United States of America Transportation Tips by matcrazy1

Driving American car (part 3/3)

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MY DANGEROUS MISTAKE
Once I made a mistake. Driving steep downhill I change gear to 1. When the downhill finished I wanted to change 1 -> 2 --> 3 -> D but instead, I pushed the shift in the opposite direction to R. Something wrong started to happen. A car suddenly jerked back and a few red warning indicaters lighted on. Immediately I moved the gear shift to 1, then 2,3 and D position. But the red lights continued to light. On the next bend (in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains) I got to scare when I noticed that my steering wheel works very hard. I started to look for any parking but there was none. When I started to break I immediately noticed that I must press my break pedal with heavy force to break. What a stress! I realized that my battery is not charged, my steering and break power don't work and at the moment when I saw a parking lot... a blast - my engine must to be switched off. And that was the true. I stopped, and switched my engine on, everything worked right. Ufff...

Conclusion:
When you drive on the lowest gear (position 1), pay attention to move the gear shift to position 2, never in oposite direction (to R). If you, by mistake, do wrong, the engine switches off, the steering and break power stop to work.

By the way, I think seriously, that car producers should block the possibilty of switching rear gear on while a car moves forward. Buick didn't do that, worse: instead it switched off the engine which could be very dangerous.

SUMMARY
I became a fan of automatic transmission. New Toyota Yaris of my wife has one. Now, I can't understand why, to hell, folks in Europe prefer to drive manual. Cars equipped with modern automatic transmissions are as economic as those with manual. Well, it's a thing of car producers not users - in Europe cars with A/T are much more expensive.

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Driving American car (part 2/3)

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DRIVING WITH AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
There is no clutch pedal on the left but a comfortable place to keep your left foot instead.
The automatic transmission shift was placed not between front chairs (like I used to see in few cars in Europe) but by a steering wheel. The curent position of the shift is displayed very clearly by a speedometer. There were the following positions:
P - parking,
N - neutral
D - drive (forward)
3,2,1 - gears (some cars don't have 3)
R - rear (drive back)

To start to drive, switch the engine on (by a key) in P position (!) with the break pedal pressed down (!!!), change the shift to N and then D. When you stop to push the break pedal a car starts very slowly to drive forward.

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Remember: on D (and 1,2,3) position a car drives slowly forward even if you don't touch the gas pedal!!! Do not forget to keep break pedal pressed down! It was the only difficulty for me - to break all the time while stopping on traffic light.

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When you stop for a longer time (in a traffic jam) move the shift to P position - the car will not drive. When parking, before leaving a car you must change to P to switch off the engine.

In D position a drive is the most economic (like on the highest gear) but a car maybe a little bit skow. To accelerate faster (fast passing or driving uphills) you may change it first to 3, then 2 or 1. In my Buicks with powerful 6-cylinder engines I used it very rarely, generally only driving downhills to break with an engine or on very steep uphills.

To be continued in the next tip.

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Driving American car (part 1/3)

I was afraid very much of driving unknown car in San Diego when I finally hired it. Why? For the two reasons:
1. Unknown car (Buick Century) and with automatic transmission which I wasn't familiar with (poor me!).
2. Different traffic than I used to drive in Europe, add San Diego - quite a large and busy city.

They didn't get me any manual to my hired car both times in Budget :-(. At first I asked the guy at rental a few basic questions:
- how to open fuel cap (a surprice, it's not locked in my both Buicks)
- how to lock/unlock the doors/trunk and start the engine (watch for alarm!)
- how automatic transmission works
- where to switch on/off lights and wipers
I guess, I was the first to ask about it :-).

AUTOMATIC LIGHTS
My both Buicks had automatic lights (I never heard about that before, poor me :-). I couldn't switch them on (it was done autimaticaly) but I could switch them off and change headlights to full beam and back to low beams.

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
For folks who drive it the first time: no worries, it's very easy! My recommendation is not to look for a car with manual transmission (not so easy in the USA), it's crazy difficult!

It took me maybe 1 hour to addict to automatic transmission. Well, after first 2-3 days I stopped to look for manual gear shift. The worst happened when I came back home to my car with manual transmission haha.

To be continued in the next tip.

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At car rental (part 3/3)

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DRIVING LICENCE
My national Polish driving licence issued surely in Polish language was enough at Budget. Warning: some car remtals and not only the small ones, demands International Driving Licence (check at webpage of your car rental). Well, I had that paper... just in case... My Polish driving licence is valid in the USA up to 1 year after arrival. At Budget noone wanted my passport with a US visa and date of entry to the USA to check it though.

