Las Vegas Hire Car?

[WestyCarl]

HotJambalaya said:

I'd book a small suv (very cheap) from any of the sheds, leaning towards, dollar or alamo. I'd then either negotiate a decent upgrade price (approx $10-$18 a day), or bung the guy in the parking lot a $20 - $50 and have him endorse my ticket for one of the bigger Suv's. I lean towards these companies because they are the type that send you to the garage and let you pick any of your category rather than specifically assigning you a vehicle. If your category is full you get to pick the next one up, so employees have leeway to allow you to take bigger vehicles. Before you line up to collect the car, nip into their section of the parking garage, if your category is already sold out you can obviously reject their attempt at an upsell.

As it stands op, I certainly wouldn't pay for the insurance at $24 a day, take out a private policy at someone like https://www.icarhireinsurance.com will save you a fortune.

Agreed this is the cheapest way. However this time I've promised my kids a big ass chunk of American Steel (and therefore cannot fail)

Good tip about the insurance though, never thought of doing that before, thanks

[Chucklehead]

HotJambalaya said:

As it stands op, I certainly wouldn't pay for the insurance at $24 a day, take out a private policy at someone like https://www.icarhireinsurance.com will save you a fortune.

Assuming you book the correct deal that includes CDW and not just the excess protection type, then they usually don't cover liability, which you will need to purchase in addition. So you will need CDW (~$25) and SLI (~$20) per day.

Not trying to scare you in to booking something else, but you need to be totally aware of what you're booking when you decide to stray away from the normal booking channels in the US.

[Dave Brand]

As I said in my previous post, if you book direct with most rental companies, as a UK resident you will get CDW & ALI (or whatever the company calls it) with zero excess included in the rental at no extra cost over & above the basic price.

As with any purchase you need to be comparing like with like - the deal which initially looks cheap may turn out to be no cheaper when all the costs are taken into account.

[WestyCarl]

Dave Brand said:

As I said in my previous post, if you book direct with most rental companies, as a UK resident you will get CDW & ALI (or whatever the company calls it) with zero excess included in the rental at no extra cost over & above the basic price.

As with any purchase you need to be comparing like with like - the deal which initially looks cheap may turn out to be no cheaper when all the costs are taken into account.

OK, so my smart USD price doesn't look so smart today . So I've just re-booked with same company (Enterprise) in Henderson and got a GBP price of £797 (compared to £1750 for Las Vegas), neither include CDW, but include unlimited mileage.

However using the top tip above I can get CDW for £90 which as a bonus will cover other hires I plan as well.

So a grand saving for two 20 min taxi rides to collect and drop off.

[Ranger 6]

Have you tried virgin holidays? We've booked an SUV for a road trip out of San Francisco for just over £400.

Just had a look and they've got a Tahoe for two weeks fully insured - £614

Edited by Ranger 6 on Friday 24th June 13:56

[WestyCarl]

Just to update, hiring a car from Henderson (11 miles from LV) instead of Las Vegas worked out well.

Cost was $1100 as opposed to $1800 from Vegas (same company, just different Branch!) Taxi ride either took approx. 25 mins and cost $40USD.

[Truckosaurus]

Good plan there, the cab to the off-airport branch probably takes as long as it does to get the shuttle bus over to the Rental Car Center anyway, and no doubt less queues at the counter when you get there.

[HotJambalaya]

good work and thanks for the update!