Question about car rental when visiting USA

Hi,

I am hoping for some advice regarding car rental when I go home to visit the USA. My husband and I are travelling back to Ohio in december for a visit and want to rent a car, but last time we visited we struggled to find car rental at a good price with me as the driver. In the end my husband ended up driving.

For some reason, if we booked the rental through a UK company the terms and conditions stated that a UK license was required (i only have a US license), and if we tried to book through a US company the insurance costs were unbelievably high for me to drive!

I dont really understand the reasons for this, it doesnt seem to make sense that insurance is much more expensive for me with a US license than for my husband with a UK license. 

If anyone else has experienced this problem, or if you know of any good rental companies to use to avoid the high insurance costs it would be greatly appreciated, as I really miss driving in the states!

Thank you!

Is there any way that you could be added to the insurance of a family member and use that coverage when you rent a car?

We still have a car in the US which is driven by our son, and use that insurance when we rent.

The best rental prices I have found are on www.carrental.com.

we rented a car on expedia.co.uk from budget in charlotte nc.........the price was 279 pounds for almost three weeks...........this included insurance.........hubby rented and i was added to the rental at airport free of charge because i am his wife.........no problems

I think that renting a car is very fluid. If you check the hundreds of sites you will find what you are looking for. It's like calling the same airline and getting different prices.
Good luck.

All of the larger car rental firms (Budget/Avis, Hertz, Alamo/National) have separate rates for rentals booked from abroad, usually termed the European Retail Rate. Those are all inclusive because the insurance carried in the UK or Europe doesn't cover car rental.

In the US, insurance is always extra, and generally more than the actual daily rental rate. The 'comprehensive' cover is a true rip-off. If you are resident in the US, you are typically covered by your own auto policy or even your credit card. In all the years I rented cars on business trips, I only took the additional cover a couple of times, once when I was too young and dumb to know when I was getting a 'hard sell' based on fear. Alamo got zapped for that years ago, but that's another story.

Anyway - if you go with Avis/Budget, rent here and get the better all-inclusive rate, and check if there is a charge for an additional driver. Likely there won't be for a spouse, but if it is, the charge will be miniscule. They need to see the full UK license, including the paper 'counterpart' for the person renting. They've never asked to see DH's license.

For anyone following another thread about getting or not getting a UK license, this is yet one more reason to do so.