying by as much as before. Still, savings (sometimes significant) are up for grabs for those who make the effort.

On the down side, we noticed an increase in Standard Liability amounts. While many companies maintained their levels, a few were upped from e.g. $2750 to $3300, and none were reduced. This implies now more than ever, renters need to be smart about how to protect themselves. One of our most popular (and valuable) articles is on alternative car rental insurance options that, to put it simply, you just have to read.

A myriad of complicated choices with all their clauses and fine print continue to await the car hire seeker. As such, it is a welcome development that the new Australian Consumer Law has been launched to give extra protection to all consumers, with car hire being one of the targeted industries. Fine print written to protect car hire companies is no longer completely binding with this new law that now allows a case to be judged based on how fair a particular condition set by a car rental company is in the first place.

All in all, it looks like steps in the right direction for us renters. At Car Hire Insider, we’ll continue to work towards demystifying the car hire maze. Stay tuned!

* Our research covered Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Perth and Adelaide.

Hertz and Etihad Partner Up for Seamless Travel Experience

In the latest of promising industry developments, Hertz and Etihad have signed a three-year contract to offer a “seamless air to road luxury travel” experience, bringing Etihad customers money-saving deals and benefits. The partnership will integrate Hertz and Etihad’s technology platforms so travellers can conveniently book rental cars through Hertz’s dedicated microsite for Etihad customers, etihad.com as well as Etihad’s call centres and retail outlets.

In terms of perks, Etihad Guest loyalty program members will get access to exclusive offers on etihad.com on top of receiving 500 Guest Miles with each rental. Meanwhile, Etihad’s Pearl Business Class passengers will receive a 15% discount when renting luxury vehicles from the Hertz Prestige Collection, while Diamond First Class guests will receive complimentary access to the top level of Hertz #1 Club, the President’s Circle.

We did a quick check to see the level of discount that may be on offer – a 3-day hire from Melbourne Tullamarine airport showed the following rates:

• Economy Car (Toyota Yaris hatch): Hertz direct A$195.58; Via Etihad A$154.67 = 21% savings
• Standard Car (Toyota Camry sedan): Hertz direct A$217.63; Via Etihad A$189.97 = 12% savings

Not bad.

This is a first in terms of the depth of integration between an airline and car rental company and we’re glad for those who are in the position to take advantage of its effects. Kudos to improving customer experience. Lets hope this motivates more such partnerships to develop so we have more access to better deals.

Introductory Offer: All Etihad customers renting a car with Hertz by April 30, 2011 will have the chance to win a luxurious package of two return Etihad flights to either Europe or Australia, five nights’ 5-star accommodation at Relais & Chateaux, and the use of a Hertz Prestige Collection vehicle for five days to explore the open road.

Links:
Etihad Airways
Hertz (Etihad partner information)

Europcar Named World’s Leading Car Hire Company 2010

Europcar has been named the World’s Leading Car Hire Company (for the 4th year running), the World’s Leading Leisure Car Rental Company (for the 7th year running), as well as the World’s Leading Green Transport Solution Company (2nd win to date) at this year’s World Travel Awards.

They also nicked the title of Australasia’s Leading Car Hire Company but lost out to Avis who won both the World’s and Australasia’s Leading Business Car Rental Company.

The awards, held on 7th November 2010 in London, is the travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars. The winning companies are voted for across a broad range of categories (from “leading” hotels, airlines, car hire companies, marketing campaigns, and so on) by almost 190,000 industry professionals worldwide.

The results highlight to us that in addition to being on top of the car rental game, Europcar places a notable emphasis on protecting the environment and acquiring a greener fleet. Perhaps, it may just be worth giving them a little preferential treatment the next time we hire.

Links:
Europcar
World Travel Awards

Car Hire Insurance: Smarter Alternatives

UPDATE (November 2011): Please note that it has been brought to our attention one of our previously recommended providers Insurance4CarHire has stopped offering their policies to non-EEA (European Economic Area) residents. Thankfully, Worldwide Insure policies are still available. iCarHireInsurance has also limited their offerings, with their worldwide policy now only available to residents of UK, EU, Australia, USA and Canada. For more details, see the section below on car hire insurance providers.

Car hire excess insurance is an expensive business but we’ll tell you how to save big time. In fact, getting the right car rental protection could cut your costs by $100s.

We’ve revamped this page by popular demand to provide all the information you need to ensure you are well covered and also added a few recommendations for campervan hire insurance. Read more

Qantas Frequent Flyer Goes Exclusive With Avis & Budget (Promo codes inside)

Significant changes are on the horizon for Qantas Frequent Flyer members. A new exclusivity agreement means that from 19 November 2010 onwards, members will only get car hire discounts and perks when renting with Avis and Budget. So for anyone that favours Hertz or Thrifty, you’ll still be eligible to collect points for rentals that are completed by 18 November 2010, but after that, no more.

This move is supposed to be beneficial. QFF says it will allow them to offer a higher level of offers from their exclusive partners, thereby maximizing savings for their members. However, the obvious major drawback is that we are now limited to a choice of only two car hire companies instead of four.

As a sign of goodwill perhaps, to kick things off, all Australian car rentals three days or more from Avis or Budget that are picked up by 31 October 2010 will earn you an extra bonus 1,000 points on top of the usual points. Below we’ve listed the promotional codes you’ll have to enter to receive this bonus:

Bonus 1,000 Extra Qantas Frequent Flyer Points

Avis coupon code: MPPA074
Budget coupon number: MPNZ010

Let’s just hope QFF wrings out enough goodies to compensate for our lost options.

If you’re looking for a deal, don’t forget to check our collection of other car hire coupons and discounts from Avis, Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Thrifty.

CONTEST: Drive A Dream Sports Car For A Weekend!

Feeling lucky? We’ve discovered an opportunity for you to drive a sweet sports car for the weekend!

All you’ve got to do is give your most convincing spiel in 300 words on just why your weekend would be tremendously improved with a sports car. So dust off your creative brain and submit your best entry by 10 September 2010.

The top 3 winners will be picked and informed on 20 September 2010 – 1 winner for each of NSW, VIC, and QLD. The NSW winner gets the Audi A5, VIC the BMW coupe, and QLD the Porsche.

Don’t forget to tick the box for “Sign up to receive information from DriveMyCarRentals.com.au and Hotels.com” – that’s the small catch – for your entry to be valid.

This contest is only open to Australian residents.

Enter the competition here

Good luck!

Gold Coast Car Hire: Mouth-watering Specials from Thrifty

Deal coupons from the various car hire companies tend to blur together given how similar they can be. For example, you often have a choice of 3 or more companies at a time offering free upgrades.

BUT when it comes to the Gold Coast, we’ve gotta say, Thrifty’s one up on everyone else. They have some fantastic deals no one else offers. We checked, double checked, and indeed they are the Real McCoys – you can truly save if you intend on going to theme parks or other attractions that require entrance fees. Read more

Where You Can & Can’t Drive Hire Cars

There is a saying in Australia, when you hit a dirt road that it is made for 4WD’s or hire cars. Of course it is said in jest.  Hire companies, with their 20 plus pages of terms and conditions combined with prominently displayed penalties are rightly a tad scary.

Most people therefore instinctively know that you cannot take your normal passenger hire car off road. But did you know that some hire companies also do not allow you to travel on any dirt roads in a passenger car or take the car to any island? Read more

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