Any issues with a one-way car rental from Toronto to BUF?

[peacefrogdog]

Have a flight departing from Buffalo that was a great deal, but it seems like flights returning are cheaper to fly into Toronto than Buffalo. It is to the extent that the savings outweight the cost it would be for us to rent a car just to drive to the Buffalo airport for our departing flight.

Other than the cost of the rental, are they any issues in doing a one-way car rental from Toronto to the Buffalo Airport? i.e. issues with customs etc.?

 

[dancin Disney style]

There shouldn't be any problems with crossing the border. I would imagine that the cost would be rather high though.

Have you looked at any of the transportation services that go to BUF....ie Megabus or Airways Transit?

 

[Sunshine25]

I don't think customs would be an issue. But some rental car companies do not allow you to take the rental out of Province so you would have to look into that first. There also would more than likely be a drop off fee since you would not be returning the rental to the same location you picked it up from, which could be costly.

 

[Aaeolien]

I remember looking at flying out of buffalo and it was only like $50 for a week to park there at the airport. We were going to just going to go that route.

 

[bankr63]

I don't think customs would be an issue. But some rental car companies do not allow you to take the rental out of Province so you would have to look into that first. There also would more than likely be a drop off fee since you would not be returning the rental to the same location you picked it up from, which could be costly.

The drop fees would probably kill you. Even though they are branded the same, most companies are separate entities in Canada/US and can't rent out the other's cars once there. So the Canadian company has to send a driver to pick the vehicle up and transport it back (I used to do these deadheads for extra cash when I was younger and a buddy was a manager for one of the big six). The one exception might be U-Haul as their vehicles are all Arizona plated (true floating fleet). Care to take a panel van down? Only two seats, but lots of room for luggage...

BTW - a bit of trivia for why U-Haul plates in Arizona... Cost, and no safety checks required

http://brokensecrets.com/2010/04/08/why-u-hauls-have-arizona-license-plates/

 

[dsneygirl]

The drop fees would probably kill you. Even though they are branded the same, most companies are separate entities in Canada/US and can't rent out the other's cars once there. So the Canadian company has to send a driver to pick the vehicle up and transport it back (I used to do these deadheads for extra cash when I was younger and a buddy was a manager for one of the big six). The one exception might be U-Haul as their vehicles are all Arizona plated (true floating fleet). Care to take a panel van down? Only two seats, but lots of room for luggage...

BTW - a bit of trivia for why U-Haul plates in Arizona... Cost, and no safety checks required

http://brokensecrets.com/2010/04/08/why-u-hauls-have-arizona-license-plates/

Yes the fees will probably kill you.

We just booked a rental car for Cali next month. Our original plan was fly to San Diego, drive to LA, home from LAX. The car rental was DOUBLE the price of pick up/drop off at LAX. It only cost $50 to change our flights and half a tank of gas vs more than $250 in rental car fees.

 

[Sunshine25]

I remember looking at flying out of buffalo and it was only like $50 for a week to park there at the airport. We were going to just going to go that route.

Yep, only $50/week to park at the airport. Well worth it

 

[Skywalker]

Actually we had no problem with a one-way rental, we did one to Buffalo for a flight and one to Boston for a cruise. There was also no need for "dead head" types of fees because the traffic was so frequent between airports that they had no problem with us leaving the car because someone else was bound to show up as a paying customer to drive it back. The key was being willing to pick up and drop off at an airport location and not just some random suburban location...I can't remember but I think it was Hertz. I will check my paperwork! It was easy and no huge fees.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Wow just did a price check

Alamo wants $256 for a one day one way rental from Toronto to Buffalo
Budget wants $70.00

 

[peacefrogdog]

Just wanted to provide the update that there were absolutely no problems doing this one-way rental. Even though we paid $150 for it, it was still worth it given we saved close to $800 flying out of BUF.