Road trip USA, hire car help needed!!
Discussion
Hi guys,
We'll shortly be heading out to the US for a couple of months - we're doing most of the west coast, and have travel links to vegas/san diego sorted already. This being PH and us being petrolheads generally, we would really like to hire a car (preferably a Mustang) for just over two weeks from LA to Seattle mid june, taking in a few sights along the way and going via the Pacific Coast Highway.
We have a couple of problems, first - we're young(ish) - at 24 and hire companies dont seem to like this. Second, its a one way trip, we've seen a couple of places that seem outrageously expensive for this?? Finally, we dont know of anywhere that could guarantee us a Mustang? Alot of these places seem to want to suggest "or similar" on every car and the appeal of a Chrysler Sebring or worse still, a PT loser, is just not quite what we're after!
Has anyone got any ideas on the hire car front/ know of young people friendly companies?? Also have any of you done this trip before and have any must see/ do things that you would recommend?
Thanks in advance,
BCA
We'll shortly be heading out to the US for a couple of months - we're doing most of the west coast, and have travel links to vegas/san diego sorted already. This being PH and us being petrolheads generally, we would really like to hire a car (preferably a Mustang) for just over two weeks from LA to Seattle mid june, taking in a few sights along the way and going via the Pacific Coast Highway.
We have a couple of problems, first - we're young(ish) - at 24 and hire companies dont seem to like this. Second, its a one way trip, we've seen a couple of places that seem outrageously expensive for this?? Finally, we dont know of anywhere that could guarantee us a Mustang? Alot of these places seem to want to suggest "or similar" on every car and the appeal of a Chrysler Sebring or worse still, a PT loser, is just not quite what we're after!
Has anyone got any ideas on the hire car front/ know of young people friendly companies?? Also have any of you done this trip before and have any must see/ do things that you would recommend?
Thanks in advance,
BCA
I went from Vegas to San Francisco last year in a Charger. One of the issues you might find is that while they have plenty of nice hire cars (Cisco airport was awash with Corvettes convertibles) they don't like to do one way hires with the nicer cars as it puts them out of position and they might have to drive some of them back if you were allowed to return them to more obsure locations.
Sometimes car rental companies in the US dont charge a one way rental fee as long as your dropping off the car in an adjoining state.
It might be worth your while doing a bit of research and trying to find out if you can rent a car in California,drop it off in Oregon,rent another car in Oregon,then drop that one off in Seattle.
Failing that why not just do one big round trip and return the car to where you rented it from,you say your trip is just over two weeks but you could easily do LA to Seattle one way in under a week.
It might be worth your while doing a bit of research and trying to find out if you can rent a car in California,drop it off in Oregon,rent another car in Oregon,then drop that one off in Seattle.
Failing that why not just do one big round trip and return the car to where you rented it from,you say your trip is just over two weeks but you could easily do LA to Seattle one way in under a week.
Edited by wildone63 on Thursday 6th May 08:06
Had various cars last year on honeymoon in California and around. We hired a 'Vette from vegas (easy only pre-booked a regular midsize - massive selection) and drove up death valley, Yosemite, Nappa, Sanoma, and back to San Fran where we left the car. (Hertz).
Dont bother with a Mustang. It will be a V6 and you'll be sad.
Dont bother with a Mustang. It will be a V6 and you'll be sad.
My suggestion would be just hire a cheap car and spend your money on other things. Yes, you will almost certainly pay a heavy one-way charge for that trip. V6 Mustang is a job half done - hire an econobox for the trip and maybe just rent a Vette for a weekend as well. Although if you owned a nice 430 bhp V8 sportscar how much would YOU charge a 24-year old foreign tourist to rent it?
edo said:
Had various cars last year on honeymoon in California and around. We hired a 'Vette from vegas (easy only pre-booked a regular midsize - massive selection) and drove up death valley, Yosemite, Nappa, Sanoma, and back to San Fran where we left the car. (Hertz).
Dont bother with a Mustang. It will be a V6 and you'll be sad.
This. We hired a 'vette to do Orlanda-Miami-Orlando and it was superb.Dont bother with a Mustang. It will be a V6 and you'll be sad.
I did Chicago to LA on the old Route 66 last year in March/April (did detour to San Fran and down to San Diego) and went through Dollar and the seemed the best on the one way drop off surcharge.
I went for a Charger or similar and ended up with a charger!
