Car hire cock up
Discussion
PH I need your help to avoid a big old fee.
I have booked a holiday to drive from New York to Miami.
In hindsight I stupidly booked all the hotels before booking the car hire as looking online it was only £250.
As such a lot of it is not reversible, but went to book car hire yesterday and get landed with a whopping $800 fee for dropping car off in another state which is over 1000 miles away.
Any inside hints and tips. Fees are less elsewhere but hire cost is more, so I'm a net £500 worse off that I expected.
My fault, but any tips much appreciated.
I have booked a holiday to drive from New York to Miami.
In hindsight I stupidly booked all the hotels before booking the car hire as looking online it was only £250.
As such a lot of it is not reversible, but went to book car hire yesterday and get landed with a whopping $800 fee for dropping car off in another state which is over 1000 miles away.
Any inside hints and tips. Fees are less elsewhere but hire cost is more, so I'm a net £500 worse off that I expected.
My fault, but any tips much appreciated.
My top tip is to try renting in New Jersey rather than New York. I saved $600 by hopping on the PATH train under the Hudson.
http://goo.gl/maps/c7J4y
I rented from this location. In Manhattan a Crown Vic for a fortnight was over $900 with excess mileage charges (I was doing 3,000 miles in two weeks), but it was about $350 all-in in Jersey City.
http://goo.gl/maps/c7J4y
I rented from this location. In Manhattan a Crown Vic for a fortnight was over $900 with excess mileage charges (I was doing 3,000 miles in two weeks), but it was about $350 all-in in Jersey City.
morgrp said:
Buy a cheap car and flog it at the other end? More fun than a hire car!
He said he tried that, no good, used cars in the US are crazy money.I tried it a few years ago and the kind of rust eaten bucket you'd pay £150 for in the UK costs £1500 in the US.
OP, I ended up doing a 'driveaway' from LA to Washington state, I was given 9 days to get there, had to pay a $90 + fuel, the bond was returned on arrival (despite the car being badly smashed by a block of ice on the the way there).
$1000 for a week's rental is crazy money, google is your friend.
Roo said:
Have you tried Avis directly?
Never had a problem with one way rentals around the West coast with them.
Currently got a hire car I picked up in Vegas that I'm going to drop off at LA on Friday with no extra charge. Cost me just over £300 for ten days.
Avis gave me a discount specifically because i dropped off in Miami and NOT the pickup location. Think I got $60 dollars back.Never had a problem with one way rentals around the West coast with them.
Currently got a hire car I picked up in Vegas that I'm going to drop off at LA on Friday with no extra charge. Cost me just over £300 for ten days.
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