Rental Cars

When looking at renting cars in the US, it is important to be aware that Aussies (and other non-Nth Americans) will generally need to pay for 'CDW' (Collision Damage Waiver) insurance, which is not built into the base price quoted on US car rental websites.

The reason is that US renters are generally covered by their own car insurance policy when renting a car, which is definitely not the case for us, even within Australia. Americans will often also be covered for rental car insurance if they use a 'Gold' credit card to rent the vehicle. Again, this is very very rare here - if it is offered at all usually it is only coverage for a few thousand. It's also not covered by your travel insurance - sure, there might be rental car coverage, but only for a few thousand. The other point of difference is that when you are offered the additional insurance here (equivalent to CDW) it is to waive the $2500/$3000 or so 'excess' for which you would otherwise be liable if the rental car is damaged or stolen. In the US, unless you have CDW or are covered in some other way you are liable for the total value of the car if it is totalled or stolen.

So, this means the prices will look a lot cheaper at first glance than the rate you will end up actually paying! CDW is usually about $22 USD per day, meaning it can be as much or more as the base rental fee itself.

There are a number of options that may work out cheaper than simply renting through a US site and ticking the box for 'CDW' or adding it to the contract when picking up the car. These include:

Going through Alamo and National. We used these (they are sister companies and I think are branded as 'Europcar' in Australia) for a couple of our rentals on the 2004 trip. We were happy with them, and in our experience they are definitely a lot cheaper than the 'majors' like Hertz and Avis. Another useful thing is that their websites will automatically add on the 'CDW' (Collision Damage Waiver) and 'SLI'/'Extended Protection' (additional TPP) insurances if you choose Australia as country of residence. This may be cheaper than using another US site then separately adding CDW and SLI, but always compare the total cost for either option.

Use the UK sites of Budget or other major firms. Because the Brits are in the same position as us vis a vis CDW insurance, again they will automatically build it into the rate. They are quite happy to rent to non-British customers. In my experience they offer very competitive 'all inclusive' rates. We used them for most of our rentals during our 11 week US trip in 2004, and for the upcoming Hawaii trip their quotes seem to be the best I can find.

Use Australian-based sites such as Holiday Autos or Travel.com.au If you were to book a rental car through a travel agent, they would most likely be using one of these. Again the rates quoted are 'all-inclusive' of insurances, taxes etc. The downside is that you need to pay up front when booking. Normally when you reserve a car through a rental company site, no payment is due until you return the car at the end of the rental. You can also cancel the reservation with no penalty. American travellers do that routinely - book one, then keep looking for better deals. Rental car prices do fluctuate a lot. So, the idea is if you find a better deal, cancel the original booking and go with the better rate. Which obviously you cannot do if you have paid in advance via an Australian website like Holiday Autos. This comment also applies to booking through Expedia and travel sites like that

The bottom line is really to carefully compare prices. There are lots of special deals from time to time by the American firms like Alamo.com. Also there are many websites like this one offering discount coupons for car rental (and other services). If the deal is particularly good, then it can be better to go with them, and simply add the extra insurances to the base rate.

Another option might be one of the smaller outfits like we have on the Gold Coast which offer cars that are not necessarily brand new. These rent Jeeps Wranglers, Mustang convertibles and other types. For example, on Maui there is Maui Cruisers. They rent 8-10 year old Nissans.

Car Rentals Hawaii is another that offers cars from a range of rental outfits.

Here is another site Discount Hawaii Car Rentals that offers quotes from the major firms at quite good rates. One advantage is they offer cars from Thrifty with no 'additional driver' charge. This is a decent saving as most US outfits charge $10 per day for additional drivers.

This site also has some good offers, especially as many of their rates with the major firms allow an additional driver for free. Probably still not as cheap as going through a UK branch though, as insurance is not included.

CarRentals.com is a well-regarded US site that offers deals from all major firms

Here is a Tripadvisor post which (among many other things) includes some of discount codes for rental cars.

A guide to Budget's fleet, car classes and models

The attached spreadsheet compares several car rental quotes for Maui and the Big Island; some from the US websites of the major firms, others from the UK branches of those firms and some from resellers who offer options from the majors. The ones we have now booked are highlighted in green.

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