LAST MINUTE NEED FOR CAR RENTAL - How would you navigate my scenario?

[travelbug]

Need some quick "what would you do" advice from my DIS friends. I've had a last minute change in travel plans. Rather than driving down to WDW and arriving this Tuesday, various circumstances are causing me to have to fly instead. Here's my scenario:

Flying into MCO on Tuesday - no plans yet for transportation to Disney property
8 days at BWV
Need to pick up an arriving family member from MCO on checkout/switchover day
8 days at a rental condo
Flying out of MCO on a 5 AM flight

I don't necessarily need a car for the BWV stay, though I would definitely use it a few times if I had it. I definitely need a car to pick up the family member coming down for the condo stay, and then for the condo stay itself. If I only wanted to rent a car for the condo stay, how and where would you go about getting a car? If I got a car away from the airport, I'd need to be able to return it to the airport extremely early on departure day. Just for convenience's sake, I've looked at just going ahead and renting at the airport for the whole 16 days. I'm looking at Costco for the best pricing. But if there's an easy way to get a rental car only for the condo stay, and save a little money, that would be great.

Another factor that plays in here is tolls. Since I normally have my own car, I'm used to incurring the tolls and paying them when invoiced. But I've read that the rental car companies charge exorbitant fees to use their transponders, and that there's something called Visitor Toll Pass that I could get on my own but can only be gotten when picking up rental cars at the airport. Maybe that points me back to renting for the whole 16 days down there.

SOOO, in my shoes, what would you do? Is it an option to take an Uber or some kind of shuttle to MCO on the day I'm picking up my family member and pick up a rental car then, even though I'm not arriving on a flight that day? Does that matter? (The rental car needs to be in my name and not that of the arriving person.) Am I missing an option that would work well?

Thank you so much for reading all the way through this and for any thoughts you may have. I need to get this figured out quickly!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ubers or Mears bus or private shuttle to airport to pick up your car. Just pay, nobody cares why you are going to the airport. Pick a fake flight for the time you want to leave if a flight is required. All car rental companies are located before security so there are no boarding passes required.

Round trip rental is likely cheaper than renting at Disney and dropping off at airport but check the prices. Disney car care center is Alamo/National/enterprise and they will pick you up from BW for free to retrieve your car. Their Dolphin location is also operating again. Any place else can be accessed by Uber.

To know what to do about tolls that will vary by company. I’ve only done National and it’s all automatically taken care of and added to your bill without crazy extra fees. National is usually the expensive end of car rentals but they make my life so easy I keep returning.

 

[sam_gordon]

Uber/Lyft or Mears RT from MCO to BWV.
When you return to MCO to pick up your friend, rent a car. Return car on departure day.

National DOES charge fees for tolls, I can't remember if it's just the days you use a toll (that's what I remember, but not sure), or if you use it once, it's every day of the rental. IF you have the rental company take care of tolls, make sure the policy is you only get charged the fee for the days you go on a toll road.

The other thing I would look at is the "Florida Visitor Toll Pass" (I think that's the name). It's basically a tag you pick up and return at the airport and you're not charged ANY fee (other than the toll). It can work in any car, so it doesn't matter what rental agency you use. https://www.visitortollpass.com/

 

[gottalovepluto]

…National DOES charge fees for tolls…

Obviously. Nothing in life is free ESPECIALLY from car rental companies. Sorry for confusing. “Crazy extra fees” meant stupid fees like the nickel and dime outfits that do like $20+/day every day for something as simple as having the automatically given to you system in the car and operating. For OP it will come down to the policy of who they rent from and how many tolls they expect to incur- just to the airport is not worth hassle unless your rental agency is expensive with tolls. Every day to WDW? worth the hassle of your own setup.

 

[sam_gordon]

Also to note, while I haven't done it in Florida, when I have had rental companies handle the tolls for me, the bill for the tolls (and the fees) shows up 1-2 months AFTER the rental. Just FYI. That's with National and Hertz.

