Car Rental Toronto

At the best of times, most of us do not fully comprehend the ‘ins and outs’ of car insurance. When adding rental car insurance into the mix, it may seem like an added expense that you can avoid, or, should you be cautious and jump at the chance of making sure that you are fully covered in the event of a car accident?
.
Before leaving home on your next family vacation or business trip, it may be a wise decision to find out what your personal vehicle insurance and credit card cover. There are basically two types of insurance: Liability and Collision. Liability covers your personal injury and injury to others. Collision covers the actual vehicle damages.

Some credit cards cover you if you have an accident; however, not all of them provide the necessary coverage. As well, there may be insurance loop holes to look out for. It is easy to call your credit card company to request a copy of the insurance they provide for car rentals so that you can have it in hand when you go to rent your vehicle. When you receive your copy of the insurance and feel that you have a good grasp of the coverage and are secure with it, then use that credit card to cover your rental insurance.

A fee of between $10 and $15 per day is charged by most car rental companies. If you decline the optional insurance, many rental companies will then charge a substantial fee as a deposit to feel secure with the rental. The fee, which is charged to your credit card, can be as much as the value of the rental car itself. This can wreak havoc on your credit limit while traveling so make sure you have an additional card for use on the trip. Depending on your personal car insurance, you may be able to waive this fee when traveling, but again, check before you rent the car. In some cases, you will be okay, but often collision and comprehensive will cover only your rented vehicle.

If you make a trip to the rental car pick-up location, you may be able to get a much better deal than if you called the toll-free number. Many times the cost of rental and rental car insurance depends on other things such as the season, travel distance, and the travel destination, particularly if it is a densely populated urban area.

To keep the cost of rental expense low, check your own personal vehicle insurance and the insurance that your credit card offers when you use the card for a rental purchase. Sometimes the coverage the rental company offers is a secondary coverage and only kicks in after the coverage of your own personal policy reaches its limit. It is important to check to see if that is a condition of the rental insurance policy. There could possibly be a large number of exclusions and a high deductible, making the policy a poor investment.

If you do not have collision and comprehensive insurance and you are acquiring a rental car, you should purchase the Loss Damage Waivers (LDW) or Collision Damage Waivers (CDW,) whichever your rental company offers. It will protect you if the rental is vandalized or stolen.

When packing for your vacation or trip, pack a copy of your vehicle and credit card insurance. Take the insurance papers with you when you go to the rental car company so that there will be no issue concerning your coverage. You can then start your trip on the right foot by saving money and making sure that you and your family are protected.

Moving is no fun, whether it be a big move, a small move, out of a three story house or out of a studio apartment – it’s no fun. The question is - how do you know if it’s going to be so not fun that you’d be better off paying a moving company to do it for you?

Moving companies can be pretty expensive, especially if you’ve got a reasonable distance to travel but even with that expense it’s sometimes better to let movers do the work for you, even when it seems like it’s going to be a small move. Here are some factors that may help you decide to just deal with having no fun and completing the move yourself or whether to outsource the work and let the movers worry about it.

Do you have anyone to help?

This is a big factor; even a small move can fill up your vehicle several times. Unless you’ve got a couple able bodies, each with a vehicle to load up – you are going to be much better off hiring a moving company. Imagine how long it will take you to move just twenty miles up the road if the only one working is you and the only vehicle you’ve got is your Ford Escort – it would cost you more in time and gas than it would cost to hire the movers.

What type of Vehicle you have

This reason is almost related to the first, but it merits mentioning. If you have a small car and you have only one friend that is able to help – who also has a small car, it could take several trips to complete the move. The more trips that you have to make, the more time it’s going to take you to move – as was stated earlier, moving is no fun, don’t prolong it unnecessarily by making a thousand trips to complete it. If you don’t have access to a truck, or aren’t comfortable with operating a rented truck – hiring a moving company to complete the job in one trip is a very smart move.

What you have to move

Even a small move can have a few big and heavy things. Take a good long look at exactly what has to go with you – a marble coffee table, a six piece sectional couch, a sixty inch TV and the entertainment center that is holding that sixty inch TV are not things that you want to be moving when you’ve only got your sister as a helping hand. If you’re small move has a number of heavy things, it could certainly pay to hire movers to do the job for you.

This may come as a surprise to some, but if you’ve got a lot of breakables that are valuable than hiring a moving company might be a good idea as well. Most moving companies have insurance coverage available, if you can prove the worth of an item that is damaged by movers, you’ll likely be able to get reimbursed for the full amount. Some people like to be in charge of handling their own breakable items, but if you drop and smash that antique vase – then you will be the one paying for the replacement.

Ultimately, the decision to hire a moving company is entirely up to you – most moves, especially the smaller ones can be handled without hiring any outside help. Before you make your final decision though, consider the variables above as well as the fact that the move will very likely be completed in a fraction of the time, and with zero labor, when you hire a moving company.

Should you tip your movers? This is a question that many individuals ask because they’re simply not sure whether movers need to be tipped. It is something that is not frequently discussed. In all reality, it is not something that is really thought about for the simple fact that moving is a very stressful time. However, the movers work really hard and they really don’t get paid much more than any other labor job. That is why it is important to show them how much you appreciate everything they have done for you and your family. But the problem is how much they should be tipped. What is the general tipping policy with professional movers?

