long distance one-way with Dollar/Thrifty
Jan 8, 2010, 11:43 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,207
long distance one-way with Dollar/Thrifty
We all know that Dollar/Thrifty uses a different business model for one-ways, with the same daily rate plus a flat rate drop charge. This can be cheaper for short distance long time rentals, such as one week FLL-MCO.
Has anyone done a long distance one-way with Dollar, other than the FL driveout/in? As in, Chicago to JFK, for instance? Or LAX to EWR, for example? I've heard some anecdotal negative comments from some European travelers who have done things like this with Dollar/Thrifty.
Has anyone done a long distance one-way with Dollar, other than the FL driveout/in? As in, Chicago to JFK, for instance? Or LAX to EWR, for example? I've heard some anecdotal negative comments from some European travelers who have done things like this with Dollar/Thrifty.
Feb 1, 2010, 12:58 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
What sort of negative anecdotes have you heard? I'm not really sure what could go wrong with this situation. The only thing I can think of would be either being unable to return a car to another location or being surprised by the drop fee, both of which can be avoided by ensuring everything is set up in advance.
The closest I've come was during a rental out of Thrifty CLT. After a week of train and road travel through twelve states, I was visiting a friend in MCO. My flight back home was out of CLT at noon the next day, and so I was faced with a long overnight drive to return the car and catch my flight. I was feeling weary, so I checked into the option of dropping the car off at MCO and booking a one-way flight to CLT.
The drop fee was, as I recall, a relatively reasonable $150, and the one-way flight was about the same (maybe a bit less). However, I would have saved a day's rental charges (~$120--I had taken the full coverage package plus a GPS and the underage fee) and about $70 in gas, meaning my total out of pocket expense would have been only an extra $100 or so--worth it for a good night's sleep, right?
Well, I decided that $100 is $100 and I'd better save it, plus I was (drowsily and deliriously?) under the impression I might be able to take a different route back through Atlanta and see a few things on the way back north, so around midnight, I said good-byes to my friend in MCO and headed out. The GPS said I had about 8 hours of driving, and I seem to always be able to beat the GPS's estimates by about 10%, so I figured I had about a three-hour margin of safety should I get delayed.
Well, just south of JAX, I started to get a good bit drowsy, so I pulled off into a rest stop, set three alarms on my phone (just in case), and tried to nap for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the Ford Mustang convertible I had been given a free upgrade into was not the most comfortable car: the driver's seat only reclined about 45°, That, combined with the fake-sports-tuned hard chair, made it impossible for me to fall asleep.
I gave up trying about 45 minutes later and got back on the road. Sheer exhaustion wiped over me as I crossed the Georgia state line. I tried everything: blasted upbeat music I could sing along to, called friends and family to keep my mind occupied, and drove with the windows open and the top down despite the chilly night air.
Just south of Savannah, I pulled into a truck stop off I-95 and bought an assortment of energy drinks and chilled Starbucks coffees. I returned to the freeway onramp to find it closed for construction and followed the detour signs into a very small town that was shut down and pitch black for the night. I turned left at the solitary stoplight and proceeded down what looked like a four-lane divided highway through a rural area. A bit down the road, I passed a 45mph speed limit sign, which I thought strange--a rural road like this would have a speed limit of 55 or 65 in most areas! I looked down to my speedometer and saw I was doing 52, but I gradually slowed down a bit anyway. As I got close enough to see the lights of the Interstate underpass, I saw the tail lights of a car a good bit (half a mile or so) ahead of me. I slowly gained on the car. A half a minute later, I got close enough to the tail lights to see the reflective words "POLICE" across the bumper. Oh, crap! I thought, but I looked down at my speedometer to see I was only doing 48, but I tapped my brakes to slow down to 45 anyway.
Right then, the cop, who was in the left lane, slowed way down and fell behind me. He pulled into the right lane behind me and--wouldn't you know it--turned his lights on. I pulled over, absolutely unsure of his motive. Suddenly, the words of a friend from the East Coast echoed through my head: Don't speed on the Interstate in Georgia. The small towns make their money off of catching speeders. Well, was I speeding? Three miles an hour--hardly a major offense, and I wasn't on the Interstate, so I wasn't a rich Northeasterner heading back from his vacation home in Florida. I was tired, but I wasn't driving erratically, so it certainly wasn't under suspicion of drunk driving. Maybe he just had something against red Ford Mustang convertibles driving through his town at 3:30am. (It was a free upgrade--I swear! And after my miserable experience trying to sleep outside of JAX, I was regretting not taking the minivan the rental agent had initially offered me. I'm not a sports car kind of guy!)
