Renting a car at one location/drop off at another

[Tuliplvr]

Hi- has anyone had any experience renting a car at one place and dropping it off at another? We are going to be flying into Ft Meyers to visit family then to head off to our cruise at Port Canaveral. I was wondering if it costs more to do this. Thank you

 

[skelooch]

Many times you do pay more.
Just check the rental car sites to see what the differences are if any.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

We have rented many many many times at one location and dropped the car off at another location without paying a surcharge. In the state of florida, 99.9% of the time there is not a drop off charge. We have rented from Alamo, budget, avis, and dollar and have never been charge a drop off fee.

OBW Alamo does not have a location close to the port to drop off a car. Budget and Avis and I am sure there are other company but I am sure that Alamo does not have an office near by. Budget provides free shuttle service to the ship.

 

[skelooch]

We have rented many many many times at one location and dropped the car off at another location without paying a surcharge. In the state of florida, 99.9% of the time there is not a drop off charge. We have rented from Alamo, budget, avis, and dollar and have never been charge a drop off fee.

OBW Alamo does not have a location close to the port to drop off a car. Budget and Avis and I am sure there are other company but I am sure that Alamo does not have an office near by. Budget provides free shuttle service to the ship.

I just did a search for a midsize car from Alamo, pick up at Orlando airport 11/20/2010 at noon and drop off at Miami airport at 11/27/2010 at noon. Without using any codes or discounts.
The base fare before taxes and fees $310.49

The same search, same type car, same dates and time, pick up at Orlando airport and drop off at Orlando airport. Again without using any codes or discounts.
The base fare before taxes and fees $185.14

Try different combinations of picking up and dropping off between Orlando airport and the Dolphin resort with Alamo and see some of the crazy results you get.
I got similar results for Budget, Enterprise and National

If there are no drop off fees or surcharges please explain to me why is there a difference in the rates. How do the rental companies get away with it.

I did the same search using Dollar an Thrifty and get the same rate regardless of pick up and drop off locations.
????????????

 

[ironz]

I would bet it totally depends on which rental agency, which locations, type of car, supply/demand, etc.

I have seen some surcharges added when I've priced things out. In other cases (recently I did a one way rental from Sonoma/Santa Rosa to Oakland) and got a great deal with no extra charges.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

I can't remember what the extra costs were but the past few years when we flew down during the month of December, we would always rent from Avis at Orlando International Airport and return it at Tampa International Airport.

 

[Tuliplvr]

Thank you everyone!!

 

[OhMari]

National Car Rental will sometimes put up specials for "relocations" for Florida. We are getting a full size car in Savannah and dropping it off at the Car Care Center at WDW, 4 days $185.

 

[Lewisc]

If there are no drop off fees or surcharges please explain to me why is there a difference in the rates. How do the rental companies get away with it.

I did the same search using Dollar an Thrifty and get the same rate regardless of pick up and drop off locations.
????????????

Get away with what? A poster told you 99.9% of the time rental agencies in Florida don't charge drop fees. Did you ever see anything from a rental agency claiming the cost to rent a car with a different rental and return location is the same as the cost for a rental with the same location for the rental and return?

You have to price one way rentals. Some agencies charge a drop fee, some limit free mileage, some charge a higher rate and others limit some of the discounts (including discounts autmatically applied without providing a code). The fact that an agency doesn't charge a drop fee doesn't mean the cost to rent the car is the same.

Sometimes the cost for a one way rental is higher because the agency knows you'll be putting more miles on the car. More miles reduces the resale value of the car. Other times a one way rental costs more because the agency doesn't need or want the car at the location you're dropping off. In an extreme case the agency may need to get the car back to your renting location.

Works both ways. Rental agencies offer deals on way rentals to Florida in the fall and from Florida in the Spring. The agencies need to move cars in and out of Florida.

edited to ask what rates were you getting with Thrifty and Dollar?

 

[skelooch]

The OP question was does it cost more to pick up at one location and drop off at a different location, as opposed to picking up and dropping off at the same location. And the answer is obviously yes it can cost more.

My response was directed to the Shelly F's post and the implication (at least to me) that the rate should be the same regardless of where you pick up and drop off. I guess the drop off or surcharge is the difference in the rate if there is one.

