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Will be touring with an Alamo rental car in New England this summer. Any hints/tips please?
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Just listen out for the "dont't worry, be happy" jingle that they play incessently. Otherwise they are ok. I have rented from them in the states before and have had no problems. cheap upgrades too.
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Just make sure you have all the insurance available
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This website will help a lot.....
USA Driving style"
usa.dedas.com/driving.html
Before I enter into a load of writing about driving in the US, do I assume that you have not driven there before ?
Mark.
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Mark (Brazil) wrote:
>
> This website will help a lot.....
>
> USA
> Driving style"
>
> usa.dedas.com/driving.html
>
> Before I enter into a load of writing about driving in the
> US, do I assume that you have not driven there before ?
>
> Mark.
Does quoting make a link appear too?
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That was an active link, that was.
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You can take it easy, because the Americans don't rush about. Watch the speed limits - on-the-spot fines can be imposed.
Road junction tend to be signed right on the junctions, and major on destination towns more than road numbers. The road numbers tend to be posted regularly along the roads though.
Usual cautions on taking left turns, especially into dual carriageways - make sure you keep to the right hand lane!
Boston is a nightmare with the Big Dig - roadworks everywhere, but once out of that you should have no trouble. Big advantage of driving an auto is that you can concentrate on the road.
We've had a couple of Fly Drives there and found no problems driving around - I'm sure you'll love it - we did.
Regards
John
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As a family we have used Alamo before. Excellent, most cars have barely covered 1000 miles. Always insist on an upgrade (often for free) - they expect you to try for one, and get the most comprehensive insurance you can - with collision damage waiver I think it's called.
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Is it your 1st time driving in the US?
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If you are flying daytime to USA from UK then you will possibly be taking an early flight from UK to say Boston. You can arrive in Boston in the early evening. Just when the rush hour(s) is/are at their peak, so do not pick up car immediately after landing. Better to book hotel and pick up after breakfast the next day. Most hotels will pick you up from Logan when you arrive, and deliver you to your car rental office the next day at the cost of the drivers tip. I have seen many worn out Brits after a long translantic flight picking up a rental car and putting themselves into great danger as well as tired wife and screaming kids. And you are a prime target for muggers!
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Be sensible in built up areas, keep the doors locked at all times. Rent the most powerful vehicle you can, gas is cheap and you will not have many oppourtunites to drive large capacity V8's in Britain. Rememeber it's a rental they climb higher kerbs and go much faster than our own personal car ;-
Eleanor
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Eurpopeans drive fast and eat slow, Americans eat fast and drive slow.
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Colin,
How have you booked your car?
If it is part of a package eg flydrive with a *free* car then have you compared the cost of all the extras that in some cases are advisable and in other cases the rental desk will try very vary hard to sell you. You might find that you can do better going direct, even with the big chains. If you want some examples drop me an e mail, best discussed off site methinks.
For example for a trip later this year I have got a like for like deal with Hertz which beats the flydrive price using Alamo by £114. Plus Hertz have the car I want Alamo and the others don't. And that is without resorting to the extra Corporate Discount %.
Have you considered the extras/upgrades you want in advance at leisure and paid for them in advance? Even so you will find the hard sell at the rental desk can be aggressive, be strong, don't waver my friend. I have even heard the line when one renter seemed a bit unsure about whether to take this particular add on priced at $14 usd/day, " well if you have a problem they will come and take your house off you."
Also have mentioned this before, don't settle for Collision Damage Waiver, you *must* have Loss Damage Waiver. You will be Ok with the big chains but if you have a problem/crash such that the car cannot be hired out to another renter CDW covers the damage to the vehicle usually less an excess, but does *not* cover the loss of income to the hire company because their fleet is now down one motor. LDW covers the lot.
Good luck and anything you want to know just ask.
Stuart
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Stuart,
this sort of information is invaluable to people like myself who have very little understanding of the intricacies of car hire abroad.
I don't need this information right now, but it would be useful if it was somewhere I (& others) can find it easily when needed and not lost deep in a thread.
Is there somewhere this sort of thing is usually sent to for quick reference? Is it too specific for HJ FAQ?
Wonderingly,
Lee.
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Try Holiday Autos 0870 4000011 or www.holidayautos.co.uk
Always ask for the best price. Always use them for Europe (but as I haven;'t been to the US I don't know what they are like) and have had no problems. Always about 20-30% cheaper than going to Hertz/Avis etc directly.
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When I picked up a car from them I was told that I'd been charged for a tank of petrol and if I bought the car back then this would be refunded. Two weeks later I brought the car back with no petrol thinking it would make no difference. It was only when I checked my card that I found out they had charged me 32 dollars for a tank of petrol in a car that could only hold ten dollars worth. It's only a small thing but it annoyed the hell out of me.
All the petrol stations I encountered required payment in advance. This is easy if you have a credit card but if you are paying in cash then you have to walk into the shop and pay before you can get any fuel.
On the subject of credit cards...by the time I got home from a two week holiday there were a number of dodgy transactions on my card. A quick chat to the credit card company got these promptly refunded so no problem but it's worth being aware that it can happen.
