My pleasant experience with Localiza (rental car)

543POSTS

last month

This week I needed a rental car for a day trip, and I went with Localiza. It wasn’t my first time, so I expected good service, and i wasn’t disappointed. First off, I really like their offer with the most complete coverage, since it also includes the cleaning of the car. It’s a bit more expensive than one of these roadside cleaners charge, but it’s worth it for the convenience alone, imo. Here’s the thing that really surprised me: I only needed the car for a day, but the miles included with the economy package (200km) wasn’t gonna be sufficient, so I decided to rent it for two days instead. It was a little bit more expensive than booking 1 day with unlimited miles, but not by much, and I liked having the option to keep it one more day, in case something unexpected came up. But it turned out that my trip ended earlier than expected, so I decided to bring the car back after less than 24 hours. I expected to pay the tariff for 2 days anyway, but instead they made it a 1 day rental and reimbursed me the second day, since I had already paid it. That was an unexpected surprise, so I decided to leave a comment about it here. It might be useful to someone.

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hagece8690 Contributor

113POSTS

last month

Hey Kurt.....

Did you decline their expensive third party insurance and use your C/C for coverage, or, was that also incuded in the rental price ?

Just asking, because I've got a trip to Maceio coming up with a rental booked, and in my experience many of the rental companies here have a habit of holding a R$12.000 +/- preauthorization for damages on your C/C, until the car is returned, if you choose to decline their insurances. The amount of the hold is not the problem though, it's the fact that they do it which I don't like.

I prefer to buy their insurance instead of relying on my C/C company to deal with them in the case of an accident, even thought it's a brasilian bank issued card.

Kurterino Serial expat

543POSTS

last month

Hey Kurt.....
Did you decline their expensive third party insurance and use your C/C for coverage, or, was that also incuded in the rental price ?

Just asking, because I've got a trip to Maceio coming up with a rental booked, and in my experience many of the rental companies here have a habit of holding a R$12.000 +/- preauthorization for damages on your C/C, until the car is returned, if you choose to decline their insurances. The amount of the hold is not the problem though, it's the fact that they do it which I don't like.

I prefer to buy their insurance instead of relying on my C/C company to deal with them in the case of an accident, even thought it's a brasilian bank issued card. - @hagece8690

I chose to buy their insurance, the most expensive one (full coverage for everything except theft, where you have to pay 4000 Reais). In this package included is the cleaning of the car, which I find very convenient…otherwise you have to find a cleaner close to the rental place, and if they are a bit busy it can easily take an hour.

If you choose this coverage, they hold only 700 Reais. I don’t know why they don’t hold 4000, but that’s what it was.

Maybe you are right and the CC company offers the same coverage, but I was too lazy to look it up. And I agree, even if the CC company does offer the same coverage for no extra charge, there’s still the question of how it would play out in practice. I suspect it would be considerably more complicated to do everything correctly to get the CC company to pay for everything. Whereas with the insurance that you purchase with the rental company, it should be quick and easy (get a police report and that should suffice).

The one thing I always decline is the insurance that you can buy when getting a flight ticket. I know that this is redundant, because I do have travel insurance that already covers this.

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