Las Vegas Hire Car?

[WestyCarl]

We're going to Vegas in Aug for 2 two weeks and my only job is to sort the hire car. However a quick internet search confirms it appears to be 50% more costly than hiring a similar vehicle from Miami 2 yrs ago.

Has anyone got any tips to reduce the cost? I'm after a Chevy Tahoe or similar, and no reducing the size of the car isn't a sensible suggestion

[WestyCarl]

Crossflow Kid said:

Unless you're planning on doing a bit of road tripping away from Vegas you really don't need a car.
Get one for a day to go to the Hoover Dam maybe.

It's a road trip so definitely need a car. Seems if I hire from Henderson 20 miles away it's approx. 30% cheaper than in Vegas.

[WestyCarl]

Crossflow Kid said:

Fair dos. Course you know the PH default setting for a road trip out of Vegas is an orange Dodge Challenger?

Unfortunately wife and 2 kids so it a full fat SUV (Tahoe or similar). I do have a few days in Vegas so whilst the wife goes shopping with daughter I'm going to try and hire a Viper or something with my lad for a few hours.

[WestyCarl]

So, a Chevy Suburban (or similar) was $2,400 form anywhere in Vegas for 2 weeks. However I've now secured one (Enterprise) from 13 miles down the road in Henderson for $1,173.02!! Happy days

On the confirmation they even add a comment that if I give them 24hrs notice they will come and collect me from "many convenient locations", not sure that will include Vegas though.

[WestyCarl]

Chucklehead said:

I'd be slightly concerned that you've got a $ rate there, and not one in your home currency. Are you certain that you have CDW and Liability included in that rate?

Enterprise have a pickup service and will pick you up anywhere within reason, or transfer your reservation to the local branch of wherever you do end up. They won't get you at the airport though, that's not cricket.

$ rate is no problem, I did the same 2 yrs ago via SIXT. (book via the US .com site, it's much cheaper)

The Vegas price and Henderson are direct comparisons. Both include Gov Fee, County TAX, VLF plus sales Tax. Neither included Damage Waiver but this is sold when you collect the car and is guaranteed to be below $24 / day.

Obviously I'll pay more than the $1173, but for the inconvenience of 13 miles it'll be 50% of what I'll pay in Vegas.

[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

[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.

[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.