Which rental cars are NOT marked by state?????

[violet13]

We are traveling from PA to Florida in a rental car, our first experience with renting a car & first trip to Disney. One rental car company told me "watch out who you rent from because some cars are good targets for getting stolen when you take them out of state..." because they "mark" them or something, I'm not sure what exactly she meant.....could anyone tell me what this lady was talking about? I imagine it is true that we would be more of a target if our plates say PA and we are going to Florida....any information would be helpful.....thank you....and IF you do know what she meant, WHICH company do you recommend, obviously we need UNLIMITED milage. Thank you......

 

[Chuck S]

Marked how? I remember Florida used to have special plates on rental cars, but that was discontinued several years ago, after the horrible German tourist incident.

Most companies have some way to identify their cars. I doubt you'd be in any more danger in a rental car now than two weeks ago.

 

[skeezixspud]

Especially in coming weeks, when one-way rentals are still scattered to h*** and back.

I would not worry much about someone stealing the car, but I'd worry quite a bit about the rental company coming after you. These days, many rental companies use GPS technology to keep track of where their cars are, and if they stray too far afield, they may take action. Read the fine print; most of the major companies restrict how far you can take the car from the rental location, unless it's a one-way rental, and especially if you cross state lines, for insurance reasons. If you violate those terms they may charge penalties.

 

[seashoreCM]

In years past some rental companies simply marked their cars with a bumper sticker, also used to advertise their company with. Some companies put the marking in the window. Some still have license plate numbers in a series which, once you learn, becomes easy to recognize.

You generally do not have a choice of car as far as marked or unmarked.

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[Disnydad]

I know Florida and New York "marked" rental cars with the plates. They either ended or started with a Y or a Z. That practice ended, as someone said, after some ugly tourist incidents about 10 years ago. In Florida there is only one plate on the back. Alamo used to put an "Alamo" plate on the front. I do not know if they do that anymore. Back before I stopped using Alamo, I used to take the front plate off and put it in the trunk.

 

[lovepuzzles]

After the attacks, my family and I drove from Orlando to AR to get home. We made a game out of pointing out the rental cars on the way home just because there were so many of them. It was amazing!! Most of them had bar codes on the back drivers side window. It's not too noticable, but since we recognized it from our own rental we knew what to look for. Enterprise had their own license plates. I think if anyone is looking to steal a rental, they will probably know what to look for.