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"All the petrol stations I encountered required payment in advance. This is easy if you have a credit card but if you are paying in cash then you have to walk into the shop and pay before you can get any fuel."
because you can swipe the card at the pump...I wish I could figure out how to use this edit button.
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Seeing as you are talking about brokers eg holiday autos another one to consider is
Sunstyle International Rent a Car
Auckland House,
Walton on Thames,
Surrey,
KT 12 1PL
Tel 01932 225544
Fax 01932 253067
I think their web address is a link from www.sunstyle.co.uk
I recall they don't have online reservation, you have to phone or fill out a form for a quote. They use Alamo.
good service and prices.
The firm I try to avoid is ******, they are the one used most often by the package holiday firms and you just end up paying top *dollar* (hint hint)
As for holiday autos in the usa, very good they also tend to use Alamo, who are fine, like for like incl the extras Hertz 390 , holiday autos 405 which is not much to write home about in all honesty. Alamo were way out on price, maybe it was some glitch or I was using a dodgy CDP number but they were over 600!
To answer Lee H's post, I don't claim to know a lot about this type of stuff or be an expert by any means. Like others just expressing personal opinions and result of experience, which I suppose is what the Backroom is all about really, and if we can have a laugh so much the better. But I think you make a fair point that the number of times certain questions come up, its surprising more does not filter into a FAQ's answer which I would think should improve site statistics.
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Best advice - upgrade to a convertible. We were in New England last year and hired a Mustang Convertible. It was fantastic fun, it just has to done.
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Pete,
I agree totally, hired mustang in Vegas, only problem was that it was too HOT to have the hood down sometimes, you needed the air con!!
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Colin,
New England is great but I thought I'd mention:
Alcohol:
Hopefully this is irrelevant to anyone reading this but perhaps it's worth remembering that:
(a) your rental car insurance may well be void if you have excess blood alcohol
(b) if anyone in the car has an open container of alcohol (like if your passenger for some reason feels like drinking a can of beer) you'll be seriously done in New Hampshire.
Multiway stops:
New England still has lots of roundabouts (rotaries) but I think that 4-way stops (and higher) are being introduced. Basically first in first out (but I've heard of one called Chicken Corner).
Slip roads (off ramps):
Watch out for some really tight turns as you leave the motor way, not least on the way back into Logan airport.
Speed Limits:
Within 50 miles of Boston there is no space between towns, it's all suburbia. It's easy to forget in a 2 acre zoning town (2 acres per home!) that the limit may be only 40 or so when at home you might think that it's a 60 zone.
I'm sure you'll enjoy the experience.
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This is all great stuff. Many thanks to all.
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I-128 around Boston is the nearest I've got to the M25 in the US.
(M25 in the bad/good old days when traffic moved, that is).
Expect lower standards of signage than in the UK. Get a good map.
And make sure you have a good navigator. Mine all progressivly fell asleep after a good lunch as we belted around 128 on the way to Martha's Venyard. Scary experience.
rg
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boston Drivers Are right up there with the worst in the world as city drivers go... be on guard for the "Boston Left turn" where the driver coming from a side street wishing to turn left will drive accross the Right turn lane at rightangles hence blocking it untill a gap in the left turn traffic is provided... as an old (by US standards) city it's streets in the old section will have set out as farmers/drovers paths and can be quite confusing
Conn. is the worst state in the north east for speed traps and they are very good at it indeed. Rhode Island is not far behind them Both states are quite heavily urbanised in the south but places like Mystic Seaport in Conn. and Newport in RI should be on your list... NE and NW Conn. are quite senic with old mill towns and rolling hills
Maine is wonderful if you catch it in the winter and like winter sport or after mud season (spring) and before or after Black Fly season)
Vermont and NH as well as western Mass. are also places of great senic beauty... if you head north and west of Boston before early May make sure the rental company has provided a set of tyre chains in the boot
If you come to cape cod and the islands don't bother with the Vinyard as it is much like the rest of the USA with Fast food joints and traffic signals
if you come to my island of Nantucket it is best to leave your rental car in the car park and take the HYLine High speed ferry (just about an hour) and rent push bikes to see the island.... You will find the town quite quaint with the oldest houses built in 1669 and over 450 older than 1800 (mine was built in 1730) cobble stone streets and narrow lanes... quite unlike the rest of the USA and wort a visit of several days (but not in the tourist crush of JUly and Aug.)
Have fun in New England when ever and where ever you go
Randolph Lee
Nantucket Island USA
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I went to Boston & Cape Cod on honeymoon in Oct. '99 and we rented a Chevvy Blazer (long story, wanted a convertible but wrong time of year and we were stuck with a single rental company because a mate of mine works for them so we didn't have to pay).
I found driving out of Boston not too bad, slightly tricky because of the low level of signage, the fact that I'd never driven a column shift automatic before and the fact that I'd never driven a massive (by UK standards) SUV before either. Once out of the city it was fine, a few roundabouts to make me feel at home.
On the way back into Boston I was supposed to drop the car off at one of the Enterprise offices in the city centre but all the roadworks associated with the big dig got me confused and I got lost. Therefore I headed to the airport, dropped it off there and got a cab back to the hotel we were staying at.
Went to Martha's vineyard, which was just weird at that time of year, sounds like we should have gone to Nantucket instead. Maybe next time.
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