Help with car rental

[Freyja]

Happy New Year!

I´m trying to put together a budget for a dream vacation and am looking for the following:

6 weeks car rental, van or minivan (preferably fullsize van since there will be 7 of us). One way rental, drop of in different location. Any ideas where I should look? Most car rentals only quote you up to 28 days online, and many don´t specify what their "one way surcharge" is.

 

[wdwfan16]

I have have rental cars for longer than 28 days but I had to get a new rental contract after 28 days. The reason was that CC rental insurance is only for 28 days. To get it for longer you need to do a new rental.

This maybe why you are only getting quotes for up to 28 days.

 

[Tina]

Picking up and dropping off in different locations is going to cost you. A few months ago I planned a trip from DC to WDW with a few stops a long the way. My friend was visiting from another country and was going on to Jamaica after Disney so I was looking for a one way rental so I could fly back. Some rental agencies will show an extra "drop off" fee in the $300-$400 range. Others show it built into the daily price. I could not find ANY agency that did not charge this fee. I ended up driving my own car and doing the 13 hours drive back alone.

 

[Freyja]

Picking up and dropping off in different locations is going to cost you. A few months ago I planned a trip from DC to WDW with a few stops a long the way. My friend was visiting from another country and was going on to Jamaica after Disney so I was looking for a one way rental so I could fly back. Some rental agencies will show an extra "drop off" fee in the $300-$400 range. Others show it built into the daily price. I could not find ANY agency that did not charge this fee. I ended up driving my own car and doing the 13 hours drive back alone.

We drove from NY to Florida once too and paid the extra fee. I´m fine with paying a fee, I just want to know how expensive it is. $300-400 would still be o.k for us. Driving back would not be an option, since we´re considering driving coast to coast. Probably starting in NYC and ending in either San Fransisco or LA.

 

[crazyme5kids]

I don't know if this is still true or not, but I wanted to rent a full sized van at one point for a trip and could not find a company that allowed the van to be taken outside of the NY Metro area.

You might want to check out renting an RV. They have smaller van type ones. Also, as I'm sure you know from your past trip, you won't need an car for NYC, but also you can eliminate one for your stay in San Francisco too. That will help cut down some of the expense.

 

[barkley]

for any car company you consider using i'de suggest doing a google search for discount codes-it could save you a small fortune on a rental of that duration (i've found ones in the past that offer up to 25% off rentals over a week long).

try calling the companies directly vs. using their websites-you can sometimes get a better deal. happened to us the last time-i never considered going for a gps (which i would highly reccommend for your trip) b/c we usualy just take our own, so i never plugged it into the website-but when i called i found out there was a special running where adding the gps package actualy resulted in a lower rental rate.

kind of o/t, but just as a heads up-you might want to spend some time and review the dmv site for each state you will be traveling through/in. the driving laws GREATLY differ state to state, and what can be entirely legal in one becomes a major illegality in another. if your vacation won't be in 2010 you could start researching now, but make sure to check each site in the calendar year of your travel just to be aware of any new year changes to the law (lots of new changes in some states as of midnight last nite).

 

[Freyja]

I don't know if this is still true or not, but I wanted to rent a full sized van at one point for a trip and could not find a company that allowed the van to be taken outside of the NY Metro area.

You might want to check out renting an RV. They have smaller van type ones. Also, as I'm sure you know from your past trip, you won't need an car for NYC, but also you can eliminate one for your stay in San Francisco too. That will help cut down some of the expense.

Strange. I´d better look into that. Thanks for letting me know.

for any car company you consider using i'de suggest doing a google search for discount codes-it could save you a small fortune on a rental of that duration (i've found ones in the past that offer up to 25% off rentals over a week long).

try calling the companies directly vs. using their websites-you can sometimes get a better deal. happened to us the last time-i never considered going for a gps (which i would highly reccommend for your trip) b/c we usualy just take our own, so i never plugged it into the website-but when i called i found out there was a special running where adding the gps package actualy resulted in a lower rental rate.

kind of o/t, but just as a heads up-you might want to spend some time and review the dmv site for each state you will be traveling through/in. the driving laws GREATLY differ state to state, and what can be entirely legal in one becomes a major illegality in another. if your vacation won't be in 2010 you could start researching now, but make sure to check each site in the calendar year of your travel just to be aware of any new year changes to the law (lots of new changes in some states as of midnight last nite).

We´re looking into summer 2011 (or even 2012). I´ll definately be doing a lot of research

 

[BelleWDW]

I like Enterprise because they give you UNLIMITED mileage!

However-each place has a restriction on being able to drive in only the 3-4 adjoining states.

Last summer i was in a jam-missed a flight-then flew to a different state and wanted a one way rental-just to an adjoining state for 3 days and the surcharge was $300 for one way.