As they teach you in How To Be A Jerk Cop school, he asked what my hurry was. I told him the truth: I had a flight out of CLT and had to be there by 10am.
He said, "Well, you were doing 52 in a 35."
I pointed out that I had seen a 45mph speed limit sign well back, and he said, "It's 35 before the sign."
Never mind that 35mph on a major four-lane divided highway in a rural area seemed asinine (if there was a town there, it was completely hidden by the lack of lights)--how on earth could he have caught me before the sign when he was at least a half mile ahead of me and well on the other side of the 45mph speed limit sign--and driving in the same direction as me? In other words, it was a long shot that he could prove I was in the 35mph zone when he radared me out the back window of his moving car. None of this went through my head until well after he left, though, so I simply sat quiet and let him write me a ticket. Well, the $180 ticket more than wiped out my $100 savings for not flying. I instantly regretted not doing the one-way/fly option.
"Drive slower," he said, and when I asked him if I'd make it to CLT in time, he said, "You have plenty of time."
I pulled out, a bit shaken but motivated to get going by the potential penalties of missing my flight, so I proceeded onto the Interstate and continued driving.
I managed to keep from sleeping all the way up I-95 and I-26 through Columbia, SC. As I left Columbia and began to get within sight of the North Carolina border, I started to encounter morning commuter traffic into CLT. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open--even blinking was a painful experience, since my eyes did not want to open back up after the blink. In the left lane not far from the border, I got a scare when I blinked and then felt the rumble strips of the median shake my car. I opened my eyes to discover I had probably fallen asleep for just long enough to drift midway into the shoulder. Fortunately, I was able to quickly recover, and the adrenaline that coursed through my veins was enough to keep me awake to the airport.
Because of my shorter-than-planned nap in JAX, I got to the Thrifty lot at about 9:00am instead of the 10:30 or so I had originally intended. I had originally rented my car at about 6:30am, so I was only 2.5 hours late for my day. Disheartened by the expense of my ticket, I asked the manager on duty if, since I was a good, profitable customer (having bought everything) and a Blue Chip member and thus a loyal Thrifty customer, would he be so kind as to backdate my return and thus waive the three extra hours? "Sure," he said, and proceeded to do so. Thus, the only positive of this experience: I got my Thrifty bill reduced by $120, putting me almost back down to where I had originally planned to be with my expenses.
Originally hailing from California, driving above the posted speed limit is a given for me. (If you drive the 65mph posted in urban Los Angeles or the 70mph posted on I-5, you'll be flashed at, honked at, and flipped off for obstructing traffic.) But despite many years of constantly intentionally driving above the posted speed limit, the only two times previous I'd ever been pulled over were times I honestly had no idea I was exceeding the limit, and both times I was able to keep my driving record clean. (Once was on a freeway exit that dropped to 25mph almost instantly, and the sign was, of course, hidden behind a tree [the officer ended up not ticketing me]; once was on a large, six-lane road in Fairbanks when I didn't realize the speed limit was 40 [the same-size road in Anchorage has a speed limit of 50; I ended up getting that waived with a defensive driving course]; and the third was this time.) So, in order to ensure my driving record remained flawless and my insurance rates low, and because I was pretty sure the cop's claim I was behind the 35mph sign wouldn't stand up in court, I decided to hire an attorney to contest the case. I couldn't find any National Motorists Association-recommended attorneys in the area (Richmond Hill, to be exact) to take my case, but one NMA-recommended attorney in Atlanta I contacted suggested I check with a lawyer out of Savannah, who agreed to take the case for a $400 fee.
The lawyer minced no words: he said that small towns in Georgia really like their traffic citation revenues, so they weren't going to back down easily. However, he thought he could get them to back down to a charge of 4mph or less over the limit if we kept the full $180 fine. Four miles or less over meant that Richmond Hill wouldn't report it to the Georgia DMV, which, in turn, meant that Alaska would never see it. Careful of my clean record, I agreed.
The Richmond Hill police agreed to this, but my decision to save $100 on a flight scared the crap out of me and ended up costing me over $500. And to keep this on-topic: That's the only negative experience I've ever had with Thrifty's one-way policy!
Oh, and next time a decision about my safety comes down to that little of a dollar amount, you can bet which route I'm going to take...
The closest I've come was during a rental out of Thrifty CLT. After a week of train and road travel through twelve states, I was visiting a friend in MCO. My flight back home was out of CLT at noon the next day, and so I was faced with a long overnight drive to return the car and catch my flight. I was feeling weary, so I checked into the option of dropping the car off at MCO and booking a one-way flight to CLT.
