Rental car contract fine print
Hello Andrei,
First, a caveat: I've never been to northwest Nevada or to any Burning Man location prior to the mid-1990s move to the Black Rock Desert. But, ever the fan of a good spectacle, I've pre-planned (read:daydreamed on the computer) extensively about going out there one day. Surely by now you've spent much time doing the same. If so, you're probably in agreement that:
1) The car is going to get covered in talcum-fine dust top to bottom, side to side, and inside and out. Getting it fully cleaned up before returning it will take a lot of quarters in the car wash/vacume, and it'll still be filthy enough for the rental agency to know exactly where it's been.
2) The "off road" language on mainstream agencies' contract varies a lot, but they all generally try to prohibit it. Some say "paved highways only" while others say "numbered Federal, State, and Local routes only". The latter opens up the gravel roads north of Gerlach.
3) The playa is NOT, to my knowledge, a numbered road of any sort. There's a designated entrance ramp from the numbered road, but then it's several miles across the playa to Black Rock City.
4) I would assume your rental has a GPS which allows the agency to track your path, and I would further expect them to be fairly huffy about you violating the contract by taking it off-road in the sense that the contract attempts to preclude.
5) Be extremely cautious from Fernley up to Gerlach. NV 447 crosses lots of Indian Nation land (Reservations) and you can expect vigorous enforcement efforts as the Burning Man hordes head north.
6) If I were taking a rental there, I'd be highly motivated to purchase the additional insurance. There would seem to be more than ample opportunity for the rental to get dinged up on such a trip.
All of that said, heading north from LA on the PCH would take you to Cambria, CA just south of the big mountains at Big Sur. The one trip I made on the PCH included a long, late lunch at Cambria, and we wished we'd have been able to overnight there. I haven't a clue as to motel costs but I strongly suspect they're quite pricey, but it never hurts to look around. Closer to SF, the PCH town of Capitola has a quaint motel right on the lagoon/oceanfront, but that's but an hour or so from your SF destination.
Do post a trip report, won't you?
Foy
the roads not the environment
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andrei
I found that often the same rules apply for driving to death valley, and yet people go there all the time (and survive).
Do you know any good options for buying insurance on the side to deal with this?
The car/insurance problems that you could potential run into with Burning Man aren't caused specifically because of being in the desert, its the off-road driving needed to get there.
That's what makes it different than Death Valley, which has miles of paved highways (of course, there are unpaved paths too).
Even going off-road isn't typically a problem with insurance in a private car, the problem is that if your rental contract forbids it, then it could be considered an unauthorized use of the car and/or neglegance, and then used as a reason by the insurance companies to deny a claim. I don't really know a good way around that, even going with a 3rd party insurance company.
What I would suggest is call around to different rental agencies in San Francisco and specifically ask them if you can take their car to burning man. See what they say, as I suspect you won't be the first to ask about it.
