This summer I am returning to the US and will be renting a car. As I no longer have any US car insurance I was bracing myself for the huge cost of car rental plus insurance for each day of rental. To my surprise, Budget.com offers significantly lower charges for rental if you do not have US residency. And even more shocking - insurance -liability and Loss Damage Waiver- are included in the cost.

Choosing CH as my country of residence gave me a rental for 5 days in Denver, for an SUV, for a total of $344 including both types of insurance. If I chose the US as my country of residence, it would have been $564 + $41/day for insurance!! To claim residency you have to present your return international airline ticket and driver's license from the country that you claim to be a resident when you pick up the car.

Strangely, I was able to get the cheap rates in two states, Colorado and Ohio, but not South Carolina -- must be different laws in each state.

Wanted to pass this along to anyone else looking to rent in the US -- not sure if other rental agencies do this or not. It is tempting to return back to the US and drive under my US license for nostalgic reasons, but not for more than twice the price!

They all do it

Good to know as I always say I am a resident because once renting from Enterprise they required me to take out insurance and the cost was way higher than a resident. Since I rent the car on my Visa and Visa will pay all costs of repairing your rental car should you have an accident, I prefer not to take out insurance. BTW, I had such a fender-bender a few months ago when renting Budget in the US and Visa came thru as promised! No hassle.