ECV and Full Size Car

[TyRy]

Hi all,

We'll be renting a full size car for our trip this October..my DH and I will be with my parents. We are also renting a ECV from offsite (have yet to determine which company) while my parents are with us.

Has anyone had any problem breaking the ECV's down and fitting into a full size trunk? We had a pretty decent rate, and the rate for a Minivan/SUV is another $150 for the trip.

Thanks so much...trying to make this trip as easy as possible since it will probably be the last one my parents make to WDW.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Hi and to disABILITIES!

If you click on where it says "disABILTIES" at the top of this page it will take you to the Index. One of the top items is the "disABILTIES FAQ" which will gives lots of useful information. You might want to check Post #5 for more specific details. But any of the rental three-wheel ECVs are designed to break down fairrly easily and be stored in the trunk of a full-size car with room to spare.

Or, if you want an easier route to the FAQs, click on the link in my signature.

 

[TyRy]

Hi and to disABILITIES!

If you click on where it says "disABILTIES" at the top of this page it will take you to the Index. One of the top items is the "disABILTIES FAQ" which will gives lots of useful information. You might want to check Post #5 for more specific details. But any of the rental three-wheel ECVs are designed to break down fairrly easily and be stored in the trunk of a full-size car with room to spare.

Or, if you want an easier route to the FAQs, click on the link in my signature.

Thanks for the welcome. The FAQ was actually my first stop as I had no idea about ECV's. I just wondered if anyone had any more recent experiences with cars and ECV's. Figured with how the car rental companies keep changing cars in each category, someone might have some recent experience.

 

[bouncy54]

Hi all,

We'll be renting a full size car for our trip this October..my DH and I will be with my parents. We are also renting a ECV from offsite (have yet to determine which company) while my parents are with us.

Has anyone had any problem breaking the ECV's down and fitting into a full size trunk? We had a pretty decent rate, and the rate for a Minivan/SUV is another $150 for the trip.

Thanks so much...trying to make this trip as easy as possible since it will probably be the last one my parents make to WDW.

We're renting from Scootaround specifically because they are affiliated with Avis Car Rental at MCO. Our scooters are supposed to be already in our cars when we pick them up upon arrival at the airport. There isn't much mentioned on these boards about Scootaround, but I haven't read any bad reviews about them on the internet either. Here's some information about the company. http://www.scootaround.com/avis/index.htm

On a side note, Avis doesn't have the cheapest fares out there, but we're renting a villa and didn't want to sit around and wait for delivery of the scooters. The scooters themselves cost about the same as most of the other companies in the Orlando area.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

How many people are traveling? The ECV will take up almost all of the space in a car's trunk and you still need space for luggage (as well as people).

And you mention you are renting a villa. If the villa is in a complex with a management office the regular vendors will drop off the ECV before your arrival at the office and pick it up there after your departure.

And can I ask how much Scootaround is charging and the number of days?

 

[peemagg]

We fit my Pride Go-Go Traveler Elite Plus in the trunk of a Ford Fusion SEL with no problems. We did place part of it in the back seat, but not because it wouldn't fit, it was just easier than putting it on top of another part. I was just a personal preference.

Our scooter is classified as a small travel scooter also if that helps.

 

[bouncy54]

How many people are traveling? The ECV will take up almost all of the space in a car's trunk and you still need space for luggage (as well as people).

And you mention you are renting a villa. If the villa is in a complex with a management office the regular vendors will drop off the ECV before your arrival at the office and pick it up there after your departure.

And can I ask how much Scootaround is charging and the number of days?

We're going through a private owner. They have their own management company, so don't know if there's a management office in the Sunset Lakes community itself or not. We had basically the same arrangement when we visited Orlando in 2005.

We've thought of the baggage issue. 4 adults in one full-size car with carry-on duffle-bags only. Can place on floor and between the 2 adults in the back seat. They're squishable. We'll have access to washer & dryer if we need to throw things in the dryer with a damp cloth to de-wrinkle.

I've checked with several other car rental companies, and looks like the price for all other full-sized cars for 10 days are about the same as we're paying for ours at Avis. $475.00

Cost of Scooter for 10 days from Scootaround is $225.00 + an additional $5.00 a day if you want to add insurance.

We wanted to rent a 12 passenger van (9 of us going altogether), but the prices were way too much! We rented one in California for less than $100 a day, but Florida is nearly twice as much.

 

[TyRy]

We're renting from Scootaround specifically because they are affiliated with Avis Car Rental at MCO. Our scooters are supposed to be already in our cars when we pick them up upon arrival at the airport. There isn't much mentioned on these boards about Scootaround, but I haven't read any bad reviews about them on the internet either. Here's some information about the company. http://www.scootaround.com/avis/index.htm

On a side note, Avis doesn't have the cheapest fares out there, but we're renting a villa and didn't want to sit around and wait for delivery of the scooters. The scooters themselves cost about the same as most of the other companies in the Orlando area.

