Renting a car (under 25)

Am doing a two week tour of SW USA from Vegas in October with my girlfriend. We are both 24 so it looks like we will have to pay quite a substantial extra on car hire. We think we are probably gonna rent from somewhere in one of the hotels on the strip (these aren%26#39;t any more expensive than the airport I presume).

Has anyone any experience of hiring as an under 25 and can recommend any car hire companies.

Thanks.

Renting a car (under 25)

For overseas visitors it virtually always works out much better value to book and pay for car rental before you leave home.

When you collect your car don%26#39;t get suckered into paying for additional personal insurance (your travel insurance should already cover this) or upgrading your car. If you want a better car then book and pay for one - it will invariably be cheaper than upgrading locally.

Renting a car (under 25)

yes our plan is to book and pay for it here in the UK before travelling but I meant we%26#39;d pick up the car from a strip office as opposed to the airport.

I%26#39;m not sure on the insurance side of things. Do you have fully comprhensive, 3rd party etc insurance in the states or is it called something else.

Basically I want insurance so if I crash the car (and its my fault) eg. run into the back of someone, reverse into a wall in a car park, I want to be fully covered so only have to pay $x00 excess.

Ok, sorry for the misunderstanding! When you book US car rental in the UK (I%26#39;m actually a Brit who lives here), it should include Collision Damage Waiver or Loss Damage Waiver (CDW or LDW). This is the only insurance that you need worry about and providing you%26#39;ve paid it at the time of your reservation (which is usually the case) then that%26#39;s all you need to worry about.

so is CDW and LDW (are these the same?) basically like getting fully comp. insurance?

When I was under 25, Advantage did not have a fee for under 25, but they get horrible reviews. Enterprise usually had the lowest fee at about $10 a day vs. $25/day like most companies, but I think it depends which location you choose. The Web site lets you know all the fees for the location you rent from.

I was in Vegas in April and renting a car through the Imperial Palace was substantially more.

About insurance.....

One thing car rental places don%26#39;t tell you, and most people don%26#39;t know is this.

If you have an accident, and damage the rental car, and don%26#39;t have the additional insurance, your insurance company will pay for the damgae, less the deductible.

Lets assume its a major damage, and the total cost of repair is $5000, your insurance will pay $4,500, and the $500 deductible is your responsibility.

Then the car rental company will charge you 7 days of rental fees (at full price), and that is for the time it takes to repair the car

7x$50 = $350

So you can easily avoid to be charged close to $1000 by paying few dollars a day for the insurance.

Something to think about, next time you are renting a car

Also, I think it is cheaper to pick up the car from the airport lot than most hotels

MusicMan, an overseas visitor%26#39;s own insurance company would not get involved in any way, shape or form if they had an accident in Vegas (or anywhere in the US). The only insurance that they would have is that bought with the rental.

Advantage/US Rent-a-car has a 20.00 young drivers fee, for people 21 to 24.

get pregnant advice