Virgin Holiday Car Hire insurance - advice please

[Twinniemum]

Hi all.

We have booked a package with Virgin Holidays for next August which includes 2 x 8 seaters on their basic package. Having seen a few posts and comments regarding the expense of adding additional drivers and upgrading the insurance cover, am I right in saying that some people just completely rebook their car hire with another company which is cheaper than the upgrading with Virgin?

I'm wondering if I amend our booking to the cheapest car option and look into car hire seperately?

Thanks

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Hi. A lot of people do as you say, namely dump the car and hire elsewhere.

However your circumstances are a bit different. I see they have already 'given' you 2 x 8 seaters. Did you pay for that or was it due to party size?

8 seaters are quite rare and hence they are an expensive DIY hire. The first thing I would do is find out if the 2 x cars were actually free. Then get a price off VH to bolt on the Insurances.

Sometimes it can be worthwhile taking their package, most of the time not. But you will need to do the maths first.

Edit. I think you are saying you paid for those upgrades to an 8 seater. If so make sure you price up a DIY rental before cancelling the VH ones due to the high rental cost for these models.

[Twinniemum]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Hi. A lot of people do as you say, namely dump the car and hire elsewhere.

However your circumstances are a bit different. I see they have already 'given' you 2 x 8 seaters. Did you pay for that or was it due to party size?

8 seaters are quite rare and hence they are an expensive DIY hire. The first thing I would do is find out if the 2 x cars were actually free. Then get a price off VH to bolt on the Insurances.

Sometimes it can be worthwhile taking their package, most of the time not. But you will need to do the maths first.

Edit. I think you are saying you paid for those upgrades to an 8 seater. If so make sure you price up a DIY rental before cancelling the VH ones due to the high rental cost for these models.

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Thanks for the reply. The 8 seaters are due to our party size of 14 and as you say, we knew they were a premium being a rare rental as other companies couldn't offer them. I can only find 7 seaters when we search ourselves on other packages.

As yet I can't price for an August 2020 rental as the car rental companies aren't displaying out to August. I'll keep an eye when they're released to see what the costs are.

They weren't thrown in for free, but we did get them at a low price compared to what we costed on this years rental costs.

We are flying in and out of Miami, do rental prices tend to be cheaper here?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Ok. Yes you are a bit early albeit you can get a price for a stand alone hire from VA and VH. Also Andy who advertises on here.

With regards to location there can be a variance but not much normally.

I would start a spreadsheet and get the VA and Andy prices today and then go from there.

Edit. 2nd to 16th Aug 20 with VA an 8 seater is £818 all in with 2 drivers.

[Twinniemum]

Our booking is £1,024 for 2 x 8 seaters on their basic package. I don't think we have seen an 8 seater under £800 so far, so we have got a good price. Just need to work out the additional upgrade for drivers and insurance. The lady at virgin told me it may be cheaper to go direct to Alamo for the driver add on as we do have global car rental insurance on our Amex card.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by Twinniemum

Our booking is £1,024 for 2 x 8 seaters on their basic package. I don't think we have seen an 8 seater under £800 so far, so we have got a good price. Just need to work out the additional upgrade for drivers and insurance. The lady at virgin told me it may be cheaper to go direct to Alamo for the driver add on as we do have global car rental insurance on our Amex card.

See more...

Mmm. I think that's a poor price. Over £500 to supply an uninsured car. Now if they come in with Insurance for circa £350 per car it's good. I would ring them and check the price but not commit yet.

You mention an Amex card. Bear in mind that doesn't give you full insurance though so it's not applicable.

But, have you tried Hertz? If you create an account with them and use the Amex code you can save a fair bit of money, worth a look. They are quoting past your dates already.
You need an Amex Platinum card to use the code though.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Off to Sons house now to do some painting. Best of luck

[Twinniemum]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

Mmm. I think that's a poor price. Over £500 to supply an uninsured car. Now if they come in with Insurance for circa £350 per car it's good. I would ring them and check the price but not commit yet.

You mention an Amex card. Bear in mind that doesn't give you full insurance though so it's not applicable.

But, have you tried Hertz? If you create an account with them and use the Amex code you can save a fair bit of money, worth a look. They are quoting past your dates already.
You need an Amex Platinum card to use the code though.

See more...

Just had a look with Hertz, no 8 seaters. Think I'll call Virgin Holidays to get upgrade price and see what else is around.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Let us know what price they come back with. But beforehand arm yourself with their own stand alone car hire price and then go into haggle mode.

[Twinniemum]

Spoke to Virgin Holidays and to add the upgraded insurance it would be £382 per car!

I also checked direct with Virgin Atlantic for our dates and an 8 seater with same full insurance and 1 additional driver is £906.34

So at the moment, still cheaper on our package. £1,788 for 2 cars vs £1912