EricK

I arrived in the US on Saturday (Stamford Connecticut). I arranged car hire for 30 days through Hertz before arriving as its going to be not so easy purchasing one - have to have a CT driving license before you can register a vehicle.

I was quoted $678 plus tax for the month and was told this included insurance. When I picked up the car today was told the cover was limited and advised to take out a liability insurance supplement which raises the liability limit to $1 million. This costs an extra $12.95 per day. They also added on personal accident cover at $5.95 per day without asking me (I would be covered for this through my company).

This brings the total monthly charge to $1340 which is a lot more than I had originally planned for.

Do I just suck it up and try and pass the test as quickly as possible in order to purchase / register a car? Or does that seem a lot for 30 days car hire inc insurance?

ian-mstm

That works out to about $45 a day - not entirely unreasonable. The US is a very litigious society... so, since you ask - if it was me, I'd just suck it up and pass the test ASAP.

Ian

avanutria

Make sure you can return the car early and only be charged for what you used. Budget is great for this - we had a two week hire when we arrived and returned it after eight days.

Englishmum

I know this is of no help to you, but just to make you feel better, my husband is leasing a Nissan Murano in Singapore and it's costing a whopping S$24,000 per year (approx US$17,000)

tonrob

Well you got them to remove the personal accident insurance, right?

EricK

Only noticed it on the invoice after I left - will be calling them this morning.

tonrob

Assuming it would be useless anyway as they wouldn't pay out if you were also covered elsewhere. (Dual insurance can be a nightmare full stop as neither company may want to pay out).

Bob

Perhaps get AAA and see about getting a AAA discount, I think Hertz offer one, might be Enterprise though, can't remember.

jackattack

You need to make sure that you can do this. When we returned to the US from an expat assignment in China, our employer paid for 30 days car hire for us while we bought a new car. We purchased a new car (a fabulous VW TDI) after about 3 weeks and then immediately returned the hire car but didn't get any cash back since the original rental was a monthly contract regardless of how long we used it. This might be because it was part of a corporate rate but not sure and didn't chase up since the company was paying, not us.

Undefeckable

Many of the rental firms have a 31 day max limit per rental.

lochdaz-of-blantyre

We live in New Canaan, CT so just a few miles from you. To register a car in CT you can do so with a State ID, not necessarily a CT license. In order to drive here legally you really should have a CT license if you are staying however we used the loophole of getting an international driving permit from the good old post office which allows us to drive on that for 1 year.

PM me if you'd like so one to one advice.

D

penguinsix

Check to see if your credit card covers any bits of the insurance they offer, such as the collision damage waiver or such.

The price is actually pretty reasonable for a 30 day rental, btw.

Nutmegger

That is only for a visitor -- you are a resident. You really need to get a CT license.

Bob

Are you sure that's not for residents though? So students rather than someone here for work.

Worth double checking because if your wrong and get involved in an accident, your insurance will void you like shit off a shovel.

chopper40

This is off-topic but I would be sure to book through an airmile club get airmiles on long rentals. Most of the airlines partner up with the major car rental companies. At the moment American are offering triple airmiles and 20% off with Hertz. Your rental would get you 4500 airmiles. If you aren't in an airline airmile club you should join-its free. You might be able to claim the airmiles as a missing mileage credit. I have had one free flight across the pond so far and half of the airmiles were earned through car rentals, hotels etc.