As some of you may remember, my photo of a bee on a sunflower WON the EASYCAR PHOTO CONTEST back in January. My prize was a week's car rental, or £250 off an extended rental. Since easyCar rents in 60 countries, the possibilites were endless.
Originally we'd planned to use the week's rental for the end of our stay in Italy, thinking that we'd sell our car, then still need a car for our last days in Italy. While that may still prove to be true, we also need a car for our visit to the states this spring. In the past my sister has rented a car which we've paid for, then we've driven her car while she drives the rental. The reason for all this is that we don't have car insurance in the states anymore, and you know how outrageously expensive it can be to buy insurance through the rental company.
When we've rented a car in Europe, we've always used AUTOEUROPE because their rentals include a zero deductible at a reasonable cost. As I discovered when I read the easyCar site, they too offer a zero deductible, meaning that we can rent the car ouselves without having to bother my sister!
John Sinke, the easyCar representative was very prompt in answering the questions I had about my prize. He told me I had until December 31st to use my rental, and that if the rental was valued at less than £250 he could book the car for me if I'd send him the details. When I told him I planned to use my prize to pay for part of a multi-week rental, he told me to forward the booking number to him and he would deduct the £250 from my total....or rather, he would credit it back to my account since EasyCar, like AutoEurope, requires that you pay for the rental at the time of booking.
After considering the dates we'd need and want to be in the states, I was ready to book. I arranged to pick up the car a day or two after we plan to arrive. Since we're going to fly standby, it's possible we might not get be able to fly on first day we'd like. I set a return date for the night before we hope to fly out of Louisville, and if we don't get on that flight we'll rely on the generosity of our family once again!
I found the easyCar site easy to use, and the only thing that I found strange, and a little irritating, was that they actually have a separate charge listed for using a credit or debit card! Using a debit card costs less than using a credit card, but I think only UK issued debit cards will work, so I used my MasterCard. The charge for this was £4.99, or about $10. Once my booking was complete I forwarded the confirmation number to Mr Sinke. He responded the next morning and the credit was immediately posted to my credit card.
Since easyCar, like AutoEurope, is a consolidator, I'll actually be renting the car through ALAMO. Because adding an extra driver costs something crazy like $10 per day, I'll be the only driver. Art will be able to sit back and be chauffeured around Louisville instead of having to do all the driving....and I won't mind one bit!
My only warnings so far about using easyCar have to do with some of their policies: apparently ANY change results in a penalty surcharge of about $40, so check your dates carefully before booking! Additionally, no refunds are given if you cancel your rental, UNLESS you choose the cancellation 'insurance' at the time of booking, Even then, there are still fees to be paid, so once again, check your dates, times and locations carefully! Since the rental will be through Alamo, I don't really expect any surprises or problems , but if there are, you can be sure I'll write about them! Labels: AutoEurope, car rental, easycar