The drop fee was, as I recall, a relatively reasonable $150, and the one-way flight was about the same (maybe a bit less). However, I would have saved a day's rental charges (~$120--I had taken the full coverage package plus a GPS and the underage fee) and about $70 in gas, meaning my total out of pocket expense would have been only an extra $100 or so--worth it for a good night's sleep, right?
Well, I decided that $100 is $100 and I'd better save it, plus I was (drowsily and deliriously?) under the impression I might be able to take a different route back through Atlanta and see a few things on the way back north, so around midnight, I said good-byes to my friend in MCO and headed out. The GPS said I had about 8 hours of driving, and I seem to always be able to beat the GPS's estimates by about 10%, so I figured I had about a three-hour margin of safety should I get delayed.
Well, just south of JAX, I started to get a good bit drowsy, so I pulled off into a rest stop, set three alarms on my phone (just in case), and tried to nap for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, the Ford Mustang convertible I had been given a free upgrade into was not the most comfortable car: the driver's seat only reclined about 45°, That, combined with the fake-sports-tuned hard chair, made it impossible for me to fall asleep.
I gave up trying about 45 minutes later and got back on the road. Sheer exhaustion wiped over me as I crossed the Georgia state line. I tried everything: blasted upbeat music I could sing along to, called friends and family to keep my mind occupied, and drove with the windows open and the top down despite the chilly night air.
Just south of Savannah, I pulled into a truck stop off I-95 and bought an assortment of energy drinks and chilled Starbucks coffees. I returned to the freeway onramp to find it closed for construction and followed the detour signs into a very small town that was shut down and pitch black for the night. I turned left at the solitary stoplight and proceeded down what looked like a four-lane divided highway through a rural area. A bit down the road, I passed a 45mph speed limit sign, which I thought strange--a rural road like this would have a speed limit of 55 or 65 in most areas! I looked down to my speedometer and saw I was doing 52, but I gradually slowed down a bit anyway. As I got close enough to see the lights of the Interstate underpass, I saw the tail lights of a car a good bit (half a mile or so) ahead of me. I slowly gained on the car. A half a minute later, I got close enough to the tail lights to see the reflective words "POLICE" across the bumper. Oh, crap! I thought, but I looked down at my speedometer to see I was only doing 48, but I tapped my brakes to slow down to 45 anyway.
Right then, the cop, who was in the left lane, slowed way down and fell behind me. He pulled into the right lane behind me and--wouldn't you know it--turned his lights on. I pulled over, absolutely unsure of his motive. Suddenly, the words of a friend from the East Coast echoed through my head: Don't speed on the Interstate in Georgia. The small towns make their money off of catching speeders. Well, was I speeding? Three miles an hour--hardly a major offense, and I wasn't on the Interstate, so I wasn't a rich Northeasterner heading back from his vacation home in Florida. I was tired, but I wasn't driving erratically, so it certainly wasn't under suspicion of drunk driving. Maybe he just had something against red Ford Mustang convertibles driving through his town at 3:30am. (It was a free upgrade--I swear! And after my miserable experience trying to sleep outside of JAX, I was regretting not taking the minivan the rental agent had initially offered me. I'm not a sports car kind of guy!)
As they teach you in How To Be A Jerk Cop school, he asked what my hurry was. I told him the truth: I had a flight out of CLT and had to be there by 10am.
He said, "Well, you were doing 52 in a 35."
I pointed out that I had seen a 45mph speed limit sign well back, and he said, "It's 35 before the sign."
Never mind that 35mph on a major four-lane divided highway in a rural area seemed asinine (if there was a town there, it was completely hidden by the lack of lights)--how on earth could he have caught me before the sign when he was at least a half mile ahead of me and well on the other side of the 45mph speed limit sign--and driving in the same direction as me? In other words, it was a long shot that he could prove I was in the 35mph zone when he radared me out the back window of his moving car. None of this went through my head until well after he left, though, so I simply sat quiet and let him write me a ticket. Well, the $180 ticket more than wiped out my $100 savings for not flying. I instantly regretted not doing the one-way/fly option.
"Drive slower," he said, and when I asked him if I'd make it to CLT in time, he said, "You have plenty of time."
I pulled out, a bit shaken but motivated to get going by the potential penalties of missing my flight, so I proceeded onto the Interstate and continued driving.
