[dunnyg]

So, whats the deal with renting in the US - do I need to take out insurance of some kind or will I be ok?

Looking to rent something (anything) with wheels, for a month and a half in September.

Any top tips?

By the sound of things buying is difficult without social security numbers, addresses etc..

Also the pound crashing has made it mega expensive compare to not that long ago (although the price might have gone up in general...). Boo

[SA Chris]

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=16740.0

[AlistairB]

I hired with Sixt out of San Francisco last year, they had a higher base price than other companies but a much lower young driver fee (I was 24 at the time). They have zero excess which I duly tested by trashing the front bumper in a random pothole on the way into my conference hotel carpark. Amusing since I didn't damage it at all on the sketchy dirt roads around Bishop. Anyway, yeah, I actually damaged the car and didn't get any hassle so they seem OK. Possibly not the cheapest if you're 25 or over though.

[tomtom]

Yeah if you're under 25 in the states it can be really expensive...

[a dense loner]

Take out insurance before you go over. You do get stung taking out the hire car insurance. I don't know how you're going to find your way around but I bought a world wide sat nav for £130 months ago, this was nearly the same price as hiring one for 3wks.

[dunnyg]

Fortunately i am 25 so hire is a bit easier. Thats the thread i was looking for, cheers! So need to add car insurance to the costs. Last time navigation wise i managed by using wifi, paper and ductape, though i didnt have to navigate many cities.... I will lool into the satnav. Cheers.

[Paul B]

Take out insurance before you go over. You do get stung taking out the hire car insurance. I don't know how you're going to find your way around but I bought a world wide sat nav for £130 months ago, this was nearly the same price as hiring one for 3wks.

Look into NavMi, it's free and I navigated for 7 months from Colorado to Canada and back using it.Search is a bit limited with no data but with 10 mins on a WiFi connection and just a pinch of forethought it shouldn't be an issue. You can download state by state and various levels of detail.

[slackline]

Similarly OSMAnd is free, just download the relevant maps over WiFI before going.  Has a nice feature of integrating Wikipedia too if you want to find out what else is in a given area (also downloadable).