Thanks - I'll check Scootaround out. My parents are only coming down for the midpart of our trip, so we wouldn't need it from the time we land to the time we leave. The day I would have the scooter delivered, DH will probably be at the ESPN Zone watching football. I'll be at the resort hanging out.

 

[bouncy54]

Thanks - I'll check Scootaround out. My parents are only coming down for the midpart of our trip, so we wouldn't need it from the time we land to the time we leave. The day I would have the scooter delivered, DH will probably be at the ESPN Zone watching football. I'll be at the resort hanging out.

My guys will probably want to check out the Seahawk game while we're in Florida as well. Guess if you're hooked, you're hooked good.

If Scootaround works out well for me in November, I'm going to go through them again next summer when I go to Victoria BC. I was pleasantly surprised that they have an outlet there. We plan to spend the night at the Best Western in downtown Victoria and am looking forward to touring the waterfront pain-free for once.

 

[RaySharpton]

I can tell you about my personal experience if it might help.

I always carry my Pride Revo 3-wheel scooter in my trunk.

It fits easily, but it is just getting harder for me to take it out and put it together and then take it apart and put it back into the trunk after going from one place to another.

But that is why I like WDW. I just use the WDW busses and boats for my whole vacation and I try not to use my car unless I have to go somewhere outside WDW.

The scooter parts do need to go into the trunk first because they are usually bulkier and heavier than any bags or soft luggage.

I do have one large, hardside luggage that won't fit in the trunk with my scooter, but you already said that you will be using soft sided luggage.

I usually put my hardside luggage on the back seat.

I also pack any soft bags or luggage on top of the scooter parts in the trunk.

So I usually don't have any problems travelling by myself.

One year, I invited two DIS friends to ride with me from WDW to DCL and back.

So there were only three of us.

The trunk was packed full.

The back seat sat one person with every available space packed with bags and luggage including the rear window shelf area.

And the one passenger in the front seat was holding more luggage in her lap and on the floor.

It was very crowded.

But you won't have a hardsided luggage like I had with me.

My car was full size, too.

I guess it just depends on how much luggage and bags you will be packing all together, but we did it and I'm sure that you will do just fine.

Good luck and have a great time.

 

[bouncy54]

RaySharpton: Thanks for your insight. The only time that we'll have to deal with the luggage is when we're traveling from the airport to the villa and back to the airport, (about 30 minutes each way) so I think we'll be fine.

Having access to a washer and dryer leaves us the option to pack light. We've learned from experience that we always pack way too much stuff anyway. All we need are 3 outfits, swimming suits, our PJs and extra shoes. We'll wear our jackets on the plane. We plan on buying most of our grooming supplies at the Super Walmart the night we get there since we're not allowed to take much of anything through security anyway.

This is the first "no check-in baggage" trip we've ever made. Should be a learning experience.

 

[D-ko]

This last time I rented from Buena Vista Scooters - no matter what ECV I selected when I ordered there was only one model available when I picked it up - a big one. I drive a Chevy Cavalier (only 2 of us) and I am a small person. It wouldn't even begin to fit in my car.

I could not get the darn thing apart (the parts were just too heavy for me) despite the illustrated instructions that came with it.

It was also June and trying to disassemble it in the searing heat didn't help any either We REALLY wanted to drive to the parks but we had to take the busses instead.

 

[dj2]

Hi all,

We'll be renting a full size car for our trip this October..my DH and I will be with my parents. We are also renting a ECV from offsite (have yet to determine which company) while my parents are with us.

Has anyone had any problem breaking the ECV's down and fitting into a full size trunk? We had a pretty decent rate, and the rate for a Minivan/SUV is another $150 for the trip.

Thanks so much...trying to make this trip as easy as possible since it will probably be the last one my parents make to WDW.

we usually can fit my scooter into the trunk of a full size rental car. but not all trunks are shaped the same. fits in our taurus and our lumina. doesn't always fit in a mid-size car - hit or miss. on our last trip it fit VERY easily in the trunk of the ford fusion, which was classified as mid-sized by dollar. if you rent with a place that let's you choose the car you can pick the one wth the lowest, biggest trunk.

 

[TyRy]

we usually can fit my scooter into the trunk of a full size rental car. but not all trunks are shaped the same. fits in our taurus and our lumina. doesn't always fit in a mid-size car - hit or miss. on our last trip it fit VERY easily in the trunk of the ford fusion, which was classified as mid-sized by dollar. if you rent with a place that let's you choose the car you can pick the one wth the lowest, biggest trunk.

Thanks so much - our reservation is with National, so we should be ok. We've also just found out that we may have one more person with us, which means we may try and get a minivan instead. Hoping maybe we can leave the scooter a little more together in that case.