High-End car rental in LA

Am 23.02.2008, 18:28 Uhr, schrieb Keith Willshaw <keithnospam RemoveThis @demon.co.uk>:

> The OP is from Denmark IRC and depending on the unit the cost of US
> maps can be excessive for a one time trip

Indeed! If you buy a garmin nüvi or something else, you got usually only
the local maps.
Especially garmin loads extra spicy prices on the foreign maps. I bought
my US-Map trough a friend, who was living in the US and I did save 200$!
--
Urs from Berne, Switzerland in the heart of Europe
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Feb 23, 3:21 pm, john_k... DeleteThis @hotmail.com (John Kulp) wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 14:16:33 -0800 (PST), PeterL <po.n... DeleteThis @gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >> >Not so fast. =A0OP needs to tell the rental company where he'll be
> >> >taking the car, out of state. =A0In Calif it is illegal for the company
> >> >to track the car using a GPS. =A0But still, it's safer to inform the
> >> >rental company first.
>
> >> I think he's asking whether he can have a GPS with him to use, not one
> >> implanted in the car to catch him speeding.-
>
> >No, rental companies put GPS tracking devices in cars to catch you
> >going to places you shouldn't be, such as off road or out of state.
> >That's different than the GPS used for location by the driver.  The
> >first kind of GPS tracking system is illegal in Calif. but not other
> >states.
>
> Yes, but as I said, I think he is asking about having one for location
> and directions and probably as a foreigner had given zero thought to
> the other.


That's why I told him of that possibility. Imagine renting a car and
driven it to place not allowed in the contract and finding out that
they track you using a hidden GPS.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:52:18 -0800, Go Fig <gofig.RemoveThis@mac.com> wrote:

>In article <47bf6861$0$5022$ba624c82@nntp06.dk.telia.net>, Jesper
>Lauridsen <rorschak.RemoveThis@sorrystofanet.dk> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:08:11 GMT, "k" <keithblakeslee.RemoveThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>> >By high-end do you mean a large car, or something like a Maserati? All the
>> >usual companies will rent you a large car,
>>
>> Large car. I've rented Mercedes S-class for similar trips in Germany.
>
>No problem... these people have very high end cars:
>
>http://www.budgetbeverlyhills.com/

Some tempting wheels, but outside my budget. They're also quite stingy
with the included miles.

>But really an S Class will not be hard to come by from many vendors in
>Los Angeles.

The S-class was just an example. For this trip it would perhaps be
more appropiate to drive American. Which goes against my "high end"
specification, I admit.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 08:47:55 -0500, Shawn Hirn <srhi.DeleteThis@comcast.net> wrote:

>In article <47bf6861$0$5022$ba624c82@nntp06.dk.telia.net>,
> Jesper Lauridsen <rorschak.DeleteThis@sorrystofanet.dk> wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:08:11 GMT, "k" <keithblakeslee.DeleteThis@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>> So it's an extra with a fee?
>
>I don't know of any rental agency that offers a GPS for no extra charge.

IIRC 8 out of 10 of the rentals I've had in Germany had built in GPS
(and the other 2 were the cheapest cars available). I'm sure the
agency would have loved to pocket a GPS fee, but since I didn't request
GPS there was nothing they could do. I mean, they're not going to rip
the unit out of the dashboard, are they?

The impression I have, is that in the US, GPS in rental cars are
usually/always removable, and not built in, units? That you have to
bring along everywhere, due to the risk of theft?

>It might be cheaper for you to buy your own GPS and just bring it with
>you.

Almost. I'm looking at qoutes like "rates from $11.95/day" which works
out to $179.25 for 15 days. You could almost buy a GPS unit for that.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:57:27 GMT, john_kulp.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com (John Kulp) wrote:

>On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:26:07 +0100, Jesper Lauridsen
><rorschak.TakeThisOut@sorrystofanet.dk> wrote:
>
>>After my original posting, I've tried a couple of multinational rental companies
>>and it turns out that booking through my local affiliate is a lot cheaper. For
>>Avis it was 40% cheaper. Strange.
>
>That's not unusual. Car rental firms like to rape what they think are
>naive foreigners.

If I step up to the rental counter, wearing my "Air Kazakhstan" t-shirt,
going "Me rent car. Yes!" then bring on your 15% true-coat surcharge.
But a prospective renter, checking qoutes on the internet, is hardly
ripe pickings.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:14:32 GMT, john_kulp.DeleteThis@hotmail.com (John Kulp) wrote:

>I would recommend you try Fox Rent A Car at www.foxrentacar.com
>(surprise!). They meet all your requirements including GPS if you
>want it (it's extra) and I have always found them the cheapest
>(usually by far). You can read their rules online.

They didn't seem interested in telling what insurance would cost,
so I gave them a miss.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:10:23 -0500, "Rog'" <rcblinnNoSpam.TakeThisOut@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>I hope he's fluent enuff in English to understand verbal directions.
>I rented a high-end car in Germany last Fall, an Audi, which came
>with a very nice in-dash GPS system. There may have been a
>way to switch languages, but after too many "orders" in German,
>we turned down the volume.

Are you more comfortable taking orders in English?

If you couldn't figure out how to change the language, you should
have asked the rental staff to do it. It's part of the service.
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA 

Am 25.02.2008, 23:17 Uhr, schrieb Jesper Lauridsen
<rorschak RemoveThis @sorrystofanet.dk>:

> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:57:27 GMT, john_kulp RemoveThis @hotmail.com (John Kulp)
> wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 23 Feb 2008 01:26:07 +0100, Jesper Lauridsen
>> <rorschak RemoveThis @sorrystofanet.dk> wrote:
>>
>>> After my original posting, I've tried a couple of multinational rental
>>> companies
>>> and it turns out that booking through my local affiliate is a lot
>>> cheaper. For
>>> Avis it was 40% cheaper. Strange.
>>
>> That's not unusual. Car rental firms like to rape what they think are
>> naive foreigners.
>
> If I step up to the rental counter, wearing my "Air Kazakhstan" t-shirt,
> going "Me rent car. Yes!" then bring on your 15% true-coat surcharge.
> But a prospective renter, checking qoutes on the internet, is hardly
> ripe pickings.

Some Travel agencies are holding quotas on cars and are able to give you
quite nice rates. Especially for bundles (all inclusive insurances and
such things). Booking through the webpages without any "specials" can be
expensive.

Did you give http://www.holidayautos.dk/ a chance? I usually had best
quotes there. They also made a good job on the rare cases of problems I
had.

What do you expect on a "luxury car"? Big engine? Speeding doesn't really
count in the US. Try your neighboor in the south for going 280 km/h. Most
"full size" cars are giving enough space compared to European cars.

Had US friends calling the Volvo the "best" car (for males of course,
women prefere Pickups ), because they got enough speed and are good to
drive (not so "soft" like most US cars).
So you may have a look to Hertz, in the past they had Volvo in their fleet.

--
Urs from Berne, Switzerland in the heart of Europe
 >> Stay informed about: High-End car rental in LA