North America Car Rental FAQs and General Information

What documentation do I need?

The named driver/s will be required to present their UK driving licence (see below), a valid credit card in their own name (NB debit cards are not accepted for this) and the car rental voucher. Any additional drivers will also be required to present their driving licence and a valid credit card in their name when collecting the car for verification purposes.

On collection of your rental vehicle, it is standard practice for the rental company to put a pre-authorisation hold on funds on your credit card as a security deposit. The amount will vary depending on the duration of rental and vehicle category, but is typically between £300 and £1,500. This can be a substantial amount, so please ensure your credit card has sufficient funds available.

Car rental - changes to driving licence requirements when renting a car

The paper counterpart to the photocard driving licence has been replaced by an online service. Please visit www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence for information and to register. You will need your driving licence number, national insurance number and postcode to register and create a licence check code, allowing you to share your driving licence details. Print off a copy of the licence summary page showing the code and take it with you to the rental desk, along with your driving licence.

Please note that the check code is only valid for 21 days from the date of issue. It is possible that not all rental locations overseas will be aware of the system and you may not be asked for the details. However, please ensure you have followed the above procedure to avoid any potential issues when collecting the rental car.

What’s included?

Our standard rentals include rental fees, Collision/Loss Damage Waiver (CDW/LDW), liability insurance, tax and unlimited mileage. An excess and/or deposit may apply, taken locally. Please note that in common with most car rentals, damage to glass, tyres and the underside of the vehicle, as well as towing for non-breakdown incidents, is not covered by the insurance. When you pick up your vehicle, you may be offered optional insurance top-up policies to reduce or waive any excess that applies and to cover these risks. In addition to the above, upgraded rentals include a tank of fuel and one or more additional drivers.

You will also be offered locally other optional products such as Personal Effects and Personal Accident insurance (which may be covered by your general travel insurance policy) as well as roadside assistance cover and a fuel purchase option.  If you do decide to accept any optional charges you will pay for them locally. You will also be charged locally for items such as ski racks, sat nav systems, baby seats, one-way rental fees, and young driver fees for drivers under 25, if applicable, and any local charges such as airport fees that cannot be prepaid.

Car hire top-up insurance – there are policies available in the UK which provide cover for any excess that may be charged, towing for non-breakdown incidents, damage to glass and tyres etc. and key loss. If you choose to purchase one of these policies, you will pay the car hire company for the excess/damage/towing and then claim the costs back through your policy.

NB - you must check the rental agreement carefully before signing. Unfortunately, there have been occasions when customers have signed the agreement without checking, and they have been charged for optional insurances or upgrades that were added by default. The agreement may be on a screen or a printed copy. Please check any amounts shown, and if you are unsure what they are for then ask the staff before agreeing and signing. Once signed, the charges will be debited from your card, and it is not possible to get a refund.

How much is the insurance excess and/or deposit? The excess is typically around $500-$1,500, depending on the country, supplier and the vehicle category, but you should check your rental agreement for the excess applicable to your rental.  A deposit may be around $200-$1,500.

What are the fuel purchase options?

Policies vary by supplier but there are typically three options:

1. Pre-book an upgraded rental package - this will include the first tank of fuel (so you can return the vehicle empty) and also cover for additional drivers.
2. Take the vehicle full and return it full to avoid being charged - this is the cheapest option but please note that the vehicle has to be returned absolutely full to avoid any charge.
3. Pre-pay a tank of fuel when picking up the vehicle - if you don’t want to pre-book an upgraded rental package this is the easiest option, as you pick your vehicle with a full tank and can then return it at any level, but note that rental companies charge more per litre than the going rate available locally.

Can I add additional drivers after the rental has started?

Anyone wishing to drive the vehicle must be present when you pick up your vehicle and sign the rental agreement, they cannot be added at a later stage.

4-wheel drive cannot be guaranteed

We have to make it clear to our customers, both on our website and in the quotations and booking documents that we send, that when they book an SUV rental with us as part of their package, we cannot guarantee that the SUV they get will be a 4-wheel drive (4x4) vehicle.

Why is that?
All rental companies now carry a wider range of vehicle drive types within the SUV size categories – they can be 2-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive.  This applies to all SUV categories that we book, including intermediate, standard and full size SUVs and 5, 7 and 8 seat vehicles.  Rental companies buy vehicles for their rental pool with one eye on the future resale value.  Whereas in the past there was a strong market for used 4x4 SUVs, more people are now wanting an SUV for its height, size and style but without the additional complexities and costs of running a 4x4, so they buy a 2-wheel drive version instead.  Hence rental companies now carry a wider range of SUV versions to make resale easier and we can no longer guarantee that a customer will be given a 4x4.  We work with many different rental companies, including Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz and National and none of them will offer this guarantee on any of their normal SUV categories, as they regard the different drive versions as being interchangeable within a particular category.

What if I book direct instead?
Rental companies may describe some of their SUVs as ‘4WD/AWD’ on their websites, however it’s still not guaranteed that you would end up with a 4x4 if you were to book with them.  All rental vehicles are booked by category and described as, for example, a ‘Ford Explorer standard SUV 4WD/AWD or similar’ – the ‘or similar’ vehicle would still be a standard SUV, but could be 2-wheel drive.

Some companies offer ‘special’ or ‘prestige’ vehicle collections that include vehicles such as a Hummer which are always 4x4, but the rates are usually very high and are not made available to tour operators, those vehicles have to be booked direct.

