One way car rental

[WVMomof3]

Is there a way to get the cost of a one way car rental down. I just briefly looked and it was about $1000 more for a 1way rental vs returning to the same place. I am in the beginning stages of planning a trip and what I was hoping to do was fly into Denver and fly out of Vegas and see the sights along the way. Any tips on how best to go about this?

 

[afan]

It's going to cost more but check all the rental places that rent out of Denver that can be returned in Vegas. They won't all price the same and I would check directly on their site not through expedia etc. I was able to find a one way from Baltimore airport to Dulles that didn't have a drop fee.

 

[tvguy]

A 750 mile one way rental is going to pricey. Not sure what the threshold is but I would guess once you get to 150 miles or so, the price shoots up.
You are going to have to price the corporate owned franchises, because frequently independent franchisees won't even allow a one way rental since the location own the cars.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I don't know if this is still the case, but several years ago my sister's family flew into Vegas and drove all the way up to Glacier National Park in Montana over a 2-week period. She said they didn't have to pay a drop fee because they are AAA members and rented through them. Whether that is still true, I don't know, but it would be worth checking out.

 

[TheRoyalPaynes]

AAA will get you a decent rate but your best bet is to look at an option where you're not picking up from an AP location. I know Denver is quite a ways away from "town" but you might want to check the cost of an Uber to your hotel (if you're staying in or around Denver) and look at picking up a rental locally rather than at the airport. Sometimes this can drop your rental rate significantly.

Keep Los Vegas AP as your return location, it shouldn't impact your rate.

 

[elgerber]

One way is always higher, but have you tried flipping the directions? A few years back we were going to drive from San Francisco to LA (we ultimately ended up flying ) but one way rentals from LA to San Fran, were almost half the price of the other way.

 

[bare_foot_mama]

Are you renting for a long period of time? I have only rented a car a handful of times so I'm no expert. I was pricing out one way rentals through Enterprise from KY to FL (864 mi) and it was $175/day with unlimited mileage. Full size car- nothing fancy. You can sometimes rent through places like undercover tourist, Cost Co, Sams Club, etc and get a discounted rate.

 

[Ranger111]

There are ways to drop the price significantly, usually, but you are not usually going to get a good price unless one of two things are true:

1) For some reason, an agency has a lot of cars in one region and wants to move them to another region -- New York/Florida come to mind with the "snowbird migrations."

2) You manage to have a great discount code that works for one-way rentals. For instance, using my code for a one-way California rental, my code cuts it by nearly 60 percent for a week rental of a mid-size.

The codes can be found, but it can take some effort.

 

[TheRoyalPaynes]

Don't be afraid to ask for any additional discounts. A lot of rental companies have affiliations with other corporate entities and will offer decent rates through your company.

 

[My3Princez]

One-way rentals are usually very pricey, but there are exceptions. For example, near the end of April, beginning of May it only costs about $50 to rent a car at MCO, keep it for a little over a week and return it to RDU in NC. They must need to get cars out of FL at that time of year ...

 

[hsmamato2]

check different companies,and keep checking- try car rental savers,and autoslash. I do a lot one way rentals,and found various ways to discounts, some of them involve a taxi to an off airport location to get the car,etc.

 

[AlohaNow]

OP, I feel your pain. We hardly ever need to do a one-way rental but will do so this June. I am kind of choking on the price, even booking through Costco which is where I have always found the cheapest rentals. We are looking at Newark to Baltimore for eight days and it is over $600. Yikes. If I find a cheaper way, I will let you know!

 

[DisMommyTX]

We rent one-way a few times a year, but usually within the same state. In my experience, airports often have the best one way rental rates as off-site locations either charge higher drop fees or don't offer one-way at all. I almost always find the best rates on Auto Slash. Enter your dates and locations, and they will email you a quote. After you reserve, they keep checking rates with advertised coupons, then email you to rebook any time the price drops. You don't pay until you pick up the car and can cancel any time, so you aren't out anything. Good luck!

 

[fortwildernessishome]

We rent one-way a few times a year, but usually within the same state. In my experience, airports often have the best one way rental rates as off-site locations either charge higher drop fees or don't offer one-way at all. I almost always find the best rates on Auto Slash. Enter your dates and locations, and they will email you a quote. After you reserve, they keep checking rates with advertised coupons, then email you to rebook any time the price drops. You don't pay until you pick up the car and can cancel any time, so you aren't out anything. Good luck!

Thanks for sharing about Auto Slash! I have never even heard of it. I will definitely, use them for our next one way rental.

OP, we have done one-way rentals three times; picked up in Spokane Washington and returned in Anaheim, picked up in San Fran and returned in Anaheim and last summer picked up in Salt Lake City and again returned in Anaheim. All three rentals were for about 2-weeks. On all three trips we visited a bunch of National Parks and ended our trips at Disneyland. We would return the rental as soon as we arrived in Anaheim and when we went to the airport 5-6 days later we would use Super Shuttle. Each trip cost us an average 2k for a one way rental van. Try as I did, I found no magic deals, but instead steep surcharges for a one way rental with many agencies not even letting you do a one-way rental.

 

[UncleRuss]

One-way rentals are usually very pricey, but there are exceptions. For example, near the end of April, beginning of May it only costs about $50 to rent a car at MCO, keep it for a little over a week and return it to RDU in NC. They must need to get cars out of FL at that time of year ...[/QUOTE

One-way rentals are usually very pricey, but there are exceptions. For example, near the end of April, beginning of May it only costs about $50 to rent a car at MCO, keep it for a little over a week and return it to RDU in NC. They must need to get cars out of FL at that time of year ...

I got a steal of a deal thru costcotravel.com one way from tampa to memphis for 12 days first part of June '17 for 140. The taxes were 90 so Enterprise was only getting $50. That is not per day, that is for 12 day rental. The cost would have been triple if I left the car in Tampa. Apparently, Florida is overstocked with rental cars. See for yourself.

 

[tasha99]

One-way rentals are usually very pricey, but there are exceptions. For example, near the end of April, beginning of May it only costs about $50 to rent a car at MCO, keep it for a little over a week and return it to RDU in NC. They must need to get cars out of FL at that time of year ...

This. My parents are renting from Orlando and dropping off a week later in Boston that time for about that price.