Hello! I am travelling to England soon and am wanting to rent a car at Heathrow. I rented from National Car last year and liked them but have noticed that AutoEurope is cheaper. Is ther anything in the fine print that I need to be aware of when renting a car with them (or others)? It doesn't offer the Collision Waiver Insurance. What is this and are there other car companies that offer this in their prices? Is there anything else I should know before taking the plunge and renting a car!?
Thanks,
Natalie
Posted by
525 posts
We rented from 1Car1 in England. We took the train to Tilehurst outside of London towards Bath to pick the car up. ETBD uses this car rental agency on some trips. We were able to have the second driver (me) at no cost. The CDW had a deductible and we opted for the $250 deductible and paid a small fee to lower it from $500 (I think). They didn't offer the zero deductible. We were pleased with their service.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Rick's advice on that
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/carrental_questions.htm
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/carrental_2005.htm
click around this site and you'll find more on that
Posted by
York, PA
300 posts
AutoEurope isn't a rental company - they're an agent, so you might end up renting from National anyway.
Most of the car classes you can rent through AutoEurope in the UK have "Basic" and "Inclusive" rates - the "inclusive" rate includes Collision and Theft insurance, albeit with a deductible on the order of US$1395.
The rental cost of the cars that don't offer CDW is not much different from the (basic) rates of those who do.
All of Auto Europe's rates include third party liability and fire insurance.
Your credit card might offer rental insurance - most Visa and Mastercard cards at the Gold or higher level do. In general you must decline all optional insurance from the rental company for the credit card insurance to be effective.
My auto insurance company (USAA) used to cover European rentals but they stopped that 10 or 15 years ago. Check with your insurance comany to see if this benefit is available.
Here's a page that explains AutoEurope's CDW and some observations about the coverage available with Credit Cards.