I managed to keep from sleeping all the way up I-95 and I-26 through Columbia, SC. As I left Columbia and began to get within sight of the North Carolina border, I started to encounter morning commuter traffic into CLT. It was all I could do to keep my eyes open--even blinking was a painful experience, since my eyes did not want to open back up after the blink. In the left lane not far from the border, I got a scare when I blinked and then felt the rumble strips of the median shake my car. I opened my eyes to discover I had probably fallen asleep for just long enough to drift midway into the shoulder. Fortunately, I was able to quickly recover, and the adrenaline that coursed through my veins was enough to keep me awake to the airport.
Because of my shorter-than-planned nap in JAX, I got to the Thrifty lot at about 9:00am instead of the 10:30 or so I had originally intended. I had originally rented my car at about 6:30am, so I was only 2.5 hours late for my day. Disheartened by the expense of my ticket, I asked the manager on duty if, since I was a good, profitable customer (having bought everything) and a Blue Chip member and thus a loyal Thrifty customer, would he be so kind as to backdate my return and thus waive the three extra hours? "Sure," he said, and proceeded to do so. Thus, the only positive of this experience: I got my Thrifty bill reduced by $120, putting me almost back down to where I had originally planned to be with my expenses.
Originally hailing from California, driving above the posted speed limit is a given for me. (If you drive the 65mph posted in urban Los Angeles or the 70mph posted on I-5, you'll be flashed at, honked at, and flipped off for obstructing traffic.) But despite many years of constantly intentionally driving above the posted speed limit, the only two times previous I'd ever been pulled over were times I honestly had no idea I was exceeding the limit, and both times I was able to keep my driving record clean. (Once was on a freeway exit that dropped to 25mph almost instantly, and the sign was, of course, hidden behind a tree [the officer ended up not ticketing me]; once was on a large, six-lane road in Fairbanks when I didn't realize the speed limit was 40 [the same-size road in Anchorage has a speed limit of 50; I ended up getting that waived with a defensive driving course]; and the third was this time.) So, in order to ensure my driving record remained flawless and my insurance rates low, and because I was pretty sure the cop's claim I was behind the 35mph sign wouldn't stand up in court, I decided to hire an attorney to contest the case. I couldn't find any National Motorists Association-recommended attorneys in the area (Richmond Hill, to be exact) to take my case, but one NMA-recommended attorney in Atlanta I contacted suggested I check with a lawyer out of Savannah, who agreed to take the case for a $400 fee.
The lawyer minced no words: he said that small towns in Georgia really like their traffic citation revenues, so they weren't going to back down easily. However, he thought he could get them to back down to a charge of 4mph or less over the limit if we kept the full $180 fine. Four miles or less over meant that Richmond Hill wouldn't report it to the Georgia DMV, which, in turn, meant that Alaska would never see it. Careful of my clean record, I agreed.
The Richmond Hill police agreed to this, but my decision to save $100 on a flight scared the crap out of me and ended up costing me over $500. And to keep this on-topic: That's the only negative experience I've ever had with Thrifty's one-way policy!
Oh, and next time a decision about my safety comes down to that little of a dollar amount, you can bet which route I'm going to take...
Feb 1, 2010, 5:37 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,207
The negative reviews may have something to do with fewer people taking long-distance one-ways with Dollar than with the other companies. As you mentioned, Dollar does have some atypical quirks.
I remember one review online was an Australian tourist who rented DEN to LAX for a month, and when the car broke down in NM, Dollar said they'd have to wait for a replacement to be sent from DEN rather than do an exchange nearby. I believe another similar review online was a breakdown in NC with a franchise car from several states away, and Dollar gave this couple problems with exchanging it because the closest store was corporate. It might have been vice versa, a corporate car near a franchise store, I don't remember exactly. The couple finally got the car exchanged, but upon return to the original location, the manager was irate that he personally didn't approve the exchange and now wants to charge a hefty drop fee. This didn't sound like a regular one-way, though.
I remember one review online was an Australian tourist who rented DEN to LAX for a month, and when the car broke down in NM, Dollar said they'd have to wait for a replacement to be sent from DEN rather than do an exchange nearby. I believe another similar review online was a breakdown in NC with a franchise car from several states away, and Dollar gave this couple problems with exchanging it because the closest store was corporate. It might have been vice versa, a corporate car near a franchise store, I don't remember exactly. The couple finally got the car exchanged, but upon return to the original location, the manager was irate that he personally didn't approve the exchange and now wants to charge a hefty drop fee. This didn't sound like a regular one-way, though.
Feb 2, 2010, 7:41 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
The negative reviews may have something to do with fewer people taking long-distance one-ways with Dollar than with the other companies. As you mentioned, Dollar does have some atypical quirks.
