There have been a lot of questions about car rentals. Although I do not work for any of the rental companies, I do rent cars often for business travel as well as for many vacations. I hope this information is useful.

There are several things to be considered when renting car at the airport in Orlando. These are rates for the car, discounts, type of car and included options, taxes and surcharges, how gasoline is handled, and various types of insurance.

Rates are normally quoted on either a daily or weekly basis. Most of the companies will have their weekly rate equal to about five and a half days rental. The advertised rates are normally for a subcompact; the bigger the car the more you will pay.

When reserving a car ask for discounts. Membership in many organizations, such as AAA, AARP, Airline frequent flyer clubs, Entertainment Book members, or many other types of organizations have discount agreements with the rental companies. Check with your employer, many companies have negotiated rates and allow their employees to use those rates when on personal travel. If you are a government employee, let the car rental company know, but also tell them that you are NOT on official business.

The companies define their cars fairly similarly, but the quality differs. We owned a Plymouth Acclaim with power everything; this is considered to be a full-size four-door. If we go to the larger companies and they have Chrysler products, we could get a LeBaron as the full-size four-door car; this has even more comfort than our Plymouth but is the same car from a size standpoint. If we went to one of the smaller companies and asked for the same type we would get an Acclaim but without the power windows, door locks, etc.

All car rentals in Florida are subject to the Florida 6% Sales Tax. They are also subject to the state's soak the visitor "Road Impact Fee" of $2.05 per day. If you go to a company that does not have its counter in the Terminal Building and which provides a shuttle to its lot you will have to pay an "airport access fee" of 8.64% of the rental fee, no matter how long you use the car. If you do rent from a company in the terminal, there is a 10% add-on fee charged by the Airport Authority. This may be waived under certain circumstances. Note that the 8.64% or 10% surcharges are subject to the 6% sales tax. It is best when getting a price quoted you ask for the total cost for the rental to include all taxes and surcharges.

There are three ways gasoline is handled; be careful and ask when you get the rental.

The fairest way is to receive the car with the tank full and agree to return it with the tank full. If you buy gas within 20 or 30 miles before turning the car in the tank will register full and you will not have to pay anything. (Note - Beware of the prices at the Exxon stations on WDW or in Lake Buena Vista; they are about 20 cents per gallon higher than a few miles away.) HOWEVER, if the tank is not full they will charge an exorbitant amount based on either what it takes to fill the tank or a per-mile charge.

The next way is the tank is not full when you receive the car and they don't care how much gas is in it when you get back. This is especially true with the smaller rental companies. The downside to this is you do not know, when you put gas in, how much to buy.

The worst way is the offer for you to prepay for a tank of gas. They will charge you for the number of gallons of the full capacity of the tank (starting at zero) at approximately the average gas price for the area. You will get the car with a full tank and they don't care where the tank is when you bring it back. However, unless it is just running on fumes when you bring it back you are a loser.

If you live in the United States and you own a car and have what is normally referred to as a "Standard Family Automobile Policy" you are covered for a "temporary substitute automobile" (meaning a rental car) for up to 30 consecutive days as if you were using your own car without having to notify the insurance company. Check with you Insurance Agent or Company before your trip, to verify that you do actually have this coverage. If you live in Canada you might also have this coverage; it does not hurt to check.

In addition, if you use a gold (or higher) major credit card (American Express, Visa, MasterCard) for the rental the credit card company will provide several of the coverages (including CDW/LDW) at no cost to you. Before you rely on this, check with the card issuer to see what coverage they will provide. Note than many credit cards from outside the US may provide coverage, again check with your card issuer.

CDW/LDW covers any damage to the car (as well as loss of rental income to the company while it is out of service) which is due to your fault or negligence. Note that if you have collision insurance on your regular car your insurance company would cover the costs subject to any deductible amounts you have with them. If you do not have insurance but use a premium credit card, the credit card will cover this. If you do have insurance and use a premium credit card, the credit card company will cover your deductible. It is very important that you check with your credit card company beforehand to ascertain the coverage they may provide.

PAI basically is medical insurance to protect you or anyone else in your car from costs related to injuries sustained while in thee car. Note again if you have a regular US auto policy, or you have medical insurance, you probably do not need this.

PEC is stupidity insurance. It will cover losses of personal belongings in the event of theft from the car. Normally one should not leave items of high value in a car. If you have several hours to go between the time you check out of your hotel and the time you turn the car in you should just be sure nobody can just look into the car and see the items there.