Car Rental Advice - San Diego to DL

[lourodrigis]

My family (me, DW, DS9, DD8) will be coming to So CA for a vacation in late August and I am looking for some advice on car rental companies. We are staying in San Diego for 3 days and will travel to Anaheim and stay at DL for 4 days. I want to rent a car in San Diego at the airport and then return it at DL. I figure I will not need a car at DL.

I am looking for some recommended car rental companies based on the following factors: 1) PRICE, 2) convenience.

• Has anyone out there done this before?
• What car rental companies are inside DL?
• Are there any good deals out there?
• Is keeping the car for 4 days at DL going to be cheaper then airport transportation to LAX?

Thanks!

 

[dr&momto2boys]

We rent cars in various locations about ten times per year. We never find a better price than on hotwire.com. Sometimes it appears another place is cheaper but then you find out some misc. charges have been left out of the quote. My suggestion is to try hotwire. We just looked up car rentals for San Diego to Anaheim for October and found our best deal on hotwire again.

(It will say the location of the pick-up and drop-off so you can make sure it's desirable.)

 

[Mililani Mouser]

i got the cheapest rate through costco's 25% off coupon with alamo. also, if you drop off at a different location there's a service charge.

 

[4Ollies]

I don't believe you can use Hotwire for a one way trip. Just know that you will be charged an extra $$ for a one way and several will only do air port to air port. We used Enterprise, you have to call them for one way, picking up at LAX and returning in San Francisco, SFO. I think every car company we looked at added $70 for the one way.

The rates always looked great until the fees were added so just know that going in and you won't get a huge surprise.

 

[lourodrigis]

I thought it would be tough doing Hotwire if I was picking up and dropping off at different locations. I'll check it out.

I didn't think about the fees for the one way. I guess there is no way around this.

I'm assuming car rental is the only option to do what I am doing, correct? Has anyone out there tried one of these new car services like ZipCar? I don't see too many options when it comes to getting from SD to DL beside the car rentals?

 

[Sy-]

We are renting a car in SD and returning it to LAX durring our trip in Oct. In my research I found that all the agencies charged an $80 surcharge to drop off the car in a different location. Also if you are renting for 4 days you may want to check out the weekly rates which may end up being the same. Alamo has a desk in Downtown Disney. I don't know if you can return the car there... something you should check into. We ended up going with Avis. With my wifes corporate discount it came out about the same as the discount comapnies (dollar, budget etc...) and cheaper than the AAA rate.

 

[PrincessAbby'sMom]

We just did this in December, except we didn't rent from the airport. We flew into San Diego & we were staying at the Days Inn on Hotel Circle. Days Inn had free shuttle to/from the airport, Zoo, SeaWorld, etc. We got our shuttle from the airport when we flew in (Thurs). Got a shuttle to the Zoo the next day (Fri), and then on Sat Enterprise would pick us up at our hotel - take us to their office (not very far, but across a busy highway)for our rental. We were off from their to SeaWorld - back to hotel, then Sunday off to Legoland w/rental, then to Anaheim for our next hotel. Monday we kept the rental for Universal Studios. We then took the car back to the Enterprise in Anaheim (maybe 3 blocks away) and dropped it off - they gave us a ride back to our hotel & off to DL for the next 4 days.

Enterprise was the cheapest that we found for a 1 way drop off rental. And they had free pick up & drop off. We had 1/4 tank too much gas when we dropped it off & they gave us a card w/that credit on their for another rental of 1/4 tank of gas.

We also looked at the price from keeping it the 4 days at DL or getting a shuttle van to LAX & the shuttle van was cheaper, so that is the route we went.

Alamo is the car rental at Downtown Disney. But at that time my parents had just been ripped off by then from a trip they had taken months previous. They have now been reimbursed fully for the mistake, but at that time it was yet to be cleared up & I was afraid to venture in that direction.

The process w/Enterprise was wonderful for us & would recommend it. We truely thought the "credit" for 1/4 tank of gas was above & beyond. And the drop off & pick up was a great help for not knowing either areas.

If you don't have a hotel yet for San Diego (and of course depending on what your plans are for zoo, SeaWorld, etc) the Shuttle for the Days Inn saved us a few days of a rental car as well.

Any questions -just ask or PM me

 

[farmfresh]

We did something like this in April. We used Avis, picked up at SD airport, and dropped off at LAX. The PP who suggested checking the weekly rates is right - sometimes it is cheaper to take a weekly rate. You can self park at DLR at no charge, you have the convenience of a car if you do want to go offsite, plus you are saved the extra cost of paying to get to the airport.

In fact, on some trips we have hired a car to get to DLR, then left it in parking, then after 4-5 days, driven to the airport, and that has still been price competitive with other transfer costs for 4 people. (of course in that instance there was no drop off charge.)

 

[Jozymouse]

Hi!

I just reserved my car with Hertz. Taking it at the San Diego Airport and returning it at the Ontario Airport. Its the only company I found that didnt charge crazy one way fees. I got it for $200 (taxes and fees in) for a 6 day rental.

 

[wdwrich]

Here's another option to consider. Rent the car at the airport and return it in San Diego when you are done there. Take the AMTRAK train up to Anaheim and a short cab ride to your DL area hotel. The train route follows the coast and is very scenic. You also won't have to deal with driving up to Anaheim in the Southern California freeway traffic.

 

[lourodrigis]

Here's another option to consider. Rent the car at the airport and return it in San Diego when you are done there. Take the AMTRAK train up to Anaheim and a short cab ride to your DL area hotel. The train route follows the coast and is very scenic. You also won't have to deal with driving up to Anaheim in the Southern California freeway traffic.

Rich - I like your advice. This is kind of what I was looking for. I checked and it's only $72 for a one way ticket from SD to DL for 4 people. That's not bad considering I would have to drop at least $80 surcharge to drop the rental car off at Anaheim plus pay for gas for the 2-hour ride.

Now I wonder what the options would be to avoid the rental car in SD all together. I've never tried ZipCar but wonder if that is worth it. I also will be staying in Old Town and I know they have the trolley. I still may end up renting a car for a few days but really want to try some new options. At $4-$5 per gallon it's time to look for other modes of transportation.

Lou

 

[Sy-]

We though about doing the amtrak option for our trip. Decided against it because they don't offer baggage service so my wife and I would end up schlepping around 3 suitcases. Since your kids are old enough to carry their own bags this may be a viable option!

Also catching the train would waste a day in San Diego for us since we would have to travel based on the trains schedule. As it stands now I plan on checking out of our hotel in the morning and going to Legoland which is 1/3 the way to anaheim. Also legoland doesn't open til 10am so we could easily make it there by opening. After we are done in the park we would just drive the 1 hour trek from Legoland to Disneyland.

 

[lourodrigis]

Looks like I have a few options to research.

Thanks for your help everyone!