One way drop off fees with carhire?

[ehsmum]

Has anyone done one way car hire in the US? Any tips on which companies have the cheapest one way drop off fees?

We're picking up a car in San Francisco and driving to Los Angeles. We will only have the car for 2 days but with a US$300 drop off fee, we're looking at around US$600 Anyone know how we can do it cheaper?

 

[AussiePJ]

Is it a standard type car? Never been charged a drop off fee for picking up a car in California and dropping back in California, and even Nevada a couple of times.

If you are just after a standard type car I'd look about. Found National to be good, as were Hertz and Avis.

 

[ehsmum]

We need an SUV to fit 5 of us and luggage. I've tried National but their site says they don't have any cars available for the dates we need. Alamo was the same (think they're the same company as their sites were identical) as was Avis. I find it hard to believe that all the hire cars in San Francisco are already booked out for July, so maybe they don't offer the one way . I can get one through Thrifty but the one way drop off fee is US$300. I've checked holidayautos.com.au and globalcars.com.au (again I think they are the same company) and they don't specify the car hire company but the drop off fee with them is US$250. I'm not sure we're going to be able to avoid it.

 

[kylieh]

Hertz? They do have a drop fee but for ours it was around $50. That was with a pickup in LA and return to Anaheim.

 

[Toy Story]

There is a discount code for budget listed in the Transport thread, it is for SUV's and mini-vans.

 

[ehsmum]

Kylie - Hertz say they are sold out of cars for the dates I need

There is a discount code for budget listed in the Transport thread, it is for SUV's and mini-vans.

Where would I find the thread? Thanks!

 

[PrincessInOz]

An option to hiring a car, is to "deliver" a car. There are heaps of 'driveaway' schemes where someone wants to have their car delivered from one town to another.
My husband did a scheme like this from New York to Los Angeles once. He was given 7 days to drive someone's car (they relocated and flew) and had to pay a fee upfront, which was returned at the other end when he delivered the car. You pay for petrol; but essentially the use of the car was "free". It is limiting in that you have a set number of days to deliver the car - but you can choose the route you take.

I don't know if the scheme would be available between SF and LA. But it's worth looking it up to see if there is anything going. You won't be guaranteed of a SUV....

The dropoff fee you quoted seem exhorbitant. It used to be that there was no drop-off fee if you were within the "region" of Ca, Nevada, Arizona. We're doing a pick up in Miami and drop off in Orlando through Alamo. There is no drop-off fee; but it is a different state.

 

[ehsmum]

Maybe it's because the drop off is at LAX . Not that there is any other option, the only place to drop of car hire in LA is LAX.

Thanks for the info on delivering a car, PrincessInOz. I think that's a great option for the young and single, but I don't think it would work for our family of 5. I would have totally have done it without kids though!

 

[DVCAustralia]

I have occasionally run into the issue of unavailability on the National website but it seems to be the excuse presented when the company does not want a booking made without human intervention rather than an actual shortage of cars. I can assure you there should be no shortage of cars, SUVs included, in the San Francisco airport lot on any date but if you have chosen a different location such as downtown that may be the problem as cars such as SUVs would typically have to be delivered there for the booking. For a family of five with luggage it may be worth checking for a minivan as their availability should be higher and the price is usually the same or cheaper.
As for one way fees there are a con and a ridiculous one like that is typical of Thrifty/Dollar behaviour in recent years.
If the websites will still not help you it is worth calling Driveaway and/or one or more of the car rental company combinations (National/Alamo, Avis/Budget, Hertz, Thrifty/Dollar) as they should all have Australian numbers.

 

[AussiePJ]

Can't gaurantee it but if you book with National you pretty much walk up and choose a car.

We had a sedan booked for the first week of the vacation and were switching to a van for the second when my Mum joined us. At the start at LAX the guys said take your pick and we took the minvan type car from the start at the same rate as the sedan.

PLenty of room for 3 adults + 2 kids.

 

[Toy Story]

There is a discount code for budget listed in the Transport thread, it is for SUV's and mini-vans.

It is mentioned in this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2400792

The code is a travelocity code - Budget - BCD X474200, there is also a coupon code but I could not get that to work.

Did you also have a look at MouseSavers? there are codes listed on there as well.

 

[queenie82]

Can't gaurantee it but if you book with National you pretty much walk up and choose a car.

We had a sedan booked for the first week of the vacation and were switching to a van for the second when my Mum joined us. At the start at LAX the guys said take your pick and we took the minvan type car from the start at the same rate as the sedan.

PLenty of room for 3 adults + 2 kids.

I don't know about the "take your pick" being quite that general usually. The take your pick is from the ROW of your class of car.
But yes at any major National depot (like the Airport) you get a pick from a row. This is why I love National!! Once we saw a van they had asked us if we wanted to pay to upgrade to (because it technically seats more people) in the minivan row so we could have taken it. But we prefer the Dodge Grand Caravan.

A minivan is definitely the way to go because you get more internal space for the size of the car. I find American SUVs waste a lot of space so unless you are going into the snow I wouldn't consider it at all. And minivans are fitted with snow tires in winter in appropriate areas anyway.