Has anyone ever rented a vehicle to drive to FL and back?

[bpr2002]

I see that the quote I'm getting includes unlimited miles, but I've been told that if I intend to take the car out of the home state there will actually be a limit on the miles I get for "free".

Any one ever encounter this? It's my first time renting a car!!

 

[disneymom3]

I checked into this before we got our new van. As the old van had 120K miles, we didn't feel we could make the trip in it. What I was tod--in MN anyway--was that the weekly limit was 1000 miles. We were planning on renting one for two weeks but since the roundtrip is 3000 miles and the per mile charge after the 1000 was so high, we decided not to do it. Thankfully Chrysler came out with 0% financing in the nick of time!

We did rent a car in Vegas several years ago to drive into So CA (cheaper flights to Vegas) and they said nothing about max mileage. They did know we were driving to CA as that is what our "local" address said on the rental agreement. May vary by state, but I know that all of the rental companies I called in MN had the same policy.

 

[ducklite]

I know here in the NYC area they tell you you can't drive the car out of the NY/NJ/CT area without prior approval, and it will change the financial terms of the contract if you do.

Anne

 

[Lewisc]

READ THE FINE PRINT TO MAKE SURE IT HASN'T CHANGED but Priceline and Hotwire offer unlimited mileage. The intended market is people flying in but some people have rented (local airport) and used the rental to drive to Disney.

 

[ncbyrne]

We rent a car every year for our long distance vacations. We live in NJ and usually rent from Dollar at the Newark Airport location. They consistently have the lowest price. Our next rental car trip is next week. We pick the car up on May 30 with a return June 14. The agreement reads: "Driving Restriction: Driving is restricted to the continental United States and Canada."
I have found that the best prices are always at airport locations. And perhaps the restrictions are different between airport concessions and local ones.

 

[Uncleromulus]

We often rent from Enterprise and drive from Pa. to Fla. and back. We tell them our travel plans take us thru Md., Va. , N and S Carolina, Ga. and Fla. That's then listed on the contract and then it's unlimited miles.

 

[bpr2002]

Thanks for the great replies! I feel much better about renting the car now.

 

[kilee]

In the last 2 years we have rented cars for out of state trips around 8 times. 7 of these were with Alamo, one with Budget. @ of the trips were to Florida (from NY). We have never had a problem. But always check the print and call the rental place. Also, we always go with unlimited mileage because the cost for extra miles is outrageous. Also, be sure to find out if you are going to have to pay an additional deposit for the rental. Budget requires this, Alamo does not.

 

[Gillian]

We have done this many times. Local rental places typically have restrictions on where you can drive (even if it is unlimited milage), so if you plan to take the vehicle, you just need to tell them. It will change your agreement, and may change the rate, but at least you won't have a problem.

I always check local & airport locations for the best price.

 

[loveswdw]

Last time I checked w/Enterprise on this there were actually 2 rates-- one for driving in state and one for driving out of state. The out of state rate w/unlimited miles was around $5-$10 a day more. I don't know if this is Enterprise's policy since this was a very local office I was speaking with.

Rented from Avis last driving trip from KY to Savannah, GA in April 2002. Unlimited miles and you could drive anywhere you wanted. Also a local off airport Avis office. Great service though-- they even offered to let me return the car at the end of the day rather than the beginning so I wouldn't have to miss any work. Didn't even charge me for the extra day!! I would say that is customer service!! But, that is a locally owned office too. Probably wouldn't happen at an airport location.

loveswdw