Is it cheaper to book hire cars before I go tho the US

Most U.S. citizens get insurance on rental cars provided by their credit cards. You probably don't have this same option. Many non-U.S. rental car sites, like your local version of travelocity or euroauto (?), include the insurance in the package. You might want to check on this. You can compare the rates with our U.S. sites, like www.dollar.com, www.hertz.com or www.enterprise.com. Check around on the internet and compare the prices. You will also be dinged with one-way drop-off fees. I assume you're over 25, as there is an extra charge for those under 25.

You might be able to do this research by comparing prices at various company's websites. Also try the discount sites like travelocity.com and priceline.com. Whatever you do, don't pick up rental cars at airports. They're always huge taxes and they're much more expensive.

On both our (longish) US trips we booked Alamo from Australia well ahead, and it seemed cheaper, and certainly more convenient. We did it ourselves rather than via a travel agent though. We usually picked up cars Downtown rather than Airport - certainly cheaper, as noted above. Not necessarily slugged with additional tax if you drop-off at the airport, but worth checking out well. Your Gold VISA card won't cover insurance or excess, although it's good for other forms of travel insurance if you use it to book your trip expenses. Another tip - get a Thermos and make tea plus coffee anywhere you like on the road - it's a long way between drinks - and US coffee is an acquired taste. Also, given your timeframe, if you want accomm at or near the Grand Canyon, need to book early.

Some German friends got a fly+drive package through the German automobile club ADAC, and the rental rates were far below what a walk-in customer would have been given.

One mild scam to watch out for: If they don't have the size your ordererd you will be offered a reduced rate for an upgrade. At this point you say no, just give me what I reserved and they will give you a larger vehicle for the cost of the smaller one you resreved.

<blockquote>Quote<br><hr>At this point you say no, just give me what I reserved and they will give you a larger vehicle for the cost of the smaller one you resreved.<hr></blockquote> I agree with this - from first-hand experience! A couple of good upgrades.

Also worth noting: most US car rental companies don't require a credit card at the time of making a reservation. So you can get a pretty good idea about what a rental will cost by going through their web sites. Typically, these days, the web sites give you a fairly accurate idea of extra taxes and fees that will be charged, but their quoted rates don't include any of the optional insurance coverage.

Generally speaking, it is cheaper to book in advance.

Yes, it's cheaper to book in advance. They'll give you what you've made reservations for without trying to sell you more (if you just say: "no, I didn't reserve for extras abc). What you do have to think about is whether you'll return it in the same state or not. I travelled from Nevada to California by car (i.e. got the car in Vegas, returned it in San Fran) and lots of rental companies charge 'drop off costs' (except for Alamo), when you return it in the same state that you got it, you won't have that problem.

Try yescarhire.com- it's a UK based website aimed at foreigners to the US (including Australians) so the rates are all-inclusive of insurance etc (takes a lot of the hassle out of figuring out the rates and what "extras" you need/don't need). It goes through Alamo, so you can book for any Alamo location. As far as I can tell, the rates are the same for airport and downtown locations, and just doing a quick comparison with the price quoted at the actual Alamo site, it is a lot cheaper. For one-way rentals, you'll have to email them for a quote.

Admittedly, I haven't done exhaustive research on this topic because I get a headache from all the different types of insurance and charges, but I have used this company a couple of times and they have been terrific. There are other companies like this- all-inclusive rates, usually UK-based- on the net...hopefully someone knows the names!