 

[kimmar067]

I have not read any of the other posters' comments, so take this as a grain of salt, if previously suggested:

I'd Uber from MCO to your destination since you do not need a car. On the day of picking up that other person at the airport, I'd go to the rental office, located just outside the parking lot of MK and simply rent a vehicle for the day (or rest of your vaycay). I have found that renting a car from that location vs. one at MCO is slightly cheaper. In addition, you can pick up and drop off at different locations. I'm assuming that the condo rental is off-property, so you can begin the rental agreement on the day you pick up that person at MCO and then drop it off at MCO on your day of departure. I'm thinking that not all car companies offer this [I've done it with Alamo] so double-check this before entering an agreement with any company.

 

[travelbug]

Thanks so much, everyone! It sounds like it makes the most sense NOT to rent for the whole 16 days. I really appreciate all the specific advice you provided and all the experience you all bring to the table. I knew I would get great help here. Thanks again!

***Edited to add - I should have mentioned that the condo is in Kissimmee and we do a fair amount of driving around while staying there. So the toll question is important in our case. I'll definitely look into Visitor Toll Pass.

 

[_19disnA]

You didn't mention but if you already have something like EZpass in your home state, you can bring that with you to use in your rental car and avoid excess fees from the rental company.

Am not a big fan of getting into the car of some stranger, so generally prefer to have my own rental vs one of those online taxis. Having your own car also gives you more flexibility if you want to go shopping or to a restaurant in the area. The costs can quickly add up using any sort of taxi for several trips.

Generally, you want to return the rental vehicle to the place where you rented it to avoid extra drop-off charges.

 

[sam_gordon]

I have not read any of the other posters' comments, so take this as a grain of salt, if previously suggested:

I'd Uber from MCO to your destination since you do not need a car. On the day of picking up that other person at the airport, I'd go to the rental office, located just outside the parking lot of MK and simply rent a vehicle for the day (or rest of your vaycay). I have found that renting a car from that location vs. one at MCO is slightly cheaper. In addition, you can pick up and drop off at different locations. I'm assuming that the condo rental is off-property, so you can begin the rental agreement on the day you pick up that person at MCO and then drop it off at MCO on your day of departure. I'm thinking that not all car companies offer this [I've done it with Alamo] so double-check this before entering an agreement with any company.

While it's worth pricing out, I've found (yes, even in Florida) there's a surcharge for one way rentals. So renting from the Car Care Center and returning to MCO (at the end of the trip) is probably more expensive than renting MCO-MCO.

 

[kimmar067]

Thanks so much, everyone! It sounds like it makes the most sense NOT to rent for the whole 16 days. I really appreciate all the specific advice you provided and all the experience you all bring to the table. I knew I would get great help here. Thanks again!

***Edited to add - I should have mentioned that the condo is in Kissimmee and we do a fair amount of driving around while staying there. So the toll question is important in our case. I'll definitely look into Visitor Toll Pass.

....I don't know what state you are from, but as a NJ resident, we have E-ZPass, which is valid and can be used in Florida.

 

[kimmar067]

While it's worth pricing out, I've found (yes, even in Florida) there's a surcharge for one way rentals. So renting from the Car Care Center and returning to MCO (at the end of the trip) is probably more expensive than renting MCO-MCO.

We've done this several times; once, it was about even [Car Care-MCO] and one time it was a couple dollars cheaper [Car Care-MCO] , and most recently Car Care-MCO through Budget (who I'd NEVER use again, nor ever recommend), who charged us all these unrealistic extra charges [but that was because of their unscrupulous policies]; whatever the choice, the OP definitely has to do their research.

 

[sam_gordon]

Just because I'm bored, I did a quick comparison...
June 7 - June 14
CCC-MCO


MCO-MCO


Definitely do the exercise, but $150-200 difference is significant enough to me (ESPECIALLY in the OPs case where they need to go back to the airport anyway). If my travel was from WDW to Tampa (for example), then that's different.