Car hire California
Discussion
fourstardan said:
Do they allocate cars now days? In the good old days you just turned up to your section and had a car shopping exercise, unreal!
Depends which company. Avis seem to allocate you a car, National let you chose.The only recommendation is to use one of the multinational firms and book through the UK website to get the correct insurance cover.
Be aware all car hire at LAX is off site. So you will need to get the bus. So defo go with one of the big brands for that reason.
You can also sometimes find a better deal going with one of the big brands but at their secondary location which might be in an airport hotel.
There are several like that at LAX. Car choice might be limited or zero but price might be 20-30% less.
Its not so much of a deal any more though now prices are returning to "normal".
As above book from UK with UK credit card and you will get full insurance cover.
If you have not been to California before then don't leave anything on show in the car when its parked.
You might get lucky and get a clean car, but IME hire cars tend to be a bit ratty / leggy in LA.
You can also sometimes find a better deal going with one of the big brands but at their secondary location which might be in an airport hotel.
There are several like that at LAX. Car choice might be limited or zero but price might be 20-30% less.
Its not so much of a deal any more though now prices are returning to "normal".
As above book from UK with UK credit card and you will get full insurance cover.
If you have not been to California before then don't leave anything on show in the car when its parked.
You might get lucky and get a clean car, but IME hire cars tend to be a bit ratty / leggy in LA.
Last time I rented a car in California I ordered up the smallest thing they had (a Dodge that was actually a Hyundai, I think) and they tried to upsell me a Mustang for about $50.
As I was going diving and didn't expect to use the car much I declined, but I was tempted to change my mind when I saw the row of convertibles.
Trouble was the queue was about an hour long and I wasn't doing that again!
As it turned out some of my diving was cancelled, so I had an extra day of driving around in a little hatchback...
As I was going diving and didn't expect to use the car much I declined, but I was tempted to change my mind when I saw the row of convertibles.
Trouble was the queue was about an hour long and I wasn't doing that again!
As it turned out some of my diving was cancelled, so I had an extra day of driving around in a little hatchback...
Edited by marcosgt on Thursday 6th February 13:32
I’ve used Sixt a few times and they’ve been very good. Well organised, little wait in the office and well prepared cars. Last trip I used Hertz as I specifically wanted the Shelby Mustang GT-H. Quite a long wait at the desk. I hadn’t booked under my privilege card so couldn’t use the priority office. Everything after that was good and the car was awesome.
ETA if you don’t want the ubiquitous Mustang Convertible, the big GMC and Chevy SUVs can be good value. Might as well experience something different. Great fun.
ETA if you don’t want the ubiquitous Mustang Convertible, the big GMC and Chevy SUVs can be good value. Might as well experience something different. Great fun.
Edited by Maxus on Wednesday 5th February 20:17
We normally go for a chevvy tahoe as we are over there for 5 + weeks and the mrs takes half of the house with us .this year the we have a nissan armada booked , each time we go when we get to the airport there is a row of vehicles within our range and get to pick one .last year we got a gmc yukon ( an upspecced tahoe).
We visited in 2018 for the wife's 60th. I booked through Avis & yes its a reasonable bus ride from the airport.
When we got there they pointed out I'm a frequent Avis user & then upgraded our Ford Edge to an Explorer.
He did look at my wife's luggage as he upgraded us. I use Enterprise as a corporate but had earned Avis + or whatever flying to Cape Town where they don't do Enterprise.
Be warned most estates/4 x 4s do not come with luggage covers so if you need security then you're better off with a booted car.
It wasn't an issue for us but bits of California are like the wild west.
When we got there they pointed out I'm a frequent Avis user & then upgraded our Ford Edge to an Explorer.
He did look at my wife's luggage as he upgraded us. I use Enterprise as a corporate but had earned Avis + or whatever flying to Cape Town where they don't do Enterprise.
Be warned most estates/4 x 4s do not come with luggage covers so if you need security then you're better off with a booted car.
It wasn't an issue for us but bits of California are like the wild west.
LAX has a new consolidated car rental center (sic).
Avis Budget are in there since November, but i'm not sure how many of the other majors are out there yet. The APM shuttle hasn't opened yet either, and will likely be another year the last i heard.
I haven't flown through there in the last 6 months, but you might want to verify the car hire locations if that's important to you.
Avis Budget are in there since November, but i'm not sure how many of the other majors are out there yet. The APM shuttle hasn't opened yet either, and will likely be another year the last i heard.
I haven't flown through there in the last 6 months, but you might want to verify the car hire locations if that's important to you.
WyrleyD said:
As an aside to this can I ask about renting in one state and dropping in another, anyone done it., I'm interested in renting from Seattle and dropping off in Dallas Texas. It's a few years since I last looked but at that time it wasn't possible.
Last time I was there 2-3 years ago you could do this, but the extra charges were at least double the rental costs. The original plan was to start in Colorado and drive to LA, ended up flying in/out of Denver to LA and hiring another car there.Freakuk said:
WyrleyD said:
As an aside to this can I ask about renting in one state and dropping in another, anyone done it., I'm interested in renting from Seattle and dropping off in Dallas Texas. It's a few years since I last looked but at that time it wasn't possible.
Last time I was there 2-3 years ago you could do this, but the extra charges were at least double the rental costs. The original plan was to start in Colorado and drive to LA, ended up flying in/out of Denver to LA and hiring another car there.WyrleyD said:
As an aside to this can I ask about renting in one state and dropping in another, anyone done it., I'm interested in renting from Seattle and dropping off in Dallas Texas. It's a few years since I last looked but at that time it wasn't possible.
We picked a car in Charlotte and dropped it off at Orlando last year, I presume there is some additional fee but couldn't tell you what though.We did 'out of state' drop-offs twice in one trip last year. We collected a car in Chicago and dropped in Nashville, then collected a different car from Nashville and dropped it in New Orleans.
It's not a problem at all and it's nothing to do with the states, just the specific rental car policies. There was a charge on each for one-way and it was not small, but was less than the rental cost. It also saved planning a circular trip to where we started, which is what we've generally always done before on big US trips.
We found it easier and cheaper by breaking it from one big Chicago-New Orleans rental into two smaller ones, which also saved $200 on hotel parking for the days we stayed mid-trip in Nashville, when the car would have just sat in valet parking for 3-4 days. It just meant a couple of extra Ubers back/from the hire car offices instead.
What you will find for a one-way drop-off is that the vehicle choice/range may be lower.
It's not a problem at all and it's nothing to do with the states, just the specific rental car policies. There was a charge on each for one-way and it was not small, but was less than the rental cost. It also saved planning a circular trip to where we started, which is what we've generally always done before on big US trips.
We found it easier and cheaper by breaking it from one big Chicago-New Orleans rental into two smaller ones, which also saved $200 on hotel parking for the days we stayed mid-trip in Nashville, when the car would have just sat in valet parking for 3-4 days. It just meant a couple of extra Ubers back/from the hire car offices instead.
What you will find for a one-way drop-off is that the vehicle choice/range may be lower.
Edited by Guyr on Thursday 6th February 16:24
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