Help with renting a car

[ScrtSolstice]

Hey all! Looking for advice with renting a car in the states - can honestly say DH and I have never had a need to do it but this trip seems to be a must.

I've heard it is touch and go with renting directly from the airport.

Flying into LAX on the 20th, only really need it until the 23rd but having it might be nice.

We get a discount with Alamo, but we've never rented from them either.

Any tips or advice would be great

 

[ccudmore]

A few thoughts for you:
-if you just walk up to the counter at the airport you risk paying the highest possible rate. I don't recommend it
- go through the car discount codes on mouse savers. Many of them work anywhere I the US
- if you have a Costco membership, check the rates through them. Lately that's been the best price I could find
- Once you've booked a re natal, sign up for the rental company's user rewards program. They'll end up with all of your information before you get to the airport so the process of picking up the car is greatly simplified. In some places you won't even need to go to the desk.. You just walk into the rental lot, take a car you want and show them your card as you drive off the lot.
- check out Priceline.com for rentals in the US. You can sometimes get a really good deal
- if you need a second driver make sure your chosen rental includes that. Some places charge a hefty fee for any more than one person registered to drive the car. But most will add the second for free

 

[bankr63]

LAX is a bit harder than MCO just because of the size of the airport.

There are 9 terminal buildings at LAX, and the rental car pickups are all offsite (pretty sure?, it's been a few years since I've been in LA) so you will be taking a shuttle to get your car. The shuttles run constantly around the ring road in front of the airport so you won't wait long to get on, but the drive out to the lot can take a while, especially if you are AC or WJ which are serviced from T2 and 3 respectively, you'll still have up to 7 more stops before you leave the ring!

 

[ScrtSolstice]

A few thoughts for you:
-if you just walk up to the counter at the airport you risk paying the highest possible rate. I don't recommend it
- go through the car discount codes on mouse savers. Many of them work anywhere I the US
- if you have a Costco membership, check the rates through them. Lately that's been the best price I could find
- Once you've booked a re natal, sign up for the rental company's user rewards program. They'll end up with all of your information before you get to the airport so the process of picking up the car is greatly simplified. In some places you won't even need to go to the desk.. You just walk into the rental lot, take a car you want and show them your card as you drive off the lot.
- check out Priceline.com for rentals in the US. You can sometimes get a really good deal
- if you need a second driver make sure your chosen rental includes that. Some places charge a hefty fee for any more than one person registered to drive the car. But most will add the second for free

- I've heard that this varies, especially with the low season, but I get 20% with Alamo through work...
- I wonder if the coupons would work with my already discount, not to be cheap >.>
- I let my Costco expire, didn't use it enough when its just the two of us
- Rewards program is a thought
- Priceline is actually where I started looking until I found out about the discount that I could get. I do a fair chunk of my planning through them and haven't had a problem, but I don't think I can merge the discount with Priceline - will need to compare the offers
-DH doesn't need to drive. Save some bucks

 

[ScrtSolstice]

LAX is a bit harder than MCO just because of the size of the airport.

There are 9 terminal buildings at LAX, and the rental car pickups are all offsite (pretty sure?, it's been a few years since I've been in LA) so you will be taking a shuttle to get your car. The shuttles run constantly around the ring road in front of the airport so you won't wait long to get on, but the drive out to the lot can take a while, especially if you are AC or WJ which are serviced from T2 and 3 respectively, you'll still have up to 7 more stops before you leave the ring!

I find LAX to be a bit of a maze, and after experiencing MCO this summer and how easy it was with DME I'm a little jealous I am not going there!

 

[canadiankim]

I used SkyScanner to find my car rental for MCO but they can be used for any airport. We have ended up with an intermediate sized car will all insurances, tank of gas, additional driver, all taxes for Aug 2015 for 11 days for $349.

I have travelled to lots of places and rented cars and usually there is always a stop at each terminal that will take you to the car rental location.

I would suggest you pre-book your car for cheaper rates and I think most of the websites give you an option of putting in a coupon or discount code so you could try doing that with your corporate/work discount.

depending on your own car insurance you may only need to pay the basic rental, taxes and fuel and not have to worry about the extra insurances which tend to put the price right up.

Good luck

 

[ScrtSolstice]

Well we ended up getting a good rate through Avis and insurance wasn't much more so we opted for it to be double safe.

Now its just matter of getting used to driving a random vehicle in an American city that is ten times that of the one I live in. WDW is bigger then the city I am in >.<

Thanks everyone for the help and advice!

 

[ronandannette]

I find LAX to be a bit of a maze, and after experiencing MCO this summer and how easy it was with DME I'm a little jealous I am not going there!

LAX is not a maze at all - whatever terminal you arrive into will have it's own luggage carousels and exit to ground transportation right outside them. Just go out the doors and follow the signs to the "island" across the road where you wait for the rental shuttles. Easy-peasy and as big as the airport might be, you only deal with a very small part of it, especially upon arrival. (It's different if you are just laying over on a connecting flight - then you might have to scramble to get to another terminal.)

Also in relation to your rental car, if you only need it for a few nights make arrangements to drop it back off somewhere OTHER than the airport - check for locations nearest where you will be staying. But since ultimately you'll need to get back for your return flight anyway, for the few extra days I'd just be keeping it (especially if your accommodations have free parking).

As for the driving in SoCal, make sure you have a GPS and for your comfort, maybe try setting it to use surface streets instead of the freeways. It will take way longer to get around probably, but if you're not familiar with 10 lanes of concrete at high speeds with super-high volumes of traffic, surface streets will feel much more similar to driving where you're from.

 

[bankr63]

As for the driving in SoCal, make sure you have a GPS and for your comfort, maybe try setting it to use surface streets instead of the freeways. It will take way longer to get around probably, but if you're not familiar with 10 lanes of concrete at high speeds with super-high volumes of traffic, surface streets will feel much more similar to driving where you're from.

Sorry but this advice makes me I would say the exact opposite. In the Greater LA area, stick to the freeways wherever possible. It is often only a few blocks from the "safe" areas to the areas where you should not be driving as a vulnerable tourist. If you do not know where you are on the surface streets, you could be in for some trouble.

Last trip down, our instructor, who's sister is an LA cop, spent a lunch hour regaling us with sister's stories of lost tourists. It was a great way for him to underscore how you always need to know your surroundings in many large US cities. Stick to the main roads and freeways. Stick closer to the oceanfront (usually the better areas). Your GPS really has no idea if an area is safe or not.