Thanks for the replies, especially Rai who led me to a $500 saving on insurance.
Here's what I ended up doing and some further savings. Car: Booked an iCar (Corolla/Focus/etc) with Alamo via Kayak.com Pickup in San Francisco downtown $21/day for the car Insurance: $15/day for the LDW (loss damage waiver) = first party property, fire and theft this comes straight from Alamo. $454/6months of Non owner's insurance from Farmers insurance http://www.farmers.com/. Just use google maps to find a local agent, I used Nancy Hu in Downtown SF, let me know if you want her details. You can get a pro rata refund when you cancel it, less the $15.90 policy and government fee. You can select options to cover third party property for 500k/1m, third party personal for 500k/1m and people inside the car for 10k/25k medical expenses and choose the level of the deductible (what we call "excess"). Further savings: * If you're willing to get a car one size smaller, then the car is $1/day cheaper and the LDW is $6/day cheaper. I prefer the iCar size or larger for safety. * You can still save $6/day on LDW insurance if you use one of the booking websites to provide insurance instead of the rental company. I would advise against this, as they will only pay up once you've already paid the rental company, so you need a spare up to $20k if the car gets totalled. * If you use a-acar.com rentals then you'll save ~$250/month on car hire and insurance, but you'll have an older car and won't get unlimited kms included or a state wide support network of replacement cars should something go wrong. He can only offer you a collision damage waiver though (at $9/day), so there's no way to get fire or theft coverage for his cars. Steve is a really nice guy though, but just didn't have options I was comfortable with. Happy new year and safe driving to all, Ben On 14 December 2011 14:19, Rai <dekraz...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hey Ben, > > I used http://www.a-acar.com when Enterprise raised their insurance > rates. The guy runs it out of a trailer next to a mechanic garage, but > don't let that turn you off. His cars are ok - I go an early 2000s Camry > which ran fine. The airconditioning wouldn't cool, but overall no > complaints. (Although I went with him cos I wanted the Impreza, but they > were all out :() > He organised insurance for me through State Farm and it was a year ago > now, but if I recall correctly, it cost me something between US$200-300 for > 6 months. And they refunded the remaining months' fee when I was done with > the rental 3/1/2 months in. > Worked out well enough for me. > > You might be able to do the same with State Farm even if renting from > another company. > > If you do go to him (I forget his name now) - he's an F1 fan and warms up > when you chat about it. He doesn't get enough of that conversation in his > part of the world :) > > Hope that helps, > Rai > > > On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 2:46 AM, gap <obscure...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Insurance isn't a bigger deal for rentals in the US because apparently >> majority of Americans have insurance coverage by way of their personal >> car insurance and many US issued credit cards provide some insurance, >> hence if you're from Australia you need the full load of insurance. >> Ignore the people that tell you that stuff is included with your >> credit card, etc. >> >> The other thing to be careful of are the payout limits - different >> states have different rules, but you want to calculate for you causing >> the write-off of some person's sports cars or huge medical bills for >> some family, etc. i.e. Don't skimp. >> >> Whether you buy coverage for the lose of your personal belongings from >> the car is something you could weigh up as optional. Do your research >> from the car rental websites regarding what the three letter insurance >> codes mean. I find they have limited info at the rental counters, or >> it's on something you can't sit down and read. If you prebook from >> Australia, they will try to upsell on stuff when you go to pick up. >> >> The refuelling tip is a good one. You can either return full, pre-buy >> an option where they refill (which costs more than yourself), but if >> you do neither they will charge you some outrageous amount. >> >> The usual point of doing business over there applies (which really >> hits for hotels) is that prices are ex-tax and charges, so be ready >> for trickle of extra charges. >> >> Greg >> >> On Dec 14, 3:17 am, Patrick Collins <pcolli...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > For a one month booking you have a lot of bargaining power. I booked a >> car for a month and got the costs cut in half by being in their face and >> haggling. >> > >> > Insurance is typically covered under standard work errors & omissions >> insurance coverage and so they actually expect to you to not buy insurance. >> > >> > Be sure to fill up the car before you return it or then you will feel >> the true sting of rental costs. >> > >> > Patrick. >> > >> > Sent from my iPhone >> > >> > On Dec 13, 2011, at 3:03 AM, Ben Sand <b...@bensand.com> wrote: >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > > I'm planning a one month car hire in January. Any tips on how to cut >> the insurance cost? >> > >> > > Plenty of cars for $20/day but they all seem to come with zero >> insurance. >> > >> > > All the companies are quoting rates like this: >> > > First party property: $15/day >> > > 3rd party personal + property: $13/day >> > > First party and passengers personal: $6/day >> > > total: $33/day >> > >> > > Most have a $1million max payment as well, so here's hoping I don't >> hit a Veyron. >> > >> > > I've been told using a Visa or Mastercard will take care of 3rd party >> personal and property, but I've spoken to Bendigo Bank, NAB and HSBC and >> they all seemed to think that wasn't the case. >> > >> > > I've heard if you have car insurance in the states it will cover you >> while you're using a rental - any chance I could sign some up while I'm >> over there before I drive the car out of the rental lot? >> > >> > > Thanks, >> > >> > > Ben >> > >> > > -- >> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon >> Beach Australia mailing list. Visthttp://siliconbeachaustralia.orgfor more >> > >> > > Forum rules >> > > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >> > > 2) No jobs postings. You can usehttp://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >> > >> > > To post to this group, send email to >> > > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> > > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> > > For more options, visit this group at >> > >http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach >> Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more >> >> Forum rules >> 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. >> 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs >> >> >> To post to this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach > Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more > > Forum rules > 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. > 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs > > > To post to this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Silicon Beach Australia mailing list. Vist http://siliconbeachaustralia.org for more Forum rules 1) No lurkers! It is expected that you introduce yourself. 2) No jobs postings. You can use http://siliconbeachaustralia.org/jobs To post to this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to silicon-beach-australia+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/silicon-beach-australia?hl=en?hl=en
