Hammerhead786

Travelling to the UK for 4 weeks tomorrow and need some advice regarding hiring a car. What do I need to take in terms of documentation/paperwork in order to hire a car apart from my licence? Has anyone taken any insurance out to specifically cover the collision damage waiver, rather than getting it through the car hire company? If so, can you recommend anyone? I believe I could use my RBC credit card for this, but since I have a bank account in the UK, I'd prefer to pay from there saving on the exchange rates.

Thanks in advance,
Hamid

JGK

Last time I just had my SK driver's licence and used my Canadian CC which covered the collision Damage waiver.

However, check the hirer's small print. I didn't realise by not taking the UK collision insurance I incurred an daily charge on the hiring fee (about the same as the CDW daily charge, funny eh!). It cost me another $100 on the hire charge.

Hammerhead786

Thanks much appreciated.

bats

Do all the car rental companies do this?

Novocastrian

No. Never heard of it before. If you use a gold visa etc., there should be no charge for CDW.

bats

Good, thanks

JGK

Not sure, I used Holiday Autos but the car was actually hired through Enterprise.

My MBNA mastercard covered the CDW, but the charge (up to 15% of the hire cost), which is incurred only if you decline the hirer's CDW (detailed in the T&Cs), was added subsequent to the hire. if it had been mentioned at the hire desk I'd have gone for whichever was the cheaper option.

bats

How can they add a charge you did not sign up for? I usually use Enterprise so I better check.

bats

Oh it looks a minefield. I will have to check with my credit card peeps.

alexbellamy

I always hire with Hertz, prepaid, using the CAA discount CDP.

I shop around where to pick the car up. Rates vary.

This time I collected it from Luton airport, £165 for 3 weeks hire, all insurance included. Had I collected at LHR the charge was £400 for the same.

Piff Poff

I know when we hired a car last time in the UK we had an extra, no you have to pay it whatever charge, but I cant remember what it was for, we were covered on the credit card for insurance.

Collie

I hired from Budget last time I was back: had my own excess protection insurance. But the guy behind the desk told me that this would not cover me for loss of revenue from the car (if I pranged it so it was off the road) which they would require to be insured - and so wanted to put well over a thousand euros on my card to cover that eventuality. I think I was being conned, but who can tell...

Sid8

Don't forget to bring your credit card because in Britain almost all rental companies ask for credit card before renting a car.. There may be some companies which do not require card but all the good companies require credit card...

Mikeypm

My Oh use to work for a couple of rental firms and with the odd exception for a large corporate client they would only accept credit cards. i think rental companys have been stung before with cars disappearing to Africa and the Far East so they try not to take chances these days.

pdarwin

Last time I flew to UK was from Ottawa to Heathrow, and because I booked with Air Canada, I also got a big discount on my Avis car rental, as there seems to be some alliance between the two. Worth checking if there's savings to be made that way. Also got a good London hotel deal too.

I used my Ontario driving license and paid with my Canadian credit card and opted for the additional insurance as I hadn't driven a RH drive on the left of the road in some years. The collision insurance is expensive but it means if you total the nice new car they give you, then you can just walk away (assuming you can walk away physically, that is).