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| posted on 3/11/03 at 08:28 PM |
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Car hire in America
A mate is going to San Francisco & Vegas next February and would like to hire a more interesting car than that with which he was lumbered last
time he was stateside (A Ford Escort!) Does anybody know of a hire car agency who would deal in something with eight cylinders under the hood, and/or
possibly even a recent/classic muscle car?
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pbura
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| posted on 3/11/03 at 10:01 PM |
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Hertz is the only national chain that rents what it calls a premium line - Jaguars (heh, heh) and Ford Thunderbirds. Best bet is to try a local
agency in either city, like this one I found on Google. Search terms were 'exotic car rental "san francisco"':
http://www.specialtyrentals.com/
Best of luck!
Pete
[Edited on 3/11/03 by pbura]
Pete
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Viper
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| posted on 3/11/03 at 10:46 PM |
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I wasin Orlando recently and there was a little place on international drive that hired out Corvettes and boxters and they also had a VIPER GTS (drool
drool dribble dribble)
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 4/11/03 at 10:53 PM |
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BEWARE
car hire in america has a lot of hidden costs.
I just came back yesterday, and my experience was typical.
Car rental of a Mazda 6 (not my ideal choice!) was 165 dollars for a week.
thats about a 100 quid for seven days.
what a great deal.
but its not.
Car rental in USA does NOT include insurance. In the USA its not unlimited liability like UK. For a start they assume you have own insurance. As a UK
resident, you wont. So, you need the minium insurance. Thats about 50k dollars cover, which isnt much. So, you need the 1m dollars or so version (bear
in mind uk has no claim limit by law). Then you have to take isurance to indemnify the rental co against lost access to the car if you do crunch it
(or you pay rental till its fixed).
so, my 165 dollars rental, after extras and a 30 dollar tnak of fuel and tax was 380 dollars.
thats 380 dollars.
This is typical. Its been my experienc on two other occasions (I usually borrow a car from my USA office when there.)
This situation also exists on 'free car' fly drive deals. Budget for at least another 200 dollars for the 'free' car.
BTW - these 'extras' seem to be a flat charge - so going for the 120 or 250 dollar car isnt such a big deal once you add 40 dollars a day
extras on.
I rented Hertz. they do indeed do premier cars, they included the Xtype jag as one 
atb
steve
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paulbeyer
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| posted on 5/11/03 at 01:02 AM |
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A 5 minute walk along the strip in Vegas and you will pass every type of exotic car you can imagine - all for hire.
Mustangs, Vipers, Ferrari, lamborghini, 50's hot rods, Hummers, stretch hummers and even helicopters (pilot included of course).
Take a big wallet though, they aint cheap.
7 out of 10 people suffer with hemorrhoids. Does that mean the other 3 enjoy them?
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ijohnston99
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| posted on 5/11/03 at 06:49 PM |
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Used this crowd before. http://www.holidayautos.co.uk/GBR/index.html
Great service no hidden extras all they are doing is pointing you in the direction of one of the big boys (Hertz, Avis) but for a darn sight less
money!
Ian
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adampage
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| posted on 6/11/03 at 09:02 AM |
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Better solution - I think
Have you heard of 'Driveaways'?
I don't mean stealing one, but there are 2 types of organisations who do free cars.
One is the big hire companies themselves - as they do one-way hire they need a way to get the cars back whence they came - if they're a bit
exotic, and especially if they're manual they don't trust americans (not used to 3 pedals and a stick you have to move around) - so they
love europeans to do it - I think you just register where you want to go and when, and they'll tell you what cars they have available. Usually
involves getting from a to b, not a to a though.
The other one is house-movers - if you move house a long distance and don't want to drive your car there - hey presto - find a european to do it
for you. AS with the first one - you just pay for fuel.
Sounds crazy I know, but it's true - it was even featured on the holiday program a couple of weeks ago.
Do a search for driveaway on google.
Hope it helps,
Adam.
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 6/11/03 at 09:39 AM |
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I would have thought a UK driver on the 'wrong side' of the road with unusual road layouts, different rules, and 4 way stop sign junctions
on main highways would be a much bigger risk than a yank with a manual box!
I missed a stop sign in the dark last week and ploghed thro a 4 way stop juntion at 60 when someone (rightly) pulled into my path. American cars dont
stop well and I was suprised a 300 miles on the clock brand new mazda 6 didnt have abs......
I have used holiay autos in europe. However, make very sure EVERYTHING is included.
You dont HAVE to buy the extras in the USA. They ask if you want them.
To me, insurance isnt an extra, but they feel it is.
So, Hliday autos may not needyo to buy these 'extras' but you as a sensible person might see them as compulsory!
atb
steve
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adampage
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| posted on 6/11/03 at 11:34 AM |
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Those crazy yanks!
Hey, I didn't make the rules, just reporting what I'd been told.
Sounds like a jolly wheeze though.
Adam.
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locoboy
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| posted on 6/11/03 at 11:37 AM |
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did drive away from Minnesota To California in 1996, was an auto 3.6L 6pack, cant remember the name of the car, pretty nippy though!, convertible but
we broke one of the latches securing the roof to the top of the screen on the first attampt to put it down  so no more toppless attempts from then
on 
was a good cheap way of getting about, problem is you can never be sure where you are going to be heading and when.
ATB
Locoboy
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