I never bother with anything other than the pink photo license. They haven’t even checked that the last couple of times (though I am ‘Avis Preferred’ so maybe that’s why)
But its worth investigating in advance if your holiday travel insurance will cover you for all the extra insurances they like to add on, which often come to more than the base daily rental.
Also, depending on your length of stay, it can be cheaper to just buy a $99 satnav when you get here than paying for the daily rental, or buy the US maps for your own if you have one.
I hired a ‘tang about 6 weeks ago and drove round California. It was dead easy, driving is pretty relaxed over there. There is a lot of surveillance on junctions in the city, so you have to be careful. The biggest problem I found was when using a sanav on the highways, you get a lot of junctions close together, so it’s easy to exit too soon.
Car was dead cheap to hire…not a lot more than a focus.
Licence you have is fine …
I bought a 2nd hand cheapo Tom-tom off ebay with US maps already loaded – £50 all in.Price-less when trying to escape from the city – even a small one like Vegas.
Mustangs are 10-a-penny at the hire places and not expensive.
Id booked a medium sized saloon and was given the choice of “anythaang in line B suuur”.. Line B was mostly Mustangs but i went for a Tasty VW Passatt with all the gadgets – air con being a must !! 😉
If you are paying yourself, then go to http://www.insurance4carhire.co.uk and buy Collision Damage Waiver aka CDW from them. This costs roughly the same as the car hire, and buying it third party can save you tons.
HOWEVER
If you go onto a UK website to book a car in the US, or if the US website knows you’re not from the US, the CDW will probably be incldued in the price. The reason being that most US residents have hire car CDW included on their own car insurance or credit card, so they don’t kneed it; however foreigners usually do.
Also, the car hire company will insist it doesn’t deal with third party insurers, but you can (according to insurance4carhire.co.uk) ignore this – they will reimburse you for any costs.
Id booked a medium sized saloon and was given the choice of “anythaang in line B suuur”.. Line B was mostly Mustangs but i went for a Tasty VW Passatt with all the gadgets – air con being a must !!
If you have a Garmin with a micro SD card slot (no experience of TomTom), then North America maps were around 40 pounds from Amazon a couple of years ago (it seems they’re now around 50 pounds – still seems good value).
And I’ve been asked for the paper section of my licence a couple of times. You should take it just in case.
I’m looking to hire a mustang and drive whilst over there.
I will be going to Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
You have chosen the best thing to do in Vegas. Drive away from it!
😉
As above, nothing special needed. Always worth booking ahead to get a car with satnav. My last hire care in the US (In LA for a couple of days) became a mahooosive SUV, as I had reserved a car with satnav, but the hotel hire car place had messed up. Only car they had with satnav was one of these;
For the same price as a “compact”.
And then they forgot to charge it to my Amex. Which was nice! Free ride…WOOOO!
If you’ve got a smartphone that will run CoPilot Live, like an iPhone, or I believe Android has it as well, then get that, just checked the App Store, and CoPilot Live Premium HD USA is currently £10.49, and I honestly don’t think you can top that!
Satnav is a big plus. Vegas etc in September will still be ‘king hot – I’d go for a hard top car with aircon rather than pay extra for a soft top that’ll probably be much hotter. I’ve done a similar trip at the end of Sep and was V V grateful for the aircon rather than wishing I could take the roof down and get hotter. But you probably want a Mustang.
The mustangs looked great in a line up and i nearly fell for the dream but in hindsight didnt see many out on the road…. 😉
Passatt had aircon, cruise control, manual box etc etc . I knew we were doing 2000 miles or so so just wanted a good car i didnt have to worry about.
Went in Late September / early October and it was over 100 degrees some days.
Drove from LA to Frisco via Grand Canyon, vegas, death valley, Yosemite….
An absolute GAS !!
Up early-ish and hit an off the beaten track diner for breakfast – insist on tea … 🙄
If you fancy a Mustang mate – go for it, just not my tass de tay …
I remember being tired as getting out of LA airport in a hire car and stopping at the first motel: a consequence of a long day.
You need to know about the creeping right turns they may do at red lights. I found it was driving in and leaving car parks where I had most trouble driving on ‘their’ side.
Android smartphone with Google Maps, cigarette charger and buy an AT&T SIM card for $25 (+ $25 a month rental = $50) for maps everywhere and satnav, is my top tip 😉
If you have someone with you I would not get a satnav. Navigating with someone is part of the fun for me. The passenger gets to contribute.
I would not rely on a smartphone for Google maps use. For a start you will need an unlocked one, but phone coverage is patchy out West and AT&T (the only gsm carrier) is much worse. If you go the smartphone route get a mapping app with downloadable maps, which apparently means Nokia.
It’s a doddle – drove in and around LA and San Diego for three weeks over Christmas and really enjoyed it. Bloody pain with all the Stop junctions especially on suburban streets though.
Android smartphone with Google Maps, cigarette charger and buy an AT&T SIM card for $25 (+ $25 a month rental = $50) for maps everywhere and satnav, is my top tip
Not a chance. As Mol says, relying on Google Maps when network coverage is patchy is just dumb, especially when you’re advocating spending $25 on a SIM, along with data costs, when, as I’ve already pointed out you can have the US version of CoPilot installed on the phone, no network needed, for eleven quid!
What idiot would spend double, triple that, when they can buy an excellent satnav app, and always have it available anytime they might want to go back to the States?
Don’t bother indicating when changing lane.
Don’t ever let anyone merge, especially if the lanes split and it busy, close that gap.
When the lights turn green only think about moving after 5 seconds.
Be amazed that some cars can do 35 mpg.
Except that sign on a freeway will only be 10 feet before the junction despite the speed limit being 75 mph.
The dinners are awesome though.
We hired a brand new Mustang convertible in Florida lady year. Just drove it with the roof down and the air con on, not like petrol’s expensive! I’d be stunned if any US hire cars didn’t have air con, red herring from lasty I think. Passat over a mustang… Poor choice!
It’s the constitutional right of every American to drive in the passing lane at 60 mph, for hours. So you’ll be undertaking left right and centre.
That said, their lane discipline was quite good last time I was driving there. It’s the wrong lane, like, but at least they stay put with no sudden movements.