Crossing US/Canadian Borders in Hire Car?

[Tripper2012]

Hi,
During our Sept Roadtrip we will be hiring out of Alamo car hire in Boston, returning in Manhattan but driving via Niagara Falls. We will be crossing the border into Canada side to stay over for a couple of nights.
Can anyone tell me as Alamo don't want to respond to my emails????.....

1) Do we need to inform them of the route we plan, inc crossing the border
2) Will we still be covered by the rental package for insurance / breakdown etc
3) Will we have any issues crossing the border customs in a USA Rental Car and back again into USA
4) Assuming the full package covers us for everything - are we likely to get hit with hidden charges if driven into Canada space?

Thanks for any help or guidance you can give us, as the car rental contacts are pap!

[AZBuck]

You need to do two things. First, check your reservation details for any geographic restrictions. Some rental contracts limit you to certain states, or a certain number of miles, but if there are no such restrictions in your contract, then proceed to step two, which is to inform Alamo, now AND when you pick up the car, that you intend to take it into Canada. They will then supply you with the proper 'paperwork' (often nothing more than a card put in the glove box) that says the insurance coverage on the car extends into Canada and you have Alamo's permission to take the car across the border. That's it. I don't anticipate any problems since Alamo is part of one of the Big Three auto rental firms, but if you can't get confirmation that there are no geographic restrictions, then you can usually cancel a car rental reservation without penalty as long as you do it 24 hours before scheduled pick-up.

AZBuck

[Tripper2012]

Hi AZBuck,
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I have had no response from email queries asking the question, when I have called on 2 occasions I have been given an indirect answer that I would need to check with our rental location whom I cannot get a number to call direct, it keeps directing me to central sales who then say email or call direct. (round in circles) We use Alamo every year we travel to USA, so would like to continue to use them, but this is so driving me mad!

I will double check our reservation T&Cs now.
Appreciate your response again

[AZBuck]

It took a little digging, but I found THIS on Alamo's website. So it looks like you just have to inform them when you pick up the car so that you get the proper paperwork.

AZBuck

[Tripper2012]

Yep, I found the info too after following your guidance of checking T&Cs. I have also emailed as back-up and surprisingly I got an answer pretty quick....

So looks like we are sorted. Thank you so much for your help and direction AZBuck :-)

(Just wonder why I couldn't get a straight answer or an email reply the first time around from Alamo?!)