I remember one review online was an Australian tourist who rented DEN to LAX for a month, and when the car broke down in NM, Dollar said they'd have to wait for a replacement to be sent from DEN rather than do an exchange nearby. I believe another similar review online was a breakdown in NC with a franchise car from several states away, and Dollar gave this couple problems with exchanging it because the closest store was corporate. It might have been vice versa, a corporate car near a franchise store, I don't remember exactly. The couple finally got the car exchanged, but upon return to the original location, the manager was irate that he personally didn't approve the exchange and now wants to charge a hefty drop fee. This didn't sound like a regular one-way, though.
I remember one review online was an Australian tourist who rented DEN to LAX for a month, and when the car broke down in NM, Dollar said they'd have to wait for a replacement to be sent from DEN rather than do an exchange nearby. I believe another similar review online was a breakdown in NC with a franchise car from several states away, and Dollar gave this couple problems with exchanging it because the closest store was corporate. It might have been vice versa, a corporate car near a franchise store, I don't remember exactly. The couple finally got the car exchanged, but upon return to the original location, the manager was irate that he personally didn't approve the exchange and now wants to charge a hefty drop fee. This didn't sound like a regular one-way, though.
For example, Dollar in SLC is franchised. If I were to pick up in SLC and drive to Portland, San Francisco, and back but had mechanical problems along the way, I'd be just as much in a quandry as your example just above.
Conversely, if my Thrifty car had broken down along I-95 in Georgia or South Carolina, I'd have been in a pickle, since the only locations in northern Florida, coastal Georgia or in South Carolina are franchised, and they wouldn't have been able to help me with my corporate car. (I did have roadside assistance, though, so corporate would have been responsible to dispatch a tow truck and take care of the situation, even if the closest corporate store was 4 hours away.)
That's why I'm actually a bit disappointed that DTAG management has decided to begin refranchising some markets. While there are advantages to franchising for the company (primarily freeing up capital resources for other things) and sometimes for the customer (service that can be uniquely tailored for a particular market rather than run by inflexible national corporate rules and procedures), I think that the operational flexibility of a fully corporate system (moving cars between markets as demand requires and offering more flexible solutions when problems away from the renting location arise) offers better overall utilization and can potentially offer better customer service.
A happy medium to me seems to be Avis's model: instead of selling full franchises (basically independent rental companies with their own operations, own fleets, etc.), they sell (their terminology) "agencies," which are licenses to operate an Avis storefront at a given location while using the corporate fleet, corporate computer system, and corporate procedures. (The "agency" is responsible for real estate and staffing, but fleet management is all handled centrally.)
I think Hertz uses a similar model to Avis, whereas Budget, Dollar, and Thrifty franchises do not (it's possible some Budget franchises are "agencies" like Avis, but most are independent operations). Enterprise does not franchise at all. I'm not sure about Alamo and National (I think they follow Avis's model, too), but that will be immaterial soon--Enterprise is currently buying up (or not renewing) all Alamo and National franchises as a follow-up of their acquisition of Vanguard.
Feb 2, 2010, 7:57 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,207
You're right about Budget. They have an FAQ section where they say how they love one-ways between corporate stores. Then it immediately says, "How do I know if it's a corporate store?" The customer is directed to click the link that asks for a location code or location lookup, and they tell you. So for instance in the NY area, almost everybody's corporate. The mix of license plates from all over the place at my local Budget and all the others I've seen attests to this. But if you click on MCI (Kansas City), or BUF (Buffalo), it says independent licensee.
My neighborhood Avis has a sign saying "operated by xxx Rental Car." And they confirmed that the Avis system for off-airport locations is a franchise operator tapping into a corporate fleet. Of course they like this better than the way it used to be when they owned specific cars, because now one-ways are a big source of their revenue. The agent was practically grinning the day I returned a roundtrip rental, because a PA Cobalt and a ME Versa had just come in early that morning.
Hertz has mostly corporate stores, with a few independent licensees scattered in rural boondocks. I don't know how they split the revenue on one-ways, other than whenever I bring them one, they're smiling from ear to ear and eager to punch out the transaction so they can get paid.
National getting rid of the independent licensees should hopefully bring down at least a bit their one-way rates, which typically are higher than everybody else.
My neighborhood Avis has a sign saying "operated by xxx Rental Car." And they confirmed that the Avis system for off-airport locations is a franchise operator tapping into a corporate fleet. Of course they like this better than the way it used to be when they owned specific cars, because now one-ways are a big source of their revenue. The agent was practically grinning the day I returned a roundtrip rental, because a PA Cobalt and a ME Versa had just come in early that morning.
