blargins

Ok, am now looking at spending 70 in the US this summer.

I was thinking about buying a car for the duration and selling it after.

I just received a quote from Enterprise for an economy car for 70 days at $1600, which is pretty good I think.

Now, the insurance is not so good at $20 a day.

What I was thinking was asking my USC girlfriend to rent it in her name and have me as a named driver on it.

She has fully comp insurance on her car and I believe normally this is how car rentals are done in the US, the person who is renting has their insurance cover the rental car.

Is this correct and would I be covered to drive it in this case? Of course, we would need to ask the insurance company, but thought I would pose the question here for further advice or ideas.

TimNiceBut

If I were you I'd have a look at booking it through the UK website of a US car rental company - you'll probably find that the UK quote for the rental in the US includes insurance where the quote in the US doesn't.

That's what I always did after I found out the hard way that renting a cheap car in the US wasn't so cheap once they charged you for insurance.

lisa67

We always pay for car rentals with our credit card and then the insurance is covered by the CC company....worth looking into

blargins

How does that work Lisa? Do you have to have a US credit card, or can any credit card work?

TimNiceBut

A lot of US credit cards offer that - UK ones don't IIRC.

lisa67

ahhh...yes, our is a US credit card.

blargins

Then if my girlfriend pays for it on her credit card and I pay her back, then that would work?

lisa67

should do...she needs to check with her cc company first to see if they cover car rental

tonrob

I've noticed a few times that the UK sites of consolidators like Travelocity and Expedia will offer "all inclusive" (insurance, tax, the works) prices (but pre-paid) for cheaper than the without-insurance price on the website of the actual car rental company the car is coming from!!

We booked rental cars this way for the last 4 sets of visitors we have had and I also used to do it this way when I was based in the UK and holidaying in the US. I don't know if there are any maximum rental lengths when booked that way, but presumably you could do a string of shorter rentals if needs be...? Definately worth looking into as this effectively made all of the insurances (LDW, SLI, PAI etc. etc.) "free".

candy wy.

Should also check there is not a time limit on rental also, some cards restrict it to 15 days.

lisa67

really? thanks for that...I need to rent one this summer for over 15 days

blargins

So in the States, when you get normal car insurance, what is actually covered, the driver or the car?

SultanOfSwing

It usually has to be American Express too, right? That was always what I was led to believe when we used to rent cars for longer road trips.

It depends on the level of coverage. We have full coverage - I don't have my policy on hand but I want to say I'm covered for both, and for a certain amount of liability to cover medical expenses should I injure someone in a crash, up to half a million or something. Ours is up around $900 for SWMBO and myself on my car, about the same on hers.

lisa67

usually the car. Anyone can drive my car as long as I give them my permission. So when my parents come over they drive my car all the time

lisa67

we've never had an American express card. Our cc has always covered rental.