TIPS: Rental Cars & Insurance

TIPS FOR FINDING CHEAPER RENTAL CARS

There’s no magic bullet when it comes to finding a cheaper car rental. But you can look for opportunities to help ‘ease the pain’:

1. If you happen to work for certain employers (the government, for one), you can often get corporate discounts at some car rental companies with those corporate codes. Ask your employer.

2. There are often discounts if you choose to pay for your rental up front vs waiting until you to get to the rental desk. It means the charge will appear on your statement sooner, but that may be worth the discount. Just make sure you have the option to cancel if your plans change.

3. Choosing rental car companies that are farther from the airport can also be a more reasonable price than those that operate right in the terminal or close to the airport.

4. Loyalty programs with specific car rental companies can provide perks, too. And nothing says you can’t be a member of multiple programs, just like airlines.

Otherwise, shopping around is still your best bet. Here are some websites that may help:

CAR RENTAL WEBSITES

auto_europe_logo

AutoEurope has come to our aid on many trips with cheaper prices for rental cars both in North America and Europe.

TIP: You can often get different prices by comparing Auto Europe’s .EU site vs their .CA or .COM sites. Check them all out on separate browsers and go with the cheaper! (even if the cost is in Euros, the price with conversion may still be cheaper.)

EconomyBookings has also been a good resource for us for international AND domestic car rentals.

AVOID UNNECESSARY CAR RENTAL INSURANCE

CHECK YOUR CREDIT CARD for COVERAGE: If you have a premium credit card, read the fine print because you may find that the credit card not only covers you for ‘basic’ rental car insurance, but the deductible portion as well. You just need to use that credit card to pay for your rental.

TIP: If you are in an accident, make sure you collect all the paperwork from every service (towing, rental car company, police, medical services, etc). It’s always best to have more than less documentation when you need to recoup from your credit card provider.

DEDUCTIBLE aka COLLISION DAMAGE/EXCESS WAIVER INSURANCE

This goes by different names but the deductible or ‘excess’ is the amount that you will need to pay if you damage your rental car. In Europe, this deductible, also known as a collision damage excess/waiver (CDW), can often be very expensive, even thousands of Euros! And if you don’t pay for it, things like windshield damage, or damage to roofracks or the undercarriage of your car may NOT be covered.

Which is why people get very nervous and opt to pay for extra “zero-deductible” insurance coverage that reduces the amount you have to pay to zero. But here’s the thing: that ‘zero-deductible’ coverage can be very expensive because it is typically charged on every day of your rental!

Instead, there are companies that sell much cheaper insurance that would cover just the deductible portion of your rental. One of these is rentalcover.com. You pay a much smaller amount to insure just the deductible, and if you do have an accident, this third party insurer will reimburse you.

TIP: If you live in the UK, you can also use a company called icarhireinsurance.com that will work the same way. Plus there are worldwide plans that cover you if you rent cars in North America.

RENTAL CAR ALTERNATIVES – TURO.COM

If rental cars aren’t available in your destination for whatever reason (remember COVID?), you can look to other alternatives, like TURO, a ride-sharing service similar to Airbnb.

You may find that these privately-owned vehicles are cheaper to rent than rental cars in some places, usually because the vehicles are older than rental company stock. We used this service in St. John’s, Newfoundland and found it had better prices than typical rental companies.

TIP: Just like with other private rental services, you should always go for a highly-rated and more reliable ‘host’. And the newer the car the better, since there’s less chance of mechanical issues.

COMMUNAUTO

This service is available in France and several provinces in Canada (check the Communauto website to see the current avails). It’s typically used for short-term rentals (rates by the hour) for people who don’t have cars but need a vehicle for a few hours. Which might work for you if you are in a particular city and just need a ride somewhere and don’t want to pay for a full day rental car or pricier taxi/Uber/Lyft rates.

TIP: The registration and approval process to rent Communauto vehicles takes several days, so you need to submit your documentation to Communauto well in advance of your trip date.