Hertz has mostly corporate stores, with a few independent licensees scattered in rural boondocks. I don't know how they split the revenue on one-ways, other than whenever I bring them one, they're smiling from ear to ear and eager to punch out the transaction so they can get paid.
National getting rid of the independent licensees should hopefully bring down at least a bit their one-way rates, which typically are higher than everybody else.
Feb 2, 2010, 3:42 pm
#6
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: YYJ
Programs: Aeroplan, Priority Club, National Exec Elite, Hertz #1 Gold, Avis First, Thrifty Bluechip
Posts: 1,924
Enjoyed reading your story jackal as I've had similar experiences on long-distance road trips (never in a rental however). One question, you said you took everything as far as protection plans, shouldn't either PAC or PEC have legal defence as one of the benefits? It could be that only Protection Plus in Canada has that though. If I do remember correctly you file a claim and it pays up to $300 for legal defence on a moving violation.
Feb 3, 2010, 11:35 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
Enjoyed reading your story jackal as I've had similar experiences on long-distance road trips (never in a rental however). One question, you said you took everything as far as protection plans, shouldn't either PAC or PEC have legal defence as one of the benefits? It could be that only Protection Plus in Canada has that though. If I do remember correctly you file a claim and it pays up to $300 for legal defence on a moving violation.
You've got me curious, though, now. Now I'll have to go look it up...and if it applies, see if I've exceeded the statute of limitations!
(Unfortunately, we're out of PAI/PEC brochures. I've asked for more, but we'll see how long before my order is fulfilled...)
Oh, and I think the manager also agreed to waive the underage fee for me, since I bought everything and still brought the car back with no damage, but I can't remember specifically. If so, that helped shave another $75 off, taking a bit more of the sting out.
I've rented from the CLT location three times and have had very pleasant experiences all three times. They run a decent operation there.
Feb 7, 2010, 2:55 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
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All right--got my hands on a PAI/PEI brochure. No legal benefits listed. Here's what is:
Part I - Personal Accident Insurance (maximum amounts)
Accidental Dealth
Renter (Class I) - $175,000
Passenger (Class II) - $17,500 per person
Aggregate Limit Per Accident - $225,000 (Class I & II)
Accidental Medical Expense (No Deductible)
Renter (Class I) and Passenger (Class II) - $3,500 per person
Ambulance Expense
Renter (Class I) and Passenger (Class II) - $250 per person
Part II - Personal Effects Insurance (maximum amounts)
Renter (Class I) $525 per person
Aggregate Limit (No Deductible) $1,500
Passenger (Class II) - no benefits apply
Lots of exclusions, of course. Interestingly, this particular underwriter does not exclude electronics from PEI! That means laptops and cameras are covered (up to the limits mentioned above).
With this particular underwriter, all claims must be made within 20 days of the incident giving rise to the claim, so I'd be out anyway.
Terms vary by underwriter, and this brochure was obtained from a franchised location (presumably using a different underwriter than corporate locations), but the terms for this package across the country are more similar than different. I don't think legal benefits have ever been part of the U.S. PAI/PEI (aka PAC/PEC/PPP) package.
Part I - Personal Accident Insurance (maximum amounts)
Accidental Dealth
Renter (Class I) - $175,000
Passenger (Class II) - $17,500 per person
Aggregate Limit Per Accident - $225,000 (Class I & II)
Accidental Medical Expense (No Deductible)
Renter (Class I) and Passenger (Class II) - $3,500 per person
Ambulance Expense
Renter (Class I) and Passenger (Class II) - $250 per person
Part II - Personal Effects Insurance (maximum amounts)
Renter (Class I) $525 per person
Aggregate Limit (No Deductible) $1,500
Passenger (Class II) - no benefits apply
Lots of exclusions, of course. Interestingly, this particular underwriter does not exclude electronics from PEI! That means laptops and cameras are covered (up to the limits mentioned above).
With this particular underwriter, all claims must be made within 20 days of the incident giving rise to the claim, so I'd be out anyway.
Terms vary by underwriter, and this brochure was obtained from a franchised location (presumably using a different underwriter than corporate locations), but the terms for this package across the country are more similar than different. I don't think legal benefits have ever been part of the U.S. PAI/PEI (aka PAC/PEC/PPP) package.
