Originally Posted by
mvoight
An American residing in Turkey would get the same rate as a Turk residing in Turkey. A Turk residing in the US would get the same rate as an American residing in the US.
Without prolonging the issue unnecessarily, the Country of Residence should not on its own define rates to be charged. There may be other reasons - experience, for example - but Country of Residence is meaningless and is used to raise prices for unsuspecting furinners. UK drivers are well used to this on international bookings
and it is not an insurance issue where insurance is a separate item. Of course, Brits are often only offered insurance-inclusive rates.
Originally Posted by
USirritated
Ideally though, it would not be a requirement for the rez system to know where people live, but in reality, we know it is a necessity. Please also keep in mind that there are countries which are not members of the United Nations, and therefor their driver's licenses are not internationally recognized by treaty.
I don't know how many countries' licenses are not recognised, and I guess for these people, the International Driving Permit would come into play. Country of Residence does not imply driving licence qualification. In any case, d/l info has to be provided when renting.
Practical example: I just made a dummy booking at avis.com for an Intermediate (Toyota Corolla) at Cape Town for 2 days in July. Without AWD or other discount, the base price before tax is:
- $95.99 for a US resident;
- ZAR 962 (about $123.88) for a UK resident.
Huh?!
The US resident gets CDW, PAI, liability insurance and TP included, the UK resident just CDW and TP, and liability insurance is not available even for a surcharge. So the UK resident pays 28.5% more for less in this example.
Let's think, is it to do with nationality? No. Is it to do with experience? No. Just Country of Residence.
No matter that the UK resident is more likely to have more experience of driving on the left than the US resident, nor that the UK resident may also have more experience of manual gear change (stick shift) than the US resident. (They drive in the left in South Africa and most rental cars are manual.)
Sorry, guys. This stinks. And you can understand why some posters are asking about the consequences of selecting a different country of residence when reserving.