I don't think of rentals as one-way vs. R/T. I think of it only as the rate I pay for how long I will have the vehicle, whether I pick it up at MCO and drop it off at MCO or I pick it up at MCO and drop it off at MIA. And I understand that the rate could be different in each case.
And that's all I was trying to point out to the OP.

 

[uva185]

If there are no drop off fees or surcharges please explain to me why is there a difference in the rates. How do the rental companies get away with it.

Its a different rate. Just like airlines used to have different one-way and round trip rates. Often times one-way rentals will not offer unlimited mileage so that must be taken into account.

As to how they "get away" with it, I don't understand what you mean. They are free to charge whatever they want! You are not paying a particular fee for a one way rental, its simply a different rate all together.

 

[skelooch]

Its a different rate. Just like airlines used to have different one-way and round trip rates. Often times one-way rentals will not offer unlimited mileage so that must be taken into account.

As to how they "get away" with it, I don't understand what you mean. They are free to charge whatever they want! You are not paying a particular fee for a one way rental, its simply a different rate all together.

I don't think they are trying to get away with anything they can and do charge whatever they want for anything they want.

I was responding to Shelly F's post and I thought he or she was implying that rates should be the same, based on the fact that they never had to pay a drop off or surcharge. And I know that is not the case. Maybe I just misunderstood their post.
Please read my previous post. I thought I explained what I was trying to say.

 

[bookgirl]

In 2009 Thrifty charged me 50 bucks to pick up MCO then drop in Ft Myers. I thought it was a scam since my car was registered in Wisconnsin. LOL.

It was unavoidable but still it sucked. I've been told this is pretty standard.

 

[robinb]

We have rented many many many times at one location and dropped the car off at another location without paying a surcharge. In the state of florida, 99.9% of the time there is not a drop off charge. We have rented from Alamo, budget, avis, and dollar and have never been charge a drop off fee..

That used to be the case, but sadly it's not true anymore. I think Budget is one of the few places that doesn't charge you a specific drop off fee or jack your rates up if you're dropping off somewhere else.

 

[skelooch]

Budget pick up at MCO 11/13 at noon, drop off MCO 11/20 at noon rate $210.40

pick up at MCO 11/13 at noon, drop off at Miami Airport 11/20 at noon rate $402.53

So much for Budget not jacking up rates for dropping off somewhere else.

 

[robinb]

Budget pick up at MCO 11/13 at noon, drop off MCO 11/20 at noon rate $210.40

pick up at MCO 11/13 at noon, drop off at Miami Airport 11/20 at noon rate $402.53

So much for Budget not jacking up rates for dropping off somewhere else.

What size car? I don't get a price difference when I use the DIS rate code of "Y937800".

 

[Lewisc]

I don't think they are trying to get away with anything they can and do charge whatever they want for anything they want.

I was responding to Shelly F's post and I thought he or she was implying that rates should be the same, based on the fact that they never had to pay a drop off or surcharge. And I know that is not the case. Maybe I just misunderstood their post.
Please read my previous post. I thought I explained what I was trying to say.

Shelly F did imply rental agencies charge the same even if you drop the car off in a different Florida location.

The rental agencies aren't trying to get away with anything, Shelly is mistaken.

A few years ago I rented a car in PHX with a return at LAS. I watched the rental rate, to see if I could rebook and save money. The rate went up. Eventually there were no cars available for the one way rental but there were cars available for a return to PHX.

Look at an extreme case. The rental agency has no need for the car at the return location you select and is going to transport the car back to the renting location.

Rental agencies have a certain number of cars they're willing to move from one location to another.

 

[uva185]

For what its worth I thought I would share this one-way rental I found on Hertz. 4 days in PDX is $198.86 with no coupons. 4 days one-way from PDX to RDM with unlimited miles is a whopping $888

Looks like I will be going with Avis for this trip!! (Which is just $172)

 

[skelooch]

What size car? I don't get a price difference when I use the DIS rate code of "Y937800".

It was for a midsize and I did not use any discount codes.

 

[SPBendersky]

Not usually. There are so many rentals in Florida that cars are being dropped off at different places all the time. I am always flying into one place and leaving it at another. It works great.