Crossing the border in a rental car?

[Northstar]

This is sort of like Mortlives' thread on crossing the border in a borrowed car, but a different twist.

In July, we'll be flying to Toronto (from Halifax) for a few days. I'd like to rent a car and drive over into Michigan to visit my brother's family there.

But I remember some problems about this from our Alaskan cruise... we weren't able to rent a car in Skagway and drive into the Yukon. None of the rental agencies there would rent to Canadian residents. They said that the border guards on the Canadian side wouldn't allow Canadians to drive a rental car from the US into Canada.

So my question... would this cause problems if we rented a car in Canada and drove into the US, then back?

Has anyone done this and crossed at Windsor? Anything I should know?

Thanks, DISfriends!

 

[tribus121]

All though i have not done it with a car i have with a RV with no problems . But only some rental company's allow crossing the border and it varies from area to area so check with them in advance .

 

[Northstar]

Thanks, Tribus 121. I'll know to ask now! I suppose they put something into the rental agreement (the fine print nobody ever reads) that says whether you are, or aren't, allowed to drive over the border.

But it's good to know that the border guards aren't fussed about it. I really hate tense, fraught border crossing experiences!

 

[CDN Prince Charming]

I've rented at the airport in Vancouver (Avis) and drove to Seattle before. The American border guard did ask me where the car was from, I said rented from YVR and that was it, we were on our way. (I returned it to YVR the next day, no problems either)

CPC

 

[happycamper83]

I've crossed at Buffalo in a rental many many times (rent in Canada, drive over and back). No problems. I also have friends that fly into Buffalo, rent cars and drive into Canada... no problems.

 

[wwhippetcrazy]

Last trip down we rented a car in Sarnia to drive to Florida and back. No problems at all. Rented from Avis, I did ask if it was an issue to cross border,they just told me to make sure I had my rental agreement/documents handy.
Border guards didn't even ask about the car

 

[Northstar]

Sweet! I'm liking what I'm hearing! Thanks, everybody.

 

[iluveeyore]

We've done this several times - however, with our upcoming trip, I found a phenomenal deal at the Buffalo airport for a rental to drive to Orlando. I found out that as Canadians, we are allowed to drive a rental from Canada into the US, but not the other way around. They won't let you cross into Canada with US plates and a Canadian ID. So you can rent in Canada and drive into US with no problem, but not the other way around.