USA Car Hire One Way

[irc]

Looking at next year's holiday. Priced a 2 week hire from Chicago to San Francisco with Avis. Over £2000. Am I missing something?

If that is the going rate we will go plan B. Train at $170 each.

[randlemarcus]

The car has to get back from SF to Chicago somehow, that hire is priced up to include the drive back. You could look at a trip returning a car some inconsiderate sod has dropped in Chicago, that needs to be back in SF, but not sure how far ahead those would be visible/bookable.

[David Beer]

irc said:

Looking at next year's holiday. Priced a 2 week hire from Chicago to San Francisco with Avis. Over £2000. Am I missing something?

If that is the going rate we will go plan B. Train at $170 each.

Took a camaro ss convertible from New York and drop off in LA $350 on top . It was four weeks a total of $2k
I had a car booked from Washington last Friday, obviously didn’t happen! That was being dropped in Vegas, $2k for four weeks.
Shop around !!!

[Jakg]

One way can be expensive - but it depends on the rental company.

I think going "out of state" doesn't help with the price either.

2 years ago I hired a Mustang from Budget - SF to LA one way, 2 weeks, £540.

[Chucklehead]

randlemarcus said:

The car has to get back from SF to Chicago somehow, that hire is priced up to include the drive back.

It doesn't, and it isn't.

OP, around $500 of that will be one way fee, but depending on what kind of car you need, when you need it and how long you need it for, i'd have expected you to be able to get that for less. If you're not travelling for a bit then i would hold off. It's a really tough market out there just now and prices should improve.

[mikef]

randlemarcus said:

The car has to get back from SF to Chicago somehow, that hire is priced up to include the drive back.

I doubt that. The last two rentals I’v had were FLorida reg in LA (Hertz) and Colorado reg in NC (Avis)

[irc]

We aren't booking for a few months so will keep an eye on prices.

[ro250]

irc said:

Looking at next year's holiday. Priced a 2 week hire from Chicago to San Francisco with Avis. Over £2000. Am I missing something?

If that is the going rate we will go plan B. Train at $170 each.

I've done a few hires with one-way fees and they do add up but normally just a few hundred dollars.

We also don't normally have the car for a full 2 weeks (e.g. if you're starting your holiday in Chicago you won't want the car until you leave and you'll want to lose it as soon as you get to San Francisco). I don't know your itinerary but that's a hefty mileage (over 2,000 miles) to cover in 2 weeks, particularly if you are spending any length of time anywhere.

[MattS5]

We managed to hire an SUV from Atlanta, took it via Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston and the dropped off at Dallas,
3 weeks, 2k miles in total, cost was around £750 from memory.
Hertz were the provider.

[Teddy Lop]

We looked into it too but the costs are pretty stupid, I've heard it can be done but you need to speak to them rather than use online tools.

For a country you could claim popularised the road trip concept they really miss a trick! Mind, this is mostly a foreign visitor tourism complaint and America is an incredibly inward-looking country.

[Misaps]

USrentacar currently doing a Mustang convertible for two weeks in May at £857 for their platinum package (£727 for their basic silver package) via Dollar or Thrifty if that’s any use

[hoegaardenruls]

Not picking up from an airport might help.

We saved quite a bit a couple of years ago, on a roadtrip from Chicago to NY by picking up at an Alamo depot in North Chicago, rather than the airport - shopping around, even within the same rental company, might help bring the price down.

[belleair302]

Remember what kills the price is insurance. Renting the car is cheap, insuring it is where the profit lies and this is where customers get hammered. It may be worth if you dont have one, getting an Amex card as they still offer rental car insurance for $25,000 Loss Damage Waiver and $500,000 Top Up Liability. Otherwise speak to a company like icarhireinsurance.com or insurance4carhire.com

[Jakg]

hoegaardenruls said:

Not picking up from an airport might help.

We saved quite a bit a couple of years ago, on a roadtrip from Chicago to NY by picking up at an Alamo depot in North Chicago, rather than the airport - shopping around, even within the same rental company, might help bring the price down.

I had this in reverse - the airport was way cheaper. Didn't need a car when I first landed, but it was cheaper to get a taxi back to the airport to pick the car up than doing it in the city.

belleair302 said:

Remember what kills the price is insurance. Renting the car is cheap, insuring it is where the profit lies and this is where customers get hammered. It may be worth if you dont have one, getting an Amex card as they still offer rental car insurance for $25,000 Loss Damage Waiver and $500,000 Top Up Liability. Otherwise speak to a company like icarhireinsurance.com or insurance4carhire.com

I thought - and could be wrong - that US car rental marketed to UK customers came with "full up" insurance?
US customers can usually use their car insurance on a rental car so can make the choice - but UK customers can't so insurance isn't optional and you can't shop around?

Certainly the price I quoted above included all the usual upsell CDW stuff, albeit it with a small excess.

Like I said - could be wrong.

[Chucklehead]

Jakg said:

belleair302 said:

Remember what kills the price is insurance. Renting the car is cheap, insuring it is where the profit lies and this is where customers get hammered. It may be worth if you dont have one, getting an Amex card as they still offer rental car insurance for $25,000 Loss Damage Waiver and $500,000 Top Up Liability. Otherwise speak to a company like icarhireinsurance.com or insurance4carhire.com

I thought - and could be wrong - that US car rental marketed to UK customers came with "full up" insurance?
US customers can usually use their car insurance on a rental car so can make the choice - but UK customers can't so insurance isn't optional and you can't shop around?

Certainly the price I quoted above included all the usual upsell CDW stuff, albeit it with a small excess.

Like I said - could be wrong.

You're correct. Booking a US car rental on any reputable UK broker will get you a full CDW policy which has no excess. There's no need to buy supplementary products from other companies.

[irocfan]

could it also be the the problems Hertz have had/are having has skewed the prices somewhat?

[MattS5]

Another point to note, I went thru Expedia for car hire and got an additonal dicsount as I had booked a few hotel stays for the trip with them as well.