Car Insurance

Another great savings option for car rental consumers involves little more than membership in a group such as the alumnae chapter of your alma mater, AAA or even AARP. Membership in a specific group or company often allows for additional benefits such as a set amount of money or percentage off of your total rental car price.

Organizations and companies such as insurance companies, for example, are big on offering rental car discounts to their members. This is a great incentive to take advantage of and can help you obtain a good discount on a rental car. If you are not sure which groups you are affiliated with that might offer such a benefit just pull out your membership packet, visit their website or contact customer service to learn if you can take advantage of this cost saving measure.

Saving money on a car rental provides welcome relief for an already stretched or tight vacation budget. If you are planning to rent a car take the time to do a little research early in the game to be sure you get the best deal and keep more of your vacation dollars in your pocket.

When going through the process of renting a vehicle, one step in the process involves the selection of a rental based upon the class of vehicle. What do all those terms mean anyway? Have you ever wondered what the difference is between an intermediate car and a full size vehicle? Then this article is a great place to start when looking to uncover the answer.

Economy Car

Economy cars are the smallest of the rental car choices. These are also the most fuel efficient, which has made them an increasingly popular choice in recent months. While economy cars appeal to the gas budget conscious they do not hold as much favor with the space/room conscious. Economy cars generally accommodate four adults and one small bag, one medium bag and one large suitcase (leg room and stretching room not included). These cars can come in either a 2 or 4-door version and a Hyundai Accent or Ford Focus is an example of economy car used by many rental car companies.

Technical service bulletins are common for people who deal with cars. Lately, there has been a huge rush of recalls for Ford vehicles, in particular and other vehicles more generally. Car rental agencies obviously feel the effects of technical service bulletins more than individual owners, and often, they and the drivers they serve are inconvenienced as a result.

While technical service bulletins are the mechanism via which car dealers, manufactures, consumers, rental agencies and others learn about defects or other problems, the system is not without imperfections. Often, auto savvy customers (such as carjunky.com visitors) are the ones that hear about a technical service bulletin and report it to the rental agency. Unfortunately, registered owners can go weeks and months before learning that they are driving unsafe cars. Fortunately, someone happens to be in the right place at the right time and hears that there is a technical service bulletin out on the car they are currently driving. This can be a bit scary, especially if there is a serious problem with the vehicle.

The best thing to do if you hear that there is a technical service bulletin out for the car you drive is to gather as much information as you can from the National Transportation and Highway Safety Agency. You should then call the dealer or manufacturer. You should then be given instruction regarding resolution of the problem or repair of your vehicle. If the dealer refuses to offer a satisfactory response you should try to get in touch with the manufacturer so that the dealer can be contacted with instructions. Carjunky.com and the NHTSA can also give you the information you need to state your case convincingly. You should not expect too many problems; however, because dealers generally will err on the side of caution, and are eager to correct any problems that compromise your safety or create liability issues.

It is also a good idea to check for technical service bulletins when you rent a car. If your rental agency refuses to replace the car, look into renting from another company. While this may cost you more money, your safety is worth the investment. File a complaint against the rental agency, if you feel the response was untimely, inappropriate or inadequate. Your safety and the safety of all who rent vehicles are on the line if you run across a rental agency that does not comply with technical service bulletin instructions.

England, Scotland, Wales and even Ireland for that matter, should prepare visitors by posting a Government Heath Warning - “We Drive on the Wrong Side of the Street.” An American visitor to the British Isles - that’s what they call the collection of all those places – that thinks it’s going to be a home away from home because of language similarities, is setting himself up for a rude awakening, particularly when renting a car for business or vacation.

In the first place, what an American calls “The Street,” the British call “The Road;” The “Sidewalk” is “The Pavement” and “The Pavement” is also the road. If you go to put your luggage in the back of the car, you’d be putting it in the truck - an Englishman or a
Scot would be putting it in the boot.

Let’s assume you’ve landed at London’s Gatwick Airport and just disembarked from your flight. Next, as you might expect, you will take your Internet rental acknowledgement to the car rental desk. There’ll be a whole row of them - just like home so far - and they’ll mainly be familiar names - Avis, Hertz, Budget and so on. You’re going to be asked for some signatures and your “Driving License” – yes that’s different too - both what it’s called and how it’s spelled. As in the states, you’ll be given copies of your rental agreement, along with helpful documents such as maps, and the keys and told where to pick up the shuttle bus.

This is the first point where you’ve got to be very awake - even though you’ve just been sitting on an airplane for eight or more hours, your body thinks it’s the small hours of the morning and you’re six hours sleep short. You have to look to the right for approaching traffic, not the left! Be careful, they really do drive on the left over there.

Having found your car in the car park (not on the parking lot) you open the door and find there’s no steering wheel, no pedals and no instruments - in fact they’re on the right side of the vehicle not the left. That can be quite an adjustment for a sleepy and jet-lagged driver.

You get the engine (motor) started and, very carefully, you ease your way out into the morning rush hour traffic. OK so far, its one-way circulation but you can’t see what’s going on around you - you’re looking in the wrong place the rear-view mirror.

If you have a new car with problems, you should visit one of the many technical service bulletin databases available online to see if the problem has been addressed in a bulletin or recall notice by the manufacturer. Often, even with the best designers creating new cars, your car may not have been perfectly engineered, and you may find that those small engineering flaws cause big problems. If there’s not a TSB or a recall notice, do a Google search for the word Problem followed by your car’s make and model, and see if other people have had the same issues.

If it turns out that your car has a problem, you may be entitled to have it fixed or bought back through small claims court because of your state’s lemon law. Lemon laws are designed to protect consumers from the wrongdoing of large corporations. As a last resort you may choose to bring civil suit against a manufacturer that makes no efforts toward a reasonable solution to the problem. Solid proof that the problems in your car are due to errors by the manufacturer, and you’re likely to receive a settlement, perhaps even before the case goes to trial.

Incidental expenses like car rental and your repeated trips to the mechanic aren’t likely to be covered in the lemon law suit, unfortunately. For these expenses, you’ll need to go to small claims court.

What To Do

To successfully sue for car rental expenses and other incidental expenses after a lawsuit, you should keep all your receipts and notes concerning the vehicle in order, preferably itemized and totaled. If you’ve sent any letters to the manufacturer or the dealer in attempts to resolve the problem, include them as well, along with any information given to you by mechanics.

Allowable reimbursements on car rental generally include mechanics fees, mileage incurred during drives to and from the mechanic, and roadside assistance fees related to the mechanical problem that started this whole process rolling.If you have a new car with problems, you should visit one of the many technical service bulletin databases available online to see if the problem has been addressed in a bulletin or recall notice by the manufacturer. Often, even with the best designers creating new cars, your car may not have been perfectly engineered, and you may find that those small engineering flaws cause big problems. If there’s not a TSB or a recall notice, do a Google search for the word Problem followed by your car’s make and model, and see if other people have had the same issues.