Help with rental CA in August

[catnun]

Hi

After my recent success for a hotel in SF I'm now considering getting a car for the rest of our California trip.

My question is about what is included if I bid for the car.

Is an extra driver included or will that be an extra charge, and in terms of insurance will it have the risk reduction waiver, don't really know the proper name but it's the one that includes any damage done do the vehicle instead of us having to pay the first $500 (or whatever value) in case of accident?

Also one more question, here in the UK most rent a car offices give the option to deliver the car outside working hours by just parking the car in their allocated car park and dropping the key through a safe box. Is that standard practise in the US too? The reason I ask is because we're driving to SF in the afternoon and aren't sure if we'll make it to their office before closing time, if that is an option we would rather drop the car there at whatever time we arrive instead of having to pay for parking near the hotel for the night and worrying about getting it delivered on time the following morning. (In terms of rental time we will get the car on pick up around 2pm but will never make it on return at that time so will always have to pay for the extra day even if we arrive within working hours)

Thank you in advance

[thereuare]

Is an extra driver included or will that be an extra charge, and in terms of insurance will it have the risk reduction waiver, don't really know the proper name but it's the one that includes any damage done do the vehicle instead of us having to pay the first $500 (or whatever value) in case of accident?

Depends upon the rental company and your relation to the additional driver... some charge extra for any additional driver while some allow a spouse to drive the car with no additional charge. What i think you're referring to in terms of insurance is for collision? If so, that is not included in your bid and will be an additional fee (if you choose to take it, which i don't know if required if you don't have insurance here in the States, something to speak to your insurance agent (if you have one) in the UK about to see if you're covered or not)

Also one more question, here in the UK most rent a car offices give the option to deliver the car outside working hours by just parking the car in their allocated car park and dropping the key through a safe box. Is that standard practise in the US too?

What city would you be picking-up and dropping off in? Would you rent from a 'local' city location or an airport location?

[catnun]

So are you saying that there no rent a car that includes extra driver if not a spouse? Even when renting directly?

In terms of insurance I always take as I don't need other insurance, so won't be covered otherwise.

I will be picking the car in San Francisco city locatation so that I don't have to pay the extra airport charge (and since we're not flying immediately before or after having the car.

[Romelle]

I found this on the web, so can't vouch for its accuracy - "Currently, in North America, of the eight national branded car rental companies (Alamo, Avis, Budget Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National & Thrifty) only Avis , Budget and Enterprise (links open in a new window) offer NO extra driver fee for the spouse of the renter(assuming that they meet all additional requirements -- age, drivers license, etc).

Read more: http://www.best-car-rental-tips.com/additional-driver-fee-for-spouse.html#ixzz2QiyJOS7p".

When bidding you could get any of the companies listed. No way to tell ahead of time.

As to insurance, even some credit cards provide some rental car coverage.

When you are saying you don't have any insurance, do you mean you don't have auto insurance on a personal vehicle at home? If you do have, there is usually some coverage for rental vehicles. Then the $11 a day policy Priceline offers fills the gap of the deductible from your personal auto insurance. I think it is only collision though, so there are things it doesn't cover.

Most of the airport auto rental places do the 24-hr drop off thing, but I really don't know about other locations.

While you might save some money bidding on the auto, this might be a case where you want to go to a specific vendor so you can check all the details.

There are links to lots of the auto rental companies on the Support Page here.

Enterprise would be another one to check out. Auto insurance companies tend to use it for giving people temporary vehicles, and it has lots of non-airport sites.

For auto rental, there are always lots of coupons and promotions around too.

Romelle

[thereuare]

See this Car Rental - Spouse or Additional Driver thread.