Why don’t you just include a higher category SUV from the start?
All SUV categories that we book, including intermediate, standard and full size SUVs and 5, 7 and 8 seat vehicles are available in 2-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive versions.  Rather than automatically costing into a package a higher category, and therefore more expensive, SUV that will most likely not be needed and still doesn’t guarantee a 4x4 vehicle anyway, we cost in the most appropriate SUV for the passengers travelling.  We do still recommend that customers book an SUV rather than a normal car and we include the higher cost in the quotations we send from the outset, rather than selling it as an upgrade once a customer has booked, or leaving the customer to pay a higher upgrade fee when picking up their vehicle – upgrading from a normal car to an SUV costs more than upgrading from one SUV category to the next.

At the rental desk
Be wary of asking for a 4x4 or winter tyres (see below).  Desk agents may see that as an opportunity to talk you into an unnecessary upgrade.  At many of the larger rental locations, including most airport locations, rental companies now operate a ‘free choice’ system.  Rather than being given a key to a particular vehicle at the desk, you choose a vehicle in the parking lot from a selection within the category you have booked.  This allows you to choose the vehicle most suited to your needs and can help to make sure you get a 4x4 – look for a 4WD, 4x4 or AWD badge on the car.  You can choose your vehicle either before or after you have completed your rental agreement, so if there is a queue at the rental counter we suggest you go to the parking lot first, to give yourself the widest choice possible.  Choose your vehicle, take the keys from it and go back to the rental counter.  If you’re not sure which vehicle to take, please ask for assistance from a member of staff.  Where there is no ‘free choice’ system, see what vehicle you are given and take a look before asking about a 4x4 vehicle if necessary.

What if there’s no 4x4 available?
On the day, if a 4x4 is not available in the SUV category that you have booked, you will usually be given the option to upgrade to a higher category SUV where there is a 4x4 available.  This will be at an additional cost that has to be paid locally by you and will not be refunded.  Unfortunately there are instances when the desk staff are too pushy in selling these upgrades without first making sure that a 4x4 vehicle is not available in the category booked, or in a lower category that might actually be cheaper, so it’s important to make sure they check carefully.

What happens if there’s still no 4x4 available?
In the very unlikely event that there is no 4x4 vehicle available in any category, you should ask if there is a 4x4 vehicle available at another local depot, for example a downtown location if you’re at an airport or vice versa.  You may be able to pick up your vehicle there, or the rental company may arrange to bring a vehicle to you.  If you have a city stay at the start of your holiday, you could take a 2-wheel drive vehicle for the first day or two, and then return to the rental location to exchange it for a 4x4 when one is available.  It is worth asking if any 4x4 vehicles are due to be returned – most airport rental locations have a high turnover of vehicles and if a 4x4 is not available immediately, it might be that if you wait an hour or two one will be returned and can be rented out to you once checked and cleaned.  Finally, you could opt to take a 2-wheel drive SUV and buy a set of snow chains to use if required.  The rental location will not sell chains, but many gas stations en-route to or in the mountains sell them.  You must be very careful to fit chains correctly to avoid damage to the vehicle, which you would be liable for.

How likely is this to affect me?
To put the problem in some perspective, the vast majority of customers are given a 4x4 vehicle straight away. Each season, out of the 200+ rentals we book, typically fewer than five customers are affected.

Winter tyres and chains

Many highways in mountain areas throughout North America have signs warning drivers to have winter tyres fitted or to carry snow chains over the winter months.  These warning signs may be advisory or regulatory and apply when enforced by Police/Highway Patrol.  Occasionally these warnings and/or a requirement to fit chains have to be enforced as a short term measure after a heavy snowfall or in icy conditions and a short stretch of road may have to be closed to vehicles that are not 4x4, do not have winter tyres and/or snow chains fitted.  Very rarely, a road may be closed to all vehicles.  If a road is temporarily restricted, it’s for a good reason and you should be prepared to have to wait until the road is cleared, or to take an alternative route as directed.

Rental companies do not usually fit full-on snow tyres to their vehicles and they cannot be pre-booked.  SUVs usually have all-weather tyres, often called ‘Mud and Snow’ (M+S) tyres, that meet the winter tyre requirements and are suitable for most conditions you’re likely to face on a road trip in the mountains.  Look for an ‘M+S’ code on the tyre wall or a graphic of a snowflake within a mountain peak.  Police/Highway Patrol could stop you to check the tyres fitted and might prevent you from continuing along a route that has been temporarily restricted if conditions dictate.

Please note - if you ask at the desk for a vehicle with winter/snow tyres fitted, you may be asked to pay at your own cost an upgrade fee.  This will not be refunded.

Rental companies in North America do not offer an option to add snow chain rental or purchase to your rental agreement.  If chains are required for a particular stretch of road you’ll travel on, they can be purchased locally from many motoring, hardware and grocery stores.  Pop-up stalls selling chains will often open in ‘chain up’ lay-bys on highways during very bad weather.  The cost is not included in your booking.  If you do have to fit chains, you must take great care to fit them correctly to avoid causing any damage to the rental vehicle.  Any damage that is caused will not be covered by the insurance.

Return time

Some rental companies allow a 30 or 60 minute grace period at the end of a rental, allowing you to return the vehicle slightly late without being charged for an extra day, others do not.  Please check your rental agreement for the policy applicable to your rental.  The easiest way to avoid being charged is to make sure you return the vehicle by the date and time shown on your agreement.

Can I make changes to my rental booking once I’ve picked up the vehicle?

Once a rental booking has started, we cannot make any changes to it.  You will have to speak direct to the rental company.  Contact details will be on your rental agreement.  Additional charges may apply.

Child car seats

Laws governing the use of child car seats vary by state in the US and by province in Canada and you should check the laws relating to the destination you are travelling to. The cost to rent a car seat is usually $5-$15 per day plus applicable taxes. Payable locally.

Ski racks

Ski rack charges are approximately $10 per day, usually capped at around $70 per rental, regardless of duration.  Taxes apply. Payable locally.  Snowboard racks are not usually available.

Last updated – 24 September 2025