 

[Freyja]

I like Enterprise because they give you UNLIMITED mileage!

However-each place has a restriction on being able to drive in only the 3-4 adjoining states.

Last summer i was in a jam-missed a flight-then flew to a different state and wanted a one way rental-just to an adjoining state for 3 days and the surcharge was $300 for one way.

Do you mean each Enterprise place, or just any rental company?

 

[Imzadi]

When I had to do a one way rental a couple years ago, Enterprise says they do not do them. They actually told me to go to Hertz.

When I went to Hertz, they did the one way rental, but I have a feeling the "one way surcharge" is based on where you get the car and where it will end up, so it's different for everyone.

Like, if you take a car from a busy city and move the car to a small area that doesn't need that many cars, you are basically taking away business from the busier location as they will be down a car. They may charge you more to make up the difference.

Also, it didn't seem to matter if I had a coupon discount. Once it's a one way rental, it's a totally different price quote, again, based on what's involved.

 

[claudia]

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/deals/monthly.html

this offers you a rental longer than 30 days...for the heck of it I typed in arriving at JFK and dropping the car off in SFO (San Francisco) for 6 weeks over the summer....rental came out to about $2300.....that was without a coupon. With this coupon code:BCD X793206, it saved about $300....but don't know if it will be active when you want to rent

 

[Freyja]

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/deals/monthly.html

this offers you a rental longer than 30 days...for the heck of it I typed in arriving at JFK and dropping the car off in SFO (San Francisco) for 6 weeks over the summer....rental came out to about $2300.....that was without a coupon.

(That´s not too bad
Thanks for checking for me )

OH MY!!!! I tried it out myself, and with taxes and fees it comes to $5300!!!!!!!!

 

[Imzadi]

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/deals/monthly.html

this offers you a rental longer than 30 days...for the heck of it I typed in arriving at JFK and dropping the car off in SFO (San Francisco) for 6 weeks over the summer....rental came out to about $2300.....that was without a coupon. With this coupon code:BCD X793206, it saved about $300....but don't know if it will be active when you want to rent

I think they just tack on the $300 at the back end with a higher "one way surcharge."

OP, it might be actually cheaper to just rent a car while ou are in the idividual towns/cities. Then when you need to leave, take a bus or plae to your next destination and do daily, local car rentals again.

Or, for $5000, you can BUY a cheap, old, used car at the start of your trip and just junk or sell it at your final destination.

 

[Freyja]

I think they just tack on the $300 at the back end with a higher "one way surcharge."

OP, it might be actually cheaper to just rent a car while ou are in the idividual towns/cities. Then when you need to leave, take a bus or plae to your next destination and do daily, local car rentals again.

Or, for $5000, you can BUY a cheap, old, used car at the start of your trip and just junk or sell it at your final destination.

The "one way surcharge" is on top of this quote and is approx. $1600!!!!!

We´ve discussed the option of buying a car but need to figure out how that works if I don´t have a social security number or US address. Also wondering how it would work out insurance wise.

 

[claudia]

(That´s not too bad
Thanks for checking for me )

OH MY!!!! I tried it out myself, and with taxes and fees it comes to $5300!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!! well I was no help!!

 

[LuvOrlando]

WOW, this sounds expensive. For help it might be a good idea for one of your party to join a AAA club. These Automobile Association of America organizations are all about car travel. For about $50 US membership they will make what are called Trip Ticks for your route marking off all the current construction and finding alternative routes if you want. The clubs are scattered all around the country and membership entitles you to all sorts of help, not only discounts but also free access to services such as a jump-start, towing to a participating service center, will bring you a gallon of gas wherever you are if you run out. Personally, i wouldn't go on a road trip without it, but that's just me. Also, AAA handles all automotive related services such as auto registration, plates etc. so they would be the ones to tell you what you need to do to get a car as a non US citizen, and they'll help you get your name off it when you decide to sell at the end of your trip if you decide to do it this way. You might want to set aside a separate day or 2 on arrival and departure to visit one of these clubs nearest your start and end points to take care of business. I would join the actual club in your starting city so you have a contact to smooth things over upon arrival. How it works is each town/city has it's own individual club and you only REALLY belong to one of them, but all the others in the network chip in and help out as you travel KWIM?

Good luck

 

[Imzadi]

The "one way surcharge" is on top of this quote and is approx. $1600!!!!!

We´ve discussed the option of buying a car but need to figure out how that works if I don´t have a social security number or US address. Also wondering how it would work out insurance wise.

What if you input shorter distance and shorter term rentals? Like rent 3 -4 different cars and drop them off at a closer location? The one way surcharges may be less than on a long distance/time trip.