Hi and welcome to another lesson with Mastereveryday English. In today's lesson we are going to rent a car in the United States. If you're renting a car in the United States, it's important to know, of course, the names of the different types of cars that you can rent.
I'm going to show you a picture of each of the different types of cars you can rent, and then after a few seconds the name of the vehicle will come on the screen. foreign [Music] [Music] Now let's look at that useful vocabulary you're going to need to know when you go and rent a car in the United States. [Music] oh [Music] Now you've seen the vocabulary list for today's lesson.
I'm going to give you a quick definition for each of those words. - rental agreement – your rental agreement is just the document that you sign; the contract that you sign when you pick up the car from the rental company. - damage waiver or lost damage waiver – this covers any damage to the vehicle or, if the vehicle is stolen or lost, this means it's covered; the insurance is covered by the rental car company.
- liability coverage – this basically covers any damage or injury to the other person, not to you, but to the other person, if you have a car accident. - personal protection coverage – this is insurance that you can get through the rental company, and it will cover any injury to you or anyone in your car and will also cover any damage and the costs to repair your rental vehicle. - roadside assistance – if your car breaks down, the rental company will provide either roadside repairs, so somebody will repair the car, or they'll provide a towing service; another towing truck will come and collect the vehicle and also take you to where you need to go.
- unlimited mileage – most rental companies provide unlimited mileage now. It means that you can drive the car for really long distances and there's no extra charge; it doesn't matter how far you go. - additional driver – normally a spouse or partner will be added for free to your rental agreement, but if you have somebody else, say a friend or another family member, who wants to drive the rental then you'll probably need to pay extra for that person.
- base rate – when you go online or if you go into the rental company they'll give you a price for just the vehicle that's without additional extras or taxes or any fees involved; it's what they call the base rate. - fuel prepay – this is really for gasoline cars, not really for electric vehicles right now, but if you don't have time or you don't think you will have time to fill the gas tank before you take the car back, you can have a fuel prepay; that means that you take the car back and the rental company will fill the tank for you, but they will give you an extra charge on your bill. - toll pass – if you're traveling across the United States, you'll find a lot of larger roads and highways that have tolls; that means you have to pay a certain amount to use the road, so with toll pass most car rental companies will have an automatic prepayment for tolls.
So again, if you use a toll road you don't have to stop to make a payment; it's automatic from the car and this will be added to your bill at the end when you take the car back. - taxes and fees – when you rent the car you'll normally have your base rate; so if you look online or if you speak to the car rental company they'll normally give you the price just for the car. When you add on the taxes and fees it can be a lot more expensive.
For example, one fee could be if you pick up the vehicle from an airport; there's an additional fee that you pay just to collect from an airport. Or if you return the car to a different location, again, there's an additional charge for that, and that's in your fees and taxes. - Drpbox or after‑hours drop off – if you need to return the car after the car rental company is closed—for example, you're returning it in the evening or very early in the morning—they normally have a drop box.
It's a box outside the door of the building where you just put the card or the keys for the vehicle inside. Make sure you lock the vehicle and then put the keys or the card inside that box. - key card or FOB – a lot of vehicles, a lot of newer vehicles, don't have keys, so they will either have a card that you swipe against the door to open and also leave inside the car to start the car, or they will have a fob, where it's a little electronic device that you press the button to open and close the doors and also use to start the vehicle.
I'm going to give you a definition from the vocabulary we just looked at, and I want you to try to remember what the word was. I'll give you the answer after just a few seconds. Your contract with the rental company?
That's your rental agreement. The cost for just the vehicle without any taxes or fees? That's the base rate.
The place outside of the car rental building where you put your keys if you are returning the car after office hours? The Drpbox. If there's damage to the vehicle and it's covered by the rental company's insurance?
That's damage waiver or lost damage waiver. Insurance that pays for injury to you or anybody in your car? Personal protection coverage.
Now let's listen to a conversation: it's between a customer who's picking up a rental car and the sales clerk. Listen for that useful vocabulary we just studied. If you're interested in seeing more videos like this one, click the link here, and that'll take you to my channel where you'll find lots of other videos about everyday conversations in the United States.
Hi there, welcome to Everyday car rental. Are you picking up a vehicle today? Yeah, I booked it online.
Okay, great. Can you give me your first and last name, please? Sure, it's John Smith.
Okay, Mr Smith, I see you have a mid-sized sedan booked with us. Is that correct? Yeah, that's right.
We have a deal right now where we could upgrade you into a full-size SUV. Is that something you'd be interested in? How much more would it cost?
Let me check with the current deal we're running; it would only be an extra ten dollars a day on top of the base rate for the car. Okay, that sounds pretty good. Okay, great.
Let me just get a few details. I see you've signed up online for our liability coverage. Would you also want to add the additional damage waiver or personal protection coverage?
No, I'm fine, thanks. Okay, and are there any additional drivers? Just my wife.
Okay, she is covered at no extra charge. And when will you be returning the vehicle? On Tuesday, but we don't get back until the evening.
That's fine: just park the vehicle in front of the office, make sure it's all locked, and leave the key fob in the Drpbox next to the door. Are you doing fuel prepay? No, it's okay; I'll return it with a full tank of gas.
Sure, okay. Well, all our vehicles come with unlimited mileage, so if you want to just check over the vehicle and then sign the rental agreement, we'll get you on your way. Okay, thanks.
We studied the vocabulary and listened to the conversation. Now I'm gonna give you some really useful information that you'll need when you rent a car in the United States. Who are the main rental companies in the United States?
The main rental companies that you'll find in most towns and cities in the United States are Hertz, Alamo, Enterprise, National, Avis, and Budget. What are the different types of vehicles that I can rent? There are three main types of vehicles that most people rent: firstly, there are the smaller cars.
These are normally called compact or economy cars, and they normally seat between two and four people. Then there are the medium-sized cars, and these are normally called mid-size or standard size cars; these normally sit somewhere between four and six people. And then there are the larger vehicles, and these are called full-size vehicles; so these are going to be the bigger SUVs, and these can normally sit somewhere between six to eight people.
There are other classes of vehicles as well, so most rental companies will offer different kinds of trucks, they'll also offer luxury vehicles, convertibles, and also now many rental companies also offer electric vehicles. What documents do I need to rent a vehicle? Well, there are two main documents you need.
You need your driver's license and you need some form of payment—probably a credit card. If you don't have any insurance, you'll probably take insurance with the rental company, but you can also use your own insurance to rent a car; and if you do that, then you'll need proof of your own car insurance. What extras can I rent with the car?
Well, if you have children, you can normally rent a car seat. Now, there are three different types of car seat you can normally rent. So there's the infant car seat, which is a rear‑facing car seat for a baby.
There's the standard child car seat, which is normally with the seat belts inside the seat, and the seat then attaches to the main seat in the car. And then there's what they call a booster seat; a booster seat normally just sits on the seat in the car, and then the child uses the car's own seat belt. If you're in a part of the country where you're skiing, you can also rent ski racks or ski storage; they'll go on top of the car.
And there are features inside the car so you can normally rent satellite navigation—a GPS system—and you can also get satellite radio for the car. If you're renting the car online and you don't see those features, it's always a good idea just to call through to the rental company to ask if they provide those additional services. That's it for today's lesson.
Thank you for joining me! Don't forget: if you enjoyed the lesson, please give me a thumbs up, and if you want to see more videos about everyday life and everyday conversations in the United States, please click to subscribe.
