usrentacar.co.uk® Car Hire USA Blog

Hi all,

With British summer time well and truly behind us and with reports of a snow drop heavier than the beginning of this year, I thought it might be a good idea to cover what to do if you a snowed in.

If you are snowbound

• Do not leave your car – a car is a lot easier to spot than a human. A proper blizzard can totally disorientate, and the wind chill has been known to freeze the skin within seconds.
• “Help, Help” - Stick a help sign on your windscreen and if possible attach something brightly coloured to the aerial.
• Running the engine – Try to run the engine for only a couple of minutes at a time, your exhaust pipe can become blocked with snow which can cause monoxide poisoning.
• Blankets - Curl up in the blankets, because you’ve read this blog you will obviously have packed these for such an occasion.
• Share body heat - Hug each other.
• Phone for help  - Call 999 (UK) or 911 (USA)

I think I’ve covered everything, if I haven’t please feel free to comment below.

regards,

James

Here are the top five viewed posts on usrentacar.co.uk for the week commencing the 25th October.

• Florida Car Hire Mustang Rental
• Car Hire USA Petrol Policies
• Dollar Car Hire Confirm Customer Choice For US Rent A Car Clients
• Florida Tolls
• Which Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV’s) Are Our Customers Collecting?

Here are the top five viewed blogs on usrentacarthis month.

• Universal Orlando and usrentacar Strike Up Partnership
• 10 Tips For Florida Car Hire
• Avis Budget’s Response To Hertz’s Comments Over Dollar Thrifty
• USA Road Signs
• Latest Car Hire Makes and Models Being Collected

Hi all,

Following on from yesterdays Dollar Rent A Car post, here at usrentacar.co.uk we offer our customers a choice of suppliers all across the USA. Today we will be taking a look at Budget Rent A Car and considering them for your next USA Car Hire.

About Budget Rent A Car

Budget Rent A Car was founded in 1958 as a car rental company for the “budget-minded” renter. Today, as an industry leader, Budget continues to appeal to value-driven renters by offering quality vehicles and a rewarding rental experience at nearly 1,800 rental locations worldwide.

Reason’s to pick Budget Rent A Car with usrentacar.co.uk

• One Additional Driver included as standard with our Budget Rent A Car rates.
• Young Drivers Package – Budget Rent A Car offer some great deals for drivers under 25 in Florida, California and most of the USA through usrentacar.co.uk. Check our our Young Drivers page.
• Ford Mustang Convertible – Although we can never guarantee make or model of our vehicles, Budget offer the best chance of getting one as our recent Florida Car Hire Mustang Rental blog shows.
• Free Upgrades – Budget offer usrentacar.co.uk a coupon number associated to certain vehicle types that allow our customers to upgrade their vehicle to the next category up if that size is available locally, free of charge.  More details on the budget upgrade deal.
• Fuel Policy - Budget are the only rental company to allow the driver to select the fuel policy they require, i.e. Pick up full return full or purchase a full tank of petrol and return empty.
• Long Rentals – The maximum rental period for most car rental companies is 56 days (Florida), due to our exclusive partnership, usrentacar.co.uk customers are able to sign multiple rental agreements upon arrival that will allow a much longer uninterrupted hire.
• Pre Registration - Budget Rent A Car offer usrentacar.co.uk customers a way to speed up their Florida Car Hire locally by allowing a speedy check in service at participating locations, check out our pre-registration page.

What is your opinion of Budget Rent A Car ?

Who is your favourite USA car rental company?

regards,

James

Hi all,

One of usrentacar.co.uk‘s first ever innovations was to offer customers the choice of supplier they wanted, instead of the standard opaque model, where the broker picks the company.

However each supplier has different unique selling points, below is a comparison chart comparing USA Car Hire.

Who is your preferred supplier, why do you prefer this supplier over our other offerings?

Regards,

James

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Hi all,

While investigating unusual USA laws for this blog I also stumbled upon several sites talking about unusual foods they’d sampled in America. Below is a list of some of my favourites.

The Pizza Burger - Burger King in New York.

Pineberry – served in Virgina is a hybrid mixture of Strawberry and pineapple.

Bacon Turtle Burger – Sampled in Orlando Florida.

Dexter Candy - Inspired by the books and TV series, found in Miami I’d imagine.#

Chicken Feet – Southern USA

Scrapple - Philidelphia, its bascially scraps of meat cooked with corn meal.

Burgoo - Southern USA, Its a spicy Stew…

Cactus Fries - Texas

I think the bacon turtle burger looks the best

Have you ever come across any of the above food?

Have I missed any off?

Regards and eat well,

James

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The battle for ownership of Dollar Rent A Car took another turn last night as Avis Budget returned with an improved offer. Back in August I blogged about how Dollar had declined Budgets initial advances and how Hertz looked favourite to purchase Dollar.