OTHER LIMITATIONS
I read on webpages that car rentals usually can refuse to rent a car to anybody without saying any reasons. Especially they can refuse it to folks with bad traffic record. But how do they get to know it?

BEFORE YOU SIGN A DEAL
You should know what you pay for - read the deal (I didn't) or ask. Check the price, options, additional insurance marked on the paper to sign. Well, noone wants to cheat you.The USA is a country of strong consumer movements and of the world's strongest competiotion in rental cars, dishonest ones would have to go bancrupt immediately. But mistakes can always happen. Also, the USA is the very litigious country :-).

QUESTIONS TO ASK
Before you leave ask:
- what to do in case of emergency: accident or brakdown, damage to the car or theft
- how to prolong the rental
- whether you can return your car to other place without surcharge
- about directions to where you turn it in (in our case, Nat guided us to it).

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At car rental (part 2/3)

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CREDIT CARD
Both times I paid using Visa credit card. In San Diego I was not only identified via Visa system but they got a hold on my credit card account worth of my rental price + %500$ deposit! And they asked Linda about her home phone number. They didn't trust me. Hmm... the transaction didn't go! Next emotions :-). I was prepared for it. I called my bank in Poland and told them about large transaction and gave them my cell phone which I took with me to the USA. But they told that maybe I would be forced to call them from the USA. OK, it's my bank account security. I called them again from Budget. Luckily my bank (Citibank) has free number in the USA and, a surprice, in Polish language. In a minute the transaction was done. Ufff...
In Budget in Virginia they trusted me more. I don't know why. They didn't demand any deposit and didn't get any hold on my card, just identified me using my card.

Both times I paid on a car return parking lot. The guy made the transaction by himself using wireless terminal and gave me a receive. That's all - fast and easy spending a lot of money.

Generally, a non-US visitor has to posses a credit card to rent a car in the USA. Debit cards are mostly not accepted, cash never, as I know. US-residents usually can pay by debit cards, rarely by cash.

Warning: the name written on the card must the same as on driving licence. Women in Poland have sometimes 2 surnames seperated by "-": maiden name and of a husband. Sometimes only one surname is written on their cards. What then?

To be continued in the next tip.

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At car rental (part 1/3)

I was not familiar with renting a car before my first US trip. I never visited any car rental before, so I was a little bit afraid of doing it the first time. I mean all the procedures, payment etc.Well, to be honest I was much more afraid of driving unknown car in San Diego. Luckily I arrived at Budget car rental with Linda (lmkluque) which lowered my stress a lot. Thank you very much Linda. You even can't imagine how much I needed your presence that time. Well, to rent a car (despite the previous reservation by phone or internet) I had to fulfill a few conditions.

AGE
I had to be at least 25 years old and surely I was :-(. Warning: poor 21-24 years old consumers had to pay additional $10 (+ tax) per day in Budget and even $20 in other car rentals. Younger folks (18 - 20) can forget about any car rental in the USA. Lucky San Diego's youth, Tijuana, Mexico is a stone's throw from San Diego.

RESERVATION CONFIRMATION NUMBER
I had to show my reservation confirmation paper which I printed out when I booked a car in internet (in Poland) or give them my reservation (confirmation) number when I booked a car by phone (in San Diego). This number identified me much better than my difficult to pronaunce Polish surname during my rental. Ask about the name of that number (it is called in different ways depends on car rental company) and where to find it in your rental papers. I had to use it to prolong my rental by phone.

To be continued in the next tip.

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The cheapest car rental (part 2/2)

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3. Most regular discounts advertised in the internet are not usuful, especially for long-therm rentals (over 28 days), they have many limitations - read carefully terms and conditions (make a cup of cofee before, it's long reading).

4. Even when you book a car in advance and your price is specified on your confirmation, ask at the place about... discounts for you, sometimes you may get a better class car for example.

5. At airport car rental you must usually pay additional surcharge (airport fee/tax) worth a few %. You may return a car in another location but when it's in different, far state you are usually surcharged a lot (even $500 in smaller car rentals).

6. That is not true that larger car rentals are more expensive (counted with insurance for non-US citizen), they are at first but you get better service and car, additionally if you get a discount for long-therm rental like I did at Budget twice...