Feb 8, 2010, 2:54 am
#9
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: YYJ
Programs: Aeroplan, Priority Club, National Exec Elite, Hertz #1 Gold, Avis First, Thrifty Bluechip
Posts: 1,924
Aah, good to know. Up here PAI and PEI are combined into PPP, the Protection Plus Package. It also includes up to $300 for legal defence of moving violations and it'll pay your own insurance deductible if you have a claim and are using your own coverage. That alone made it a pretty easy sell in my day. Someone shows up "Don't need insurance, I have coverage on mine". "Well then you don't need to go spending $25/day on ours then! However you would have to pay your own policy's deductible if you had a claim before your policy would kick in, same as your own insurance. But, for only $7.99/day we offer a deductible waiver that would knock that right out." And that was my easy cruise to sales leader for the month at my counter. 
However, it's interesting that legal defence is only offered up here since I've never heard of hiring a lawyer to defend a speeding ticket. I think the effects of being convicted aren't as drastic here, and if you do contest it's just you vs. the officer in traffic court several months later. In most provinces your insurance rates can go up if you have a couple of speeding fines, but I don't think it's by much. Depends on the infraction and how quickly you get them.
In B.C. we have government-mandated auto insurance, run by a crown corporation (business owned wholly by gov't) known as the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). The minimum is $200,000 third-party liability. I think that would be the equivalent to having CSL liability coverage in the US. For extended liability and coverage for collision and fire/theft/vandalism, you can get it through ICBC OR a private company, but you still must carry the basic amount from the ICBC.
Your rates do not increase if you have a moving violation, however it works different since ICBC also administers all the DMVs in the province and moving violations. Rather than losing points on your license like most other jurisdictions, in BC every driver starts with no points on their license. Let's say you get a ticket for going 97 km/h in an 80 zone. You'd pay the fine (around $115 iirc) and have 3 points ADDED to your license. Points accumulated are wiped off on a set anniversary date every year, which I believe is set as 5 months before your birthday.
Here's where it gets complicated. Everybody is allowed to carry no more than 3 demerit points on their license without further financial penalty. If you go over that, you pay an additional fine known as the Driver Penalty Point Premium. So let's say I got another ticket going 97 in an 80. I'd pay the $115 fine on the second ticket, and now my license would have 6 points on it. At the end of the "license year", I'd get a bill for $300, which is the penalty for having 6 points. I have to pay this (and the 2 speeding ticket fines) before I can renew my insurance or registration (both are done at the same time since ICBC handles both).
I dodged this narrowly going into 2006. My first ticket happened after I was pulled over for an illegal U-turn at 2 in the morning. I had come back from Ontario a few months prior and hadn't bothered changing my license over (which you're supposed to do within 90 days). Since this was day 105 of being in the province (as evidenced by auto registration), I got fined for not having a proper license and my Ontario one was taken away. I got my BC license re-issued the next day, and then not long after I got a speeding ticket for going around a corner to fast in front of a cop (I was in a work Camry and LOVED the old corner coming out of YYJ). There was only a mere 54 days separating these two incidents, but because they straddled my anniversary date, I only had to pay the two fines, no $300 penalty.
So there, everything you probably never wanted to know about auto insurance and moving violations in the great Olympic Province of B.C. I'm going to bed...
However, it's interesting that legal defence is only offered up here since I've never heard of hiring a lawyer to defend a speeding ticket. I think the effects of being convicted aren't as drastic here, and if you do contest it's just you vs. the officer in traffic court several months later. In most provinces your insurance rates can go up if you have a couple of speeding fines, but I don't think it's by much. Depends on the infraction and how quickly you get them.
In B.C. we have government-mandated auto insurance, run by a crown corporation (business owned wholly by gov't) known as the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC). The minimum is $200,000 third-party liability. I think that would be the equivalent to having CSL liability coverage in the US. For extended liability and coverage for collision and fire/theft/vandalism, you can get it through ICBC OR a private company, but you still must carry the basic amount from the ICBC.
Your rates do not increase if you have a moving violation, however it works different since ICBC also administers all the DMVs in the province and moving violations. Rather than losing points on your license like most other jurisdictions, in BC every driver starts with no points on their license. Let's say you get a ticket for going 97 km/h in an 80 zone. You'd pay the fine (around $115 iirc) and have 3 points ADDED to your license. Points accumulated are wiped off on a set anniversary date every year, which I believe is set as 5 months before your birthday.
Here's where it gets complicated. Everybody is allowed to carry no more than 3 demerit points on their license without further financial penalty. If you go over that, you pay an additional fine known as the Driver Penalty Point Premium. So let's say I got another ticket going 97 in an 80. I'd pay the $115 fine on the second ticket, and now my license would have 6 points on it. At the end of the "license year", I'd get a bill for $300, which is the penalty for having 6 points. I have to pay this (and the 2 speeding ticket fines) before I can renew my insurance or registration (both are done at the same time since ICBC handles both).
