> > I am going to fly into LUBBOCK, TEXAS next month and found a good deal
> > at southwest.com for an ENTERPRISE rental car for around $32 for 3
> > days. I just turned 25 and have never rented a car before. Can someone
> > tell me what the process involves?
Let's start at the beginning. I assume the car is being rented at
the airport. Because land next to the terminal tends to be expensive,
the cars are often actually parked on the edge of the airport, and the
rental car company operates a minibus shuttle to take you to them. At
some airports they have an office in the terminal and you go there
before taking the minibus out to the cars; at others the office is
out by the car lot, and you take the bus first. I suppose in a
smaller city like Lubbock, they might have a more compact layout and
you won't need to take a bus at all.
> > Do I need to have insurance? Do I need to purchase insurance? etc?
> Contact your insurance agent and ask if your policy covers rental cars.
> If your own insurance covers you in a rental car then you do not need
> the extremely expensive insurance from the rental company. If your own
> insurance does not cover you then you should purchase at least minimal
> coverage.
>
> You will also need a valid credit card. Debit cards can be used for
> payment but a regular credit card is required in order to rent.
Also check whether you have insurance through your credit card.
In particular, LDW (see next paragraph) is often covered this way.
If you do have it, read the fine print and make sure your planned
trip conforms fully to any restrictions.
You should realize that there are several different types of insurance
that are relevant here. The most expensive is coverage against theft
or damage to the car. If you buy this coverage from the rental company,
they call it Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) or Collision Damage Waiver (CDW)
(and they say that it's not insurance, but that's a technicality -- for
practical purposes it is). If the rental is as cheap as you say, this
may well cost more than the rental itself. If you decline it, typically
you are then liable for the full value of the car, so you only want to
do that if you're certain you have your own insurance. But if you do,
you *don't* need LDW -- at worst, if something happens, you may have
to pay some costs and then claim the money back from your own insurance
(subject to its limitations, such as a possible deductible).
Liability insurance is insurance against damage to other people or
their cars or property in an accident that you're deemed responsible
for. If the other person dies, their family can sue for the income
they were going to earn -- that sort of thing. So this one is a big
deal. In many states liability insurance is included free with the
rental contract if you don't already have it; but sometimes there is
only a token amount included, and if you don't already have coverage,
you need to buy "Supplementary" or "Additional" Liability Insurance
(SLI or ALI). I don't know about Texas. In brief, if you don't
already have liability coverage, ask if SLI/ALI is an option, and if
it is, buy it.
The third type of insurance is personal accident insurance (PAI),
which covers your own medical costs in case you have an accident,
and I believe life insurance. Perhaps you already have that type
of coverage and don't need this.
The fourth type of insurance is personal effects protection (PEP),
which covers the case where someone breaks into the car and steals
your stuff that you left in there.
> Make sure you bring a printed copy of your reservation showing the total
> price with all taxes. The rental agencies quite often show you a higher
> price until you tell them of their mistake.
I don't think they've ever tried that on me. Not in North America, anyway.
I don't normally *have* a printed reservation to bring anyway.
> One common charge is prepaid gasoline. You can prepay for a full tank
> of gas at a slightly lower rate than gas stations. The problem is that
> its only cost effective to do this if you can plan it to return the car
> on empty. This is usually difficult to do. Its easier just to top it
> off just prior to returning the car. They only look at the gauge. It
> can be down a few gallons but as long as the guage reads full when
> returning you wont be charged for gas.
>
> Other than that, you just show up, show your reservation and credit card
> and get your car.
The two things they'll want to see when you show up are your credit card
and your driver's license. Then they'll go over all the optional extras
you can pay for, hand you the form, and say "initial here, here, here,
and here, and sign at the bottom". However, when you sign the form, you
are actually promising that you've read the full page of fine print that
you'll find on the back or on a separate sheet. So don't -- tell them
you want to read it first. They'll wait. The rules are typically
sensible enough, but there may be surprises -- I've rented some cars
where you had to promise not to drive it off a paved road. (And if
I then had an accident and they found that I've been on a dirt road,
they could void all my insurance, and that's not funny!) Read it,
understand what you're agreeing to, *then* sign it.
Oh, one more thing first: if they offer you a choice of models of car,
make sure these are all at the same price you reserved. It hasn't
happened to me, but I can easily imagine them slipping a more expensive
one in the list. I *have* had them openly offer a more expensive one
in case I wanted to upgrade on impulse; nothing wrong with that. If
they actually don't have a car in the price class you reserved, they
should offer a more expensive one at the same price (an "involuntary
upgrade"). Of course, if the car is larger, you may find yourself
paying more for gas. Some places will do involuntary upgrades
cheerfully; some are reluctant.
Next thing, if you're declining LDW, when you get to the car, don't
just get in, adjust the seat, and drive off. Take a good look all
over it for any dents, scratches, missing trim, chips in the windshield,
anything like that. If you find any, show them to the clerk, who will
mark them on a little damage form that comes with the contract. If
you don't do this, you risk being charged for repairs to damage that
you didn't do.
Also check the odometer against what it shows on the contract. Of
course, if your rental includes unlimited mileage, a small discrepancy
won't matter as to cost. But if there's more than a couple of miles
difference, the rental company should be told anyway.
If you have a breakdown, burned-out headlight, air-conditioning failure,
or anything like that while traveling, that's the rental company's
responsibility. There'll be a number with the contract for you to
call if you need roadside service; for minor stuff, if you phone them
they'll probably be agreeable if you just get it repaired and bring
them the bill when you return the car. If you need to add oil, in
my experience they'll treat that as a repair and pay for it too.
Unfortunately, needing to add gas is another matter. :-)
Note that rentals are normally charged in 24-hour days. If they stamp
the starting time on your contract as 11:47 am Friday, then your 3-day
rental is up at 11:47 am on Monday. At least some companies actually
allow another 59 minutes free. But after that they charge by the hour,
usually at a rate so high that it only takes 3 or 4 hours to add up
to another day. (This is not a rip-off, but reflects the fact that
you've reduced the chance they'll be able to rent the car again that
business day. Remember, they have to clean and check it over first.)
And they'll also charge for a whole extra day on any insurance you took
(and this, I think, *is* a rip-off).
If the rental is a weekend special, there may be special cutoffs that
override the 24-hour day rule.
If you're returning the car to the airport where you rented it and
flying out, this isn't likely to matter, but in general it's as well
to know that some rental offices will allow you to drop off a car
then the office is closed, and others will not. Sometimes you can
return a car at no extra charge to any office in the city where you
rented it, other times not. Returning in a different city almost
always costs extra and should be arranged when you make the reservation.
Have a good trip, eh?
--
Mark Brader "[It] was the kind of town where they spell
Toronto trouble TRUBIL, and if you try to correct them,
msb@vex.net they kill you." -- Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
My text in this article is in the public domain. |