Tipping

Now that you know that it is proper etiquette to tip, you have to know how much. This isn’t like tipping a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant. This is something that is completely different. Now you can also keep in mind that tipping is completely optional. If you feel that your movers didn’t do a good job, you don’t have to tip them. It isn’t like in a restaurant where the waiter or waitress relies on tips to make up the rest of the money they are not making on the hour. Movers don’t have to rely on tips. Tips or more or less a bonus, but, as stated before, it is proper etiquette for a job well done. They risk their physical well-being by moving heavy objects, so it is only right to show appreciation.

With that said, there are times in which tipping movers is a must. However, make sure you keep some things in mind before you take that leap into paying a generous tip. Make sure you ask yourself these questions:

-    Do I feel like the movers did a great job moving my belongings?
-    Do I feel as if they moved my belongings in a timely fashion?
-    Were the movers polite to me?
-    Did they work with me without any fuss?
-    Did they go above and beyond to ensure the safety of my belongings, my home, and my family?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, then a tip is in order. There are two different types of tips that can be offered to the movers. Those tips are money and refreshments.

The two types of tips

Whatever you can afford to do for the movers, they are going to be appreciative either way. You can do something such as offering lunch on you. That is money they do not have to pay that day, so they are keeping cash in their pocket. You can offer them pizza or you can order out for Chinese. You can give them options and see what they want because it is very likely they eat a lot of pizza in their profession.

As for money, it is common for a mover to receive $20 for an entire day of work and $10 for half of a day. However, you can go over or under this amount. It just depends on how much you can afford to tip your movers. Not everyone can afford these amounts due to moving fees and such.

Just know that moving doesn’t have to be an absolute nightmare and it doesn’t have to break you financially either. There really isn’t an industry standard when it comes to tipping, but everyone seems to agree on what is appropriate or not. In all actuality, what is appropriate really depends on how much you can afford. No matter what you give them for their hard work, they will be very appreciative.

Let’s say you’re scheduled to fly into your destination airport at 3:00, so you’ve made arrangements to pick up your rental car around 3:15 or 3:30. However, your flight time has been delayed or has been rescheduled. Now you’re worried that you’re not going to be able to pick up your rental car because you’re going to be late. What does this mean for you? How strict are car rental companies about their pick up times?

Fortunately, the above scenario is quite common. Actually, that is not a very fortunate situation, but the car rental companies are certainly not strangers to rescheduled flights or delayed flights. This is something that they contend with all of the time. As a matter of fact, they probably contend with this every single day. Think about how often your own flights have been delayed or you’ve heard of flight delays. We all have experienced or heard about them at some point.

The facts

The fact is that your reservation is not even a guarantee that you’re going to get the car in a first place. Your reservation is just way to tell the car rental company that you would like to rent a car that day. The only way to guarantee that a car will be held for you is if you are part of a frequent renter’s club. However, you don’t have to worry about being late if you provide the rental car company with your flight details. If you provide them with those details, then they are going to know that your flight has been delayed. Most car rental companies that are housed within airports will be notified of any delays so that they don’t hand your rental off to someone else.

As for there being any penalty for your late arrival, you don’t have to worry. You can’t be billed for a car that you haven’t even picked up. However, you can still make a phone call if that makes you more comfortable. Although the car rental companies are attached to airport scheduling systems electronically, many individuals need that peace of mind that their rental is going to be ready for them. As a result, the car rental company may make provisions to hold the rental for you for 6 to 12 hours.

Convenience

Again, remember that your reservation is not a guarantee for a car. That is why they don’t bill you in advance. They simply put your name on the rental and expect you to arrive around the pick up time to get it. Now there is that issue in which you may be dealing with a car rental company that is not associated with any of the airports. That’s when you may want to make your phone call. Perhaps your departure time has been delayed and you can’t pick up the car when you said you would. They usually don’t have a problem as long as they know you are definitely coming.

Car rental companies do all that they can to make things comfortable for their customers. You definitely don’t want to arrive at the car rental company’s location and find that they have nothing for you. This has happened to people before, but it is very rare. If you’re in an airport, you’re in luck because there are other car rental companies housed within the airport. If you’re not dealing with an airport, then you may have to find out where else you can go, but know that you do have options and you’re not going to be stuck. You’ll be able to get yourself a car no matter what.

When it comes to insuring your vehicle, it’s absolutely critical to take the time to do the appropriate research to really understand your policy and what it covers. Most people don’t really care about this, and quickly shop around using only a few insurance comparison tools or agents to try and get the cheapest deal on auto insurance.

When it comes to secondary drivers and friends, many people don’t realize what their car insurance policy covers, and what it does not. For example, what if you were to get in an accident but you didn’t have car insurance? Well obviously, you would be in huge trouble, but what happens if you’re tired and you let your friend drive and he doesn’t have insurance and you end up getting pulled over. Then what happens?

These are the type of questions that many people don’t take the time to discuss with their insurance agent when signing up for their car insurance policy. Insurance policies aren’t that complicated, you just need to understand what’s covered, and what isn’t. For example, many people don’t realize that car rental insurance is automatically under some car insurance policies, so when they go for a car rental they still end up paying insurance for it when they were already covered in the first place.

That’s one of the more common examples, but there are many. Hence why it’s so important to do your research and get the right car insurance policy for your needs!