aardvark

Hello BE, it's been a while.

I'm posting again and guess what - IT'S ABOUT CARS!

Last time I posted here I was just moving to the USA for an internship. I'm extremely lucky to have been able to secure an H1B visa to come back to the USA in the same place! I'm so happy!

I'll be living again in Southern California for the record.

My question is as follows: I'll be looking to lease or purchase a car - whatever makes sense or whatever I can afford. I particularly have my eye on an Mazda MX5, but may not be able to consider a new one unless I can get a reasonable short-term lease on a 2015 or buy a 2013+ used one. I know this car is a bit of a long shot and I've been weighing up whether or not it's even feasbile, nevermind sensible. But that's neither here nor there... that's not my real question (tho any advice there would be appreciated...)

I'll have to rent a car until I can come across a good deal and not waste a bunch of money. Last time I went with Super Cheap Car Rental because they waived the under 25 fee. They were very good value, but the car was...iffy. Dodgy electronics and bumps everywhere. Now I'm 25 this isn't so much of an issue, but looking at rental prices - they are absolutely crazy at 800-1200 a month WITHOUT additional insurance. My questions are:

1. Can I buy additional rental insurance? My insurance broker told me no, only the rental agency can offer me their insurance.

2. I looked at renting from Hertz in the UK rather than the US and because the insurance price is included in the fee it's...almost the same price as the US quote without insurance. What trickery is this? Can anyone explain?

I'd be extremely grateful for some advice here. I was lucky enough to get a banger car that lasted me my last visa, but I'm looking for something a little more reliable now.

Thank you so much for any help. Cheers!

Englishmum

Join the AAA, which is similar to the RAC and AA. I've had seriously good discounts by booking rental cars through them as you constantly get vouchers with promotional codes on.

I was in Hawaii with some friends on vacation and we were staying on two of the islands. I pre-booked a car for the first week on Kauai at a good rate and decided to book for the second week on Oahu a few days before fling there.

I was getting fairly high rates and was looking at all the websites for car rentals, plus Kayak, Expedia, Priceline and was unhappy with the prices I was getting.

In the end I phoned my local AAA office and they got me a fantastic deal - with a Satnav included - and it was with Hertz

My friend didn't have a car in the U.S. as she worked in NYC: she's returned to live in S Africa but always had an AAA card to get the car rental, Amtrak and hotel discounts and said it paid for itself.

Btw the AAA card covers you in any car you are travelling in, for example if you are out and about with a friend in their car and even overseas (they assisted me when I had a blow-out when a nail was embedded in a tyre in my car in London a couple of years ago)


Http://www.aaa.com

aardvark

I had AAA before but cancelled it upon leaving the States (wasn't sure on whether I was coming back). I don't want to take a 70$ hit just to find out their rates aren't too great - what is the quoted price for a rental for a month? What kind of savings?

I'm also not sure I'll need it again immediately if I buy or lease a car since I'll probably have warranty and such.

They also send a lot of junk mail haha! Like an insane amount. So if I sign up again I hope they stop it cause I had to phone them and tell them to stop even after I no longer had a membership.

Thanks for your help tho. AAA could be an option if it's cheap enough... But without knowing...?

Edit: just had a look online! They quoted me 500$ with taxes which could potentially be worth it - only problem is I don't see a way to include liability. I have collision covered by my credit card but not liability. Any idea what the day rate for that is? It's not listed online.

robin1234

I've been a AAA member for many years and I don't get junk mail from them, or very little. I suspect that when you join or renew you can make that choice. Or it may be that different regional clubs have different volumes of junk mail...

aardvark

Perhaps. I usually read all the small print/check boxes so I'd be surprised if it slipped by me.

OCKF

Google Carhire3000 they are generally quite good and see what you think of the offers??

aardvark

carrentals? Carhire 3000 doesn't seem to be a thing anymore.

petitefrancaise

have you thought of buying a bike for your shorter journeys and using uber or zipcar until you've got your car sorted out?

OCKF

They have changed their site so try the link below.

Cheap Car Rentals, Best Prices Guaranteed! - rentalcars.com

Alan17

Do you have an American Express card? Assuming you do and are planning to transfer it to a US account, they do a pretty good deal on Car Insurance on a low cost per rental (not per day) fee.

If you don't have an Amex might be worth checking out if your current card will cover car insurance (and checking they cover you as a pending resident and not a visitor).

aardvark

No, I don't have Amex. I'm reluctant to apply for another credit card since I'm trying to build credit and I'm not sure I'd get issued another one currently.

My current card only covers collision and nothing more.

Also, I live 7 miles from work and no way I'd bike on the roads here unless I got a death wish. I'd rather take the money hit. Zipcar/Uber would be too expensive. I need to be mobile, to shop/eat/everything really.

Thanks for the link, OCKF.

I'm just looking for the cheapest way to rent really, without CDW but WITH liability cause my credit card only covers that.

OCKF

You are very welcome and good luck with your search!!! I have used them for many 2-3 weeks Holidays and when I rented a car for 2 months when we got here back in 2011.

Awesome Welles

Renting a car is wasting a bunch of money. Buy a clunker and run it until you can figure out how you are going to upgrade. At that time your clunker will still have some value.
Renting is just pissing away your money. Makes zero sense.

aardvark

Considering I aim to find a car within a month, ($760 in rental fees including everything [my best quote]), finding a car, buying a car, registration and taxes, plus selling that car, will overall cost me a loss I'd think.

Also the stress of moving across the country, trying to find a new apartment and also starting a job again - throw a car in there and I'm hurting for time and stressing like crazy. No thanks. Especially all the driving I'm going to have to expect it to do. I've already been there - buying a crap car off craigslist. To get something that isn't a death trap would cost you at least $3000, and even then you're taking a risk.

I've already done a fair amount of research on what I want - but I need to be in the States to actually get it.

I appreciate your advice, but calling what I'm doing a 'pissing away my money' is pretty hurtful, especially as I'm very careful with my finances.

Overall, I value life quality > money.

Awesome Welles

Forgive me if I offended you - it wasn't my intention to hurt your feelings - but you did point out that you were averse to wasting money, at the same time talking about sacrificing the thick end of $800 on a car rental.

Despite used cars being significantly more expensive than in UK, if you look, rather than scratch the surface, there are plenty of reasonable cars available for dirt money - or that are easy and cost-effective to get that way.

Doesn't sound like obtaining credit for a new car is going to be an issue for you then? Is that the case?

I'd still negotiate hard on a beater and then sell it when I was in a position to negotiate on an upgrade, with the money or credit-score needed, so I wouldn't get laughed out of the dealership - in fact I'd chop the beater in against the new car.

As an aside, leasing is effectively renting too - in essence you are paying for the depreciation on someone else's car and have absolutely nothing to show for it at the end of the lease. Now that is REALLY wasting money.