Has anyone ever rented a car to take them to the airport?

[bcarson]

I was thinking about doing this for our trip in Oct. I think it would be cheaper then leaving our car there for a week and a half. By the time we pay a friend gas to take us we would still be not out that much. I am going to look into it. But just wondering if anyone else had tried this? I gusss I should clarify I am not thinking of a town car but someone like enterprise, alamo ect...

 

[tjmw2727]

It depends on where you are in the country, parking rates at your airport and how far from the airport you live but it can be cost effective. We take a towncar to logan, from a northern suburb of boston and it runs us @50.00 plus tip one way.

After figuring in the cost of parking depending on the length of our vacation as well as the hassle of parking and carrying luggage it is worth it for us. A town car picks us up at the designated time and drops us off curbside to check our bags.

For a shorter trip - it isn't worth it but do the math and figure in the convenience and it may work for you.

TJ

 

[SB in KY]

We often pick up a rental car the day before we fly out...I drive the car home, load the luggage and we drive it to the airport the next AM and drop it off on our way up to check in. I have been able to get a midsize car either via direct booking online or through Priceline for under $20 including taxes and fees. I can usually pick up the car at a suburban location near our house and then just drop it off at the airport. For us it is a good option, a cab to the airport runs >$35 plus tip each way(if you can actually get one to show up at the appropriate time) and airport parking is over $50/week for us.

On the return we usually arrive at a time that is not terribly inconvienent for someone to pick us up...but for the occasional very late arrival we have repeated the process in reverse (1 day rental with airport pick up and suburban drop off the next day). Still cheaper than a cab or leaving the car all week.

We have not had good luck getting cab service at early hours for AM departures...so this gives us a little more control and security. Plus we can load the luggage the night before and just hop in the car and go the next AM.

 

[CarolA]

Oh I like this idea. I have a 7 am flight in October and don't want to depend upon the subway.... I know where I could pick up the car on Friday...Hmm... This may be cheaper then option two which was a park 'n fly at an airport hotel staying Friday night!

 

[bcarson]

Well I called around yesterday and the cheapest place that would even do it wanted $140!!!! Some won't even do a one way rental. I guess they charge you to drop off at another location ect... I was like no thank you. I will just have to keep looking for someone to pick us up. The bad thing is it is on a Monday, Columbus day. Most everyone I know is working or if they are off they have went out of town. I don't know what I will do.Thanks!

 

[CarolA]

Try calling later... sometimes they have cars that need to be "returned" to the airport.

 

[clkelley]

My hubby just recently did this for going from Huntsville to fly out of Birmingham. There were four folks, plus luggage, plus hubby's ECV. It was about the same for him to rent two one-way minivans at either end of the trip than to drive and park two cars. That way hubby's new car got to stay at home in the garage instead of parked in an open lot where it could get dinged, rained on, or wrecked.

Carol

 

[bg4]

This is very doable but you must factor in price and convenience.

Is limo/cab/friend cheaper than renting but is the hassle of having to walk from car return lot to terminal worth it.

I have rented car to drive to airport but would most likely not do it again.

ug:

 

[kaytieeldr]

It depends on where you are in the country, parking rates at your airport and how far from the airport you live but it can be cost effective. We take a towncar to logan, from a northern suburb of boston and it runs us @50.00 plus tip one way.

Would you be willing to share the name of that company (in PM, if not publicly)? I used a town car service last year because I saw one of their vans on Route 1 and - for as long as it took me to get home - memorized the number. Now I can't even recall the name of the company, and nothing in the yellow pages looks familiar

 

[CleveRocks]

You must live pretty darn far from an airport that paying a friend gas money will be about the same cost as renting a car!!! I mean, when you rent you still need to replace the gas.

Let's take a stab at some numbers and let's do the math. Let's just say it would cost $50 to rent a car. Now let's look at paying a friend for gas. At $2.50 per gallon and 20 miles per gallon, your friend would have to drive 400 miles roundtrip for you to break even. So unless you live more than 200 miles from the airport, you might want to reconsider the idea that paying for gas will be about equal to renting a car.

-- Eric

 

[SB in KY]

I never call for car rental rates...they are almost always much cheaper to book on line. I just go to travelocity or expedia or orbitz and plug in my dates and they give you rates from 5 or 6 companies for all different sized cars...then I go to the cheapest company's web site and plug in any discount codes I found at mousesavers and that usually gets the rate down even more.

We live outside Louisville Ky....so dropping a car off in the rental return lot at the airport is actually closer than the parking garage....and most of the local companies do not charge a drop off fee for returning to the airport (since their holding lots that they stock the outlying agencies from are all right by the airport anyways)....I am sure if you lived in a "real" city it might get a lot more complicated.

 

[arminnie]

I used to do this in Houston years ago. The cab fare to my home was $50 and I could usually rent a car for about $15.

The Houston airport is pretty far out if you live in West Houston, and this was before some of the beltways were finished.

 

[JVL1018]

I am doing this in a couple of months. It costs about $130 for a town car to bring us out to JFK(and we live only 7 miles outside of NYC in NJ )...and the flight is so early we feel bad asking anyone to drive us, so we are renting a car here by us and dropping it off at the airport. It's costing $45.00.
My BIL will be picking us up since we will be returning at a normal hour.