7. Larger car rentals offer newer cars, less expensive and/or better insurance, better care in emergency (breakdown, theft or accident) like for example 24h road assistance, free car wash etc. And they trust more foreign consumers (for example: they don't need International Driving Licence, allow to drive to Canada and accept more cards)

8. If you are going to rent a car again and again in the USA check whether your car rental offers frequent-rental program. Budget offers it but exclusively for US, Canada and Puerto Rico citizens :-(((.

9. Many car rentals don't allow to rent a car for more than 28 days, ask about the procedure of prolongation. In budget I had to call to my car rental and give a mileage + number of my rental deal exactly on 28th day of rental, if not - after next 24 hours you are in all police computers, brrr...

10. Keep smiling and happy searching :-)

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The cheapest car rental (part 1/2)

I spent hundreds hours looking for the cheapest car hire and I have sad news: there are no rules! No way, you have to check all car rentals in the area which takes ages. But let me share a few suggestions.

BEFORE YOU BOOK A FLIGHT
1. Check fly+drive offer or wider package (with accommodation) at the webpage of your airline or call to them.
2. If you are a member of frequent flyer program check wether you can use earned points for car rental.
Well, it didn't work good for me with my KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) aitlines.

IF YOU ARE NON-US RESIDENT
1. Check car rentals in country of your residence whether they offer car rentals in the USA (in Poland they are dumb expensive)
2. Ask your travel agent (if you have any :-)
3. Check wether your credit card covers any car or personal insurance in case of payment with this card, read the terms (long reading but usually these insurances are poor = additional coverage is wise option), if not check wether bank (holder of your card) offer it.

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NOT RULES BUT THINGS TO REMEMBER AND EVENTUAL USE

The points below are not always accurate, depends on location, car rental etc. And they don't refer to price for insurance. I had to add 91% (!) in California and 55% in Virginia to my basic rental price for full insurance coverage.

1. Prices for car rental are based on day, week and month basis. It maybe less expensive to hire a car for example for 21 days (3 weekly rates) than for 20 days (2 weekly and 6 daily dates).

2. Prices in weekends, in contrast to accommodations, are lower. No wonder, many cars are hired by business on weekdays and stay unused on weekends. Weekend in car rentals starts on Saturday and ends on Sunday.

To be continued in the next tip.

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Where to rent a car? (part 3/3)

If you want to rent a car at the airport of your arrival I suggest to compare offer of all car rentals in the internet and to book a car (you can specify only a category of car) in advance. The problem is when you want to purchase full insurance coverage because the prices of insurance varies from place and place and are sometimes unavailable in internet. No way, call to car rental to get to know.

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CAR RENTALS AT THE LARGEST US AIRPORTS

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)

O'Hare International Airport Chicago (ORD)

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Dallas/Fort Worth. International Airport (DFW)

Phoenix International Airport (PHX)

Denver International Airport (DEN)

McCarran International Airport Las Vegas

Bush Intercontinental Airport Houston (IAH)

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP)

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)

John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) New York

Miami International Airport (MIA)

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Where to rent a car? (part 2/3)

CAR RENTALS AT AIRPORTS
For the security reasons they are located outside main terminals. To get there follow the sign CAR RENTALS which leads you either to car rental office in seperate building/garage (for example at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; DCA in Arlington, Virginia) or, more often, to... a free bus or van shuttles (for example at Los Angeles International Airport, LAX) which go to the same parking lot as the logo on the car hire shuttle.

IN THE INTERNET
On the airport webpage look for the link to Ground Transportation and Rental Cars.

IN OR OUTSIDE AIRPORT?
It depends on your preference: time, comfort or money. Car hire outside of the airport of arrival is surely less comfortable and takes more time, especially that, in contrast to Europe, many US airports are located very far from cities (even 1 hour by a taxi) and have poor public transportation. But if you may save on it... Keep in mind that car rentals in many airports are a little bit (a few %) more expensive because you must pay airport fee/tax. But at the airport you have a few car rentals at one place (you may compare their offer) and usually better choice of cars to rent.

In my case of non-US resident who wanted to purchase full insurance coverage (very expensive but prices vary from place to place) and for long-therm rental, when it was my main expense during my US trips, I was ready even go to another airport (by expensive taxi with all that luggage) if I could save. That's why I arrived at Dulles International Airport but hired a car at Ronald Raegan Washington National Airport and that's why I rented a car in San Diego outside the airport.

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