Florida car hire help?

Author
Discussion

bigdavy

Original Poster:

1,085 posts

208 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
quotequote all
Heading to Florida next week for a last minute holiday, it's been a while since we've been and I'm a bit shocked at the price of car hire. Not looking for anything too fancy but avoiding the smaller compacts.
The best deals I've seen are a company called Economy who are not at the airport and you need to take a shuttle bus to their depot, but even taking that into consideration the prices seem just too cheap compared to others, to good to be true comes to mind.
Any recommendations or discount codes out there?

Dave Brand

928 posts

269 months

Saturday 22nd September 2018
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Avis has a 15% AWD (discount code), H811101 if I remember correctly.

skeeterm5

3,357 posts

189 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
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I am in Florida right now and I have a BMW X3 3.0 petrol from Sixt for the princely sum of £270 for 11 days with all insurances included.

Picked up from Miami international airport.

S.

rix

2,785 posts

191 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
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Ive always used https://www.usrentacar.co.uk

Don't be put off by the no thrills website - they are good and the insurances clearly explained.

Order what you want now and dont be tempted by any extras/upgrades when you get to the desk!

Matt Harper

6,621 posts

202 months

Monday 24th September 2018
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Be careful with Economy Car Rental - They are a 5-10 min shuttle ride to the west of the airport (very close to where I live, incidentally).
After the insurance add-ons (that they insist on, if you can't prove your own insurance provides the adequate coverage) they are no cheaper than the mainstream low-cost renters (Alamo, National, Sixt etc).

They kind of rely on the fact that once you are at their location, it's more trouble to get an Uber back to the airport (and their competition) than to just cave-in and pay their add-on fees.

yellowbentines

5,322 posts

208 months

Monday 24th September 2018
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rix said:
Seconded. Have used those guys as well as www.uscarhire.com on many occasions for Florida, Las Vegas and California.

Dependent on which of their providers you choose (e.g. Alamo) you can usually pre-register before you travel, bypass the counter and hard sell, and go straight to picking your own car from a line.

bigdavy

Original Poster:

1,085 posts

208 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for the help guys, I'll give economy a miss and stick with more mainstream rentals.
I'll try uscarrentals cheers.

captain_cynic

12,060 posts

96 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
rix said:
Ive always used https://www.usrentacar.co.uk

Don't be put off by the no thrills website - they are good and the insurances clearly explained.

Order what you want now and dont be tempted by any extras/upgrades when you get to the desk!
This.

I've used https://www.usrentacar.co.uk a few times before, once you add in all the insurances, its usually cheaper than booking direct for many of the companies. Plus in my experience, they don't try to upsell if you've booked through that site.

Also Sixt's UK site is pretty good as they automatically add the insurances you need for the US.

rix

2,785 posts

191 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
bigdavy said:
... uscarrentals...
Note thats a diiferent company - usrentacar is the one!

silobass

1,180 posts

103 months

Monday 24th September 2018
quotequote all
Used rentalcars for car hire in the summer which I thought was reasonable. Went with one of the in terminal companies, I can't remember which, possibly Alamo. All went well.

alangla

4,824 posts

182 months

Monday 24th September 2018
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If you're booking car hire in Florida, definitely try using the .co.uk versions of the big companies' sites - generally the rates they give foreigners are better than the domestic prices and usually include full insurance.

Adenauer

18,581 posts

237 months

Monday 24th September 2018
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I just booked a Dodge Challenger R/T from Hertz for January, 10 days for 690 dollars with everything.

That's a bargain in my eyes and I'm going to be rumbling my way around Florida in it, can't bloody wait. biggrin

bigdavy

Original Poster:

1,085 posts

208 months

Tuesday 25th September 2018
quotequote all
All booked up with Sixt, got a good price through the UK site as someone suggested.
All good until I printed out the documents only to find they're off-site and you need to get a shuttle service. Bloody raging, no mention of it anywhere until the last page of the documents.
bds!

Matt Harper

6,621 posts

202 months

Tuesday 25th September 2018
quotequote all
bigdavy said:
All booked up with Sixt, got a good price through the UK site as someone suggested.
All good until I printed out the documents only to find they're off-site and you need to get a shuttle service. Bloody raging, no mention of it anywhere until the last page of the documents.
bds!
If it's any consolation, the Sixt location is as close as you can get to being in the airport, without actually being in the airport.

bigdavy

Original Poster:

1,085 posts

208 months

Tuesday 25th September 2018
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
bigdavy said:
All booked up with Sixt, got a good price through the UK site as someone suggested.
All good until I printed out the documents only to find they're off-site and you need to get a shuttle service. Bloody raging, no mention of it anywhere until the last page of the documents.
bds!
If it's any consolation, the Sixt location is as close as you can get to being in the airport, without actually being in the airport.
Good to know thanks Matt. Don't feel quite so grumpy about it now!

filthypig

233 posts

87 months

Tuesday 25th September 2018
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Just to give Sixt another thumbs up. Their service was great when we collected and dropped off when hiring on the West Coast USA last year.

Dave Brand

928 posts

269 months

Wednesday 26th September 2018
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Adenauer said:
I just booked a Dodge Challenger R/T from Hertz for January, 10 days for 690 dollars with everything.
Just a word of warning. . .

You'll find yourself indulging in unnecessary bouts of fierce acceleration just to hear that lovely V8 noise!

Adenauer

18,581 posts

237 months

Thursday 27th September 2018
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Dave Brand said:
Adenauer said:
I just booked a Dodge Challenger R/T from Hertz for January, 10 days for 690 dollars with everything.
Just a word of warning. . .

You'll find yourself indulging in unnecessary bouts of fierce acceleration just to hear that lovely V8 noise!
I've got that covered biggrin


Matt Harper

6,621 posts

202 months

Friday 28th September 2018
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Dave Brand said:
Adenauer said:
I just booked a Dodge Challenger R/T from Hertz for January, 10 days for 690 dollars with everything.
Just a word of warning. . .

You'll find yourself indulging in unnecessary bouts of fierce acceleration just to hear that lovely V8 noise!
In which case, make sure you get a m/y 2017 R/T or younger. These cars have an active exhaust system, same as Scat Pack, SRT 392 and Hellcat - 2016 and older don't. Trust me, it makes a very significant difference.

Adenauer

18,581 posts

237 months

Friday 28th September 2018
quotequote all
Matt Harper said:
In which case, make sure you get a m/y 2017 R/T or younger. These cars have an active exhaust system, same as Scat Pack, SRT 392 and Hellcat - 2016 and older don't. Trust me, it makes a very significant difference.
I can't see me being able to request that from Hertz, somehow, Matt biggrin