Does Country of Residence matter?
Jan 23, 2022, 6:39 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: BA Exec Club
Posts: 581
Does Country of Residence matter?
Hi all
UK resident, trying to book a car in the USA for 15 days for an airport to airport pick up - if I check on AVIS then it offers me rates nearly double if I say UK resident versus US resident.
Does anyone pay any attention when hiring out if you meet the residency requirements or do they just issue the car regardless?
UK resident, trying to book a car in the USA for 15 days for an airport to airport pick up - if I check on AVIS then it offers me rates nearly double if I say UK resident versus US resident.
Does anyone pay any attention when hiring out if you meet the residency requirements or do they just issue the car regardless?
Jan 23, 2022, 7:49 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,522
Quite the contrary - they only check for residency requirements if you book the UK rates (which includes all the insurance as outlined above) but are a US resident.
You can book the US rates as a non-resident and will get them honored, no problem. But the US rates do not inlclude any kind of insurance except a very basic third-party liability coverage, and the daily charge for re-adding those to your rental will me much much higher than using the all-inclusive UK rate.
The only case this would make sense is if you have a premium credit card with good rental car insurance coverage or bought a separate policy from, e.g. insurance4carhire.com.
Do yourself a favor and don't drive a rental car in the US without comprehensive, all-emcompassing insurance coverage. You do not want to deal with the consequences if you don't and something happens.
You can book the US rates as a non-resident and will get them honored, no problem. But the US rates do not inlclude any kind of insurance except a very basic third-party liability coverage, and the daily charge for re-adding those to your rental will me much much higher than using the all-inclusive UK rate.
The only case this would make sense is if you have a premium credit card with good rental car insurance coverage or bought a separate policy from, e.g. insurance4carhire.com.
Do yourself a favor and don't drive a rental car in the US without comprehensive, all-emcompassing insurance coverage. You do not want to deal with the consequences if you don't and something happens.
Jan 23, 2022, 7:57 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,522
you will need:
LDW : https://www.avis.com/en/products-and...-damage-waiver and
ALI: https://www.avis.com/en/products-and...lity-insurance
at the very least to minimize your financial exposure in case of accidents, theft etc.
In an nutshell, if you don't buy any insurance with the US rates, it's you who's liable for everything should anything happen, and the sums involved can get enormous.
Today, 12:14 am
#7
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 3,031
Is this standard Avis practice? Hertz does not seem to care or check country of residency or license issuance. Nor did Budget the one time I tried a different country's rate.