I dodged this narrowly going into 2006. My first ticket happened after I was pulled over for an illegal U-turn at 2 in the morning. I had come back from Ontario a few months prior and hadn't bothered changing my license over (which you're supposed to do within 90 days). Since this was day 105 of being in the province (as evidenced by auto registration), I got fined for not having a proper license and my Ontario one was taken away. I got my BC license re-issued the next day, and then not long after I got a speeding ticket for going around a corner to fast in front of a cop (I was in a work Camry and LOVED the old corner coming out of YYJ
). There was only a mere 54 days separating these two incidents, but because they straddled my anniversary date, I only had to pay the two fines, no $300 penalty.So there, everything you probably never wanted to know about auto insurance and moving violations in the great Olympic Province of B.C. I'm going to bed...
Feb 12, 2010, 2:57 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SGF
Programs: AS, AA, UA, AGR S (former 75K, GLD, 1K, and S+, now an elite peon)
Posts: 23,194
However, it's interesting that legal defence is only offered up here since I've never heard of hiring a lawyer to defend a speeding ticket. I think the effects of being convicted aren't as drastic here, and if you do contest it's just you vs. the officer in traffic court several months later.
May 4, 2010, 9:05 pm
#11
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York suburbs
Posts: 4,207
I saw on Dollar's website a $1/day one-way special. I clicked on it, expecting to see the usual FL driveout, and saw it's a repositioning from...Denver?? At least most of the destinations make sense, since included among them are some of the places (Dallas, Detroit, Chicago) targeted by the FL driveout. Except possibly, ahem, cars going into Phoenix right now? National and Avis have a Phoenix-based driveout.
May 12, 2010, 6:19 am
#12
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1
Thrifty's Dollar a Day one Way (to Nevada)
I was frustrated to find out just how Thrifty tries to limit which cars are chosen for this one way $1 a day program. The interesting thing is that they have the right to do this limiting--they can just tell you what to drive, but it's the method/information they use (described below) is what I have an issue with!
I was told that all rental cars going to Nevada (from Denver) MUST have NV plates on the car AND that the Nevada DMV was complaining about this, thus they created this rule. Other states? No. Just Nevada. What? Really?
Something immediately "smelled like B.S." to me, since I rented a car in NV the day before with CA plates on it (grated, it was from Alamo, not Thrifty or one of their companies). I told them this and it went nowhere from there.
Bottom line: They wanted me to drive a minivan, not a midsize car as described on the website. But hey!-- I'm supposed to enjoy the deal of getting a $1 charge per day (plus all the regular taxes, but that's not a big amount--just adds about 5x the amount).
So "Hey Thrifty!", it's a cheap deal sure, but why give your customers a line of crap about it? If you want to require them to use a minivan, just say that's what you have available. (If it is a factual thing with NV, prove it!--other companies don't seem to care in our country of interstate travel) Thrifty, if it comes down to the car being PERMANENTLY transferred to NV, I'm sure you have a unit responsible for re-registering this 2008 model minivan for use in Denver, CO--or just sell it, it's getting older!
Too Thrifty for me,
Drcola
P.S. I hope some authority in Nevada can clear up this rental car plate issue, or all to know the facts. If I am wrong in thinking it's a line of B.S., I'd like to know!
I was told that all rental cars going to Nevada (from Denver) MUST have NV plates on the car AND that the Nevada DMV was complaining about this, thus they created this rule. Other states? No. Just Nevada. What? Really?
Something immediately "smelled like B.S." to me, since I rented a car in NV the day before with CA plates on it (grated, it was from Alamo, not Thrifty or one of their companies). I told them this and it went nowhere from there.
Bottom line: They wanted me to drive a minivan, not a midsize car as described on the website. But hey!-- I'm supposed to enjoy the deal of getting a $1 charge per day (plus all the regular taxes, but that's not a big amount--just adds about 5x the amount).
So "Hey Thrifty!", it's a cheap deal sure, but why give your customers a line of crap about it? If you want to require them to use a minivan, just say that's what you have available. (If it is a factual thing with NV, prove it!--other companies don't seem to care in our country of interstate travel) Thrifty, if it comes down to the car being PERMANENTLY transferred to NV, I'm sure you have a unit responsible for re-registering this 2008 model minivan for use in Denver, CO--or just sell it, it's getting older!
Too Thrifty for me,
Drcola
P.S. I hope some authority in Nevada can clear up this rental car plate issue, or all to know the facts. If I am wrong in thinking it's a line of B.S., I'd like to know!