Has anyone rented a car and driven from Ontario to Florida?

[purple hippo]

We are looking at driving down to Florida from Ontario but as our cars are getting too old for another long distance road trip I wondered if we could rent a car and drive down? I tried searching other posts but they are quite old (2011) and not sure how relevant the information is. If you have done this what is your experience? Is there a preferred car company to use for this? Is unlimited mileage really unlimited? On some posts (circa 2011) I saw it was suggested that you drive to Buffalo first and then rent a car as some of the Canadian Car Rental companies won't let you take a car over the border or they do let you but the unlimited mileage turns into expensive mileage. Anyone done this recently? Stories or advice to share?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WDW2015]

We have rented vehicles every year to drive to Myrtle Beach. Obviously not as far as Florida, but essentially the same. We rent from Enterprise, and get something like 1,500 kms per week (or maybe it was 1,000), then something like $0.20 per km after that. For MB, we rented for two weeks and came in just over the allowed kms, and they waived the overage. No issues taking the car into the US - Enterprise lists it on the contract so there are no issues at the border (no idea why people suggested renting in the US, however we've had zero issues and have done it more than 10x in the past few years) . The only suggestion is to call ahead if you need a vehicle for 2+ weeks, to ensure they have one (but shouldn't be an issue at all).

I haven't heard of unlimited mileage companies - assuming you'd pay a premium for this - however if they are out there, just run a quick cost comparison.

 

[purple hippo]

Thanks for your reply! I looked into Enterprise and use you mentioned they give you 1400 km/week and charge $0.20 for each km we are over. As we are looking at using almost all our free km going down then that will be really expensive.

I think in the past people mentioned renting in Buffalo because maybe at the time you couldn't take other rentals over the border or maybe it was because you could get the unlimited Mileage. Is this the only car company you have used? I tried checking others but their websites seem to be lacking the details of the rental.

 

[WDW2015]

We have used Discount before however it was a lot more expensive. We're renting through Alamo for our upcoming Disney trip (we're flying, not driving down). I just checked through Alamo and if you pickup through Buffalo, you do get unlimited mileage. If you go through Alamo, sign up for their loyalty program, which reduces the cost.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I just helped my brother set up a road trip to FL....he's there right now. At the last minute he opted to rent a van to drive in to offer more space to his teenage kids. If you rent from Budget they include 2800km and then the overage is 18 cents/km. They have had no issue thus far.

You can use codes/coupons to reduce the cost of the rental but you will still have to pay for the additional mileage. I believe my bro's rental is $366 incl tax plus approx $300 in mileage. He will have the van for 10 days by the time they come back.

I think that if you rent in the US you can get truly unlimited miles but the additional time and trouble might not be worth it.

 

[webworm]

We are looking at driving down to Florida from Ontario but as our cars are getting too old for another long distance road trip I wondered if we could rent a car and drive down? I tried searching other posts but they are quite old (2011) and not sure how relevant the information is. If you have done this what is your experience? Is there a preferred car company to use for this? Is unlimited mileage really unlimited? On some posts (circa 2011) I saw it was suggested that you drive to Buffalo first and then rent a car as some of the Canadian Car Rental companies won't let you take a car over the border or they do let you but the unlimited mileage turns into expensive mileage. Anyone done this recently? Stories or advice to share?

Thanks in advance!

I don`t know your dates but another option is to get a cheap one way flight from Buffalo and drive a rental back to Buffalo for $10 a day for a full size with unlimited mileage. If you travelling after April 1 there are one way deals to get cars out of Florida to the northeast. You can get unlimited mileage on car rentals from Buffalo airport to Florida. Also check with Alamo using Costco code from Pearson airport to Florida. Pretty sure you will get unlimited mileage.