However Budget has returned with an improved offer of around $1.36 Billion for the Tulsa based car rental giant. The cash portion of the Avis offer for Dollar Thrifty has been raised from $39.25 to $40.75 per share.

“We are confident that the Dollar Thrifty shareholders will prefer the premium Avis Budget offer to the Hertz offer,” Avis Budget stated.

The improved offer may still be shunned due to the opposition the deal might encounter via antitrust regulations.

Dollar Thrifty shareholders are due to attend a special meeting on September 16 to consider the Hertz offer.

“In the event that the Hertz transaction is rejected by the special meeting, we will commit to sign the merger agreement we previously delivered to Dollar Thrifty at any time within five days of that meeting,” Avis Budget said.

It’s clear that whoever completes the deal will have increased their market share and obtained the only USA Car Rental supplier to make a profit in 2009.

Will keep you all posted.

Regards,

James

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Hi all,

Just got some interesting data from the nerds at usrentacar HQ regarding things that just get your back up about car hire.

In true family fortunes style, we surveyed 100 people (lead drivers) collecting car rentals in the USA in July 2010 and asked them to rate their experiences and comment on possible improvements (if applicable).

Here are the top five pet peeves.

1. Queuing - on average customers were willing to wait up to 15 mins to get to the car counter, anything after this was deemed unreasonable.
2. Hard sell – generally the people surveyed were not against being offered the chance to upgrade their car hire, what they didn’t like was the feeling of being pressured to accept.
3. Dirty cars – should never really happen, as our hire is pre-paid they know when you are coming, but the 3rd  most popular pet peeve was a dirty interior.
4. Credit Cards – having to produce a credit card to collect your vehicle put some of your backs up (Alamo have been pro-active on this http://blog.usrentacar.co.uk/index.php/2010/07/01/alamo-car-hire-now-accepting-visa-debit-deposit/)
5. Not getting the make I wanted – Not a lot we can do about this one I’m afraid, we never guarantee make or model of any of our suppliers vehicles but perhaps these blog’s could help (http://blog.usrentacar.co.uk/index.php/2010/07/06/dollar-car-hire-confirm-customer-choice-for-us-rent-a-car-clients/ and http://blog.usrentacar.co.uk/index.php/2009/09/29/alamo-car-hire-choice-product/)

I hate queuing so I think that would also be my major grievance.

What things about car hire in the USA get on your nerves?

Regards,

James

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The US government is to start charging UK travellers $14 (£9) to apply for permission to enter the country.

The compulsory Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (Esta) is free at present, but from 9 September visitors to the US will have to pay for it.

It lasts for two years; people who already have a valid form will not have to pay until their current one expires.

The scheme was introduced in January 2009 but was made mandatory from January 2010.

It applies to all 35 countries with US “visa waiver” status.

Promote tourism

The Electronic System for Travel Authorisation form, which takes up to 72 hours to be approved, gives air passengers prior approval for entry to the US.

It replaced the green I-94 card which passengers have previously filled in on their flight into the US.

End Quote Martin Lewis MoneySavingExpert.com

Most people who fill in the form should receive approval from the US Department of Homeland Security within a few minutes.

But British Airways and American Airlines are advising travellers to apply at least 72 hours in advance.

Both airlines have said people without valid Esta forms or visas will not be allowed to board flights to the US.

The fee has been introduced to fund a programme which aims to promote tourism in the US and attract foreign spending.

Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySavingExpert.com, has urged people even considering a trip to the US to apply for a form now to beat the charge.

He said: “The security authorisation lasts for two years, so do it now and it’ll be free if you travel in that time. Yet leave it for a month and you’ll have to pay for it.

The Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys must rank up there among the top must roads to drives.

The spectacular bridge has attracted many film makers. Its film ‘credits’ include scenes in True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious, the James Bond film Licence to Kill, CrissCross, and Up Close & Personal.

It runs over a channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Strait, connecting Knight’s Key (part of the city of Marathon, Florida) in the Middle Keys to Little Duck Key in the Lower Keys.

Among the longest bridges in existence when it was built, it is one of the many bridges on US 1 in the Keys, where the road is called the Overseas Highway.

Have you ever driven this?

What was it like?

Can you think of other must drive locations?

U.S. road signs can be confusing below are a list of the most common sign’s you’ll come across while driving in the USA.

Interstate Route Marker

US Highway Marker

Give Way Sign

Cross Roads ahead

Hopsital

No Right Turns

Right Turns Only

Left Turns Only

One Way Traffic

Road Narrows Ahead

Pedestrian Crossing Ahead

Are there any sign posts you’ve come across that you think may help others?

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