Hope you have an awesome time we did .... awesome being able to snowboard one day in Big Bear and then an hour and half later on Malibu beach with a surfboard.
So very jealous, have fun and remember you only live once so pay the price and get what you want... just do it!
I went for a Charger or similar and ended up with a charger!
Hope you have an awesome time we did .... awesome being able to snowboard one day in Big Bear and then an hour and half later on Malibu beach with a surfboard.
So very jealous, have fun and remember you only live once so pay the price and get what you want... just do it!
I have just today booked a hire car in NYC. I know that I am not going where you are and not doing a one way, but thought my experience might help. I also couldnt stipulate a certain car and it seems I will end up with a Sebring convertable.
I searched for a LONG time and found the cheapest way to hire a car was via Virgin Holidays. It has cost me £499 for the car for 16 days-collect abnd drop off in Manhatten using Alamo. Now, if I booked direct with Alamo it would hav been £1032. Every other hire company I checked wanted at LEAST £900 for the same group of car for teh same period-Virgin were almost HALF the price. It also includes all insurances. I am 38 so no issues there but this is what they say about younger drivers:
Minimum Ages
USA (excluding New York State)
25 with no Young Driver Surcharge
21 -24 years with a Young Driver Surcharge of USD$25 per day
New York State and Michigan
25 with no Young Driver Surcharge
18-24 years with a Young Driver Surcharge of US$72.99 per day plus tax
I searched for a LONG time and found the cheapest way to hire a car was via Virgin Holidays. It has cost me £499 for the car for 16 days-collect abnd drop off in Manhatten using Alamo. Now, if I booked direct with Alamo it would hav been £1032. Every other hire company I checked wanted at LEAST £900 for the same group of car for teh same period-Virgin were almost HALF the price. It also includes all insurances. I am 38 so no issues there but this is what they say about younger drivers:
Minimum Ages
USA (excluding New York State)
25 with no Young Driver Surcharge
21 -24 years with a Young Driver Surcharge of USD$25 per day
New York State and Michigan
25 with no Young Driver Surcharge
18-24 years with a Young Driver Surcharge of US$72.99 per day plus tax
I wonder about these hire places and the cars "available". I hired a Charger and was told they didn't have one. I put on a sad face and said I'd flown all the way from the UK to drive one as I was thinking of buying one (a lie obviously)and as she sold me the sat nav option (which meant the child seats were free so it evened out), a Charger suddenly became "available". Maybe after queuing for hours, you just have to be real nice.
The Charger was no great shakes but it looked good and made my 2 year old son happy.
The Charger was no great shakes but it looked good and made my 2 year old son happy.
Thanks for the suggestions, a one way trip is the only option really, as we've already booked flights from there and dont fancy doubling the already high mileage in a rush!
Virgin dont seem to like one-way hire cars, not many people do, will keep calling around.
Dollar dont list anywhere in the Seattle area to drop off, so they're out.
Part of me is starting to think about getting a mid sized car and just enjoying it for what it is. As has been said, the Mustang wouldnt be *that* incredible (even my friend drives a far more interesting PH car; Clio 182) so yeah, wouldnt miss out much. Also starting to think a convertible may be cramped and we should scrap the idea... especially as we're doing a fair amount of miles in silly heat.
We shall see...
Virgin dont seem to like one-way hire cars, not many people do, will keep calling around.
Dollar dont list anywhere in the Seattle area to drop off, so they're out.
Part of me is starting to think about getting a mid sized car and just enjoying it for what it is. As has been said, the Mustang wouldnt be *that* incredible (even my friend drives a far more interesting PH car; Clio 182) so yeah, wouldnt miss out much. Also starting to think a convertible may be cramped and we should scrap the idea... especially as we're doing a fair amount of miles in silly heat.
We shall see...
if you are under 25 be prepared to pay a "surcharge" for each day you are out there.
Me and my mate did something similar and it worked out at an extra $25 a day as we were under 25.
They also don't like one way trips or taking the car out of state, so expect to pay more for those privileges as well
EDIT: we went with Hertz and rented a Cadillac STS (360hp V8) for 3 weeks and I think it came in at around £1000 after all the surcharges and whatnot were added on.
Me and my mate did something similar and it worked out at an extra $25 a day as we were under 25.
They also don't like one way trips or taking the car out of state, so expect to pay more for those privileges as well
EDIT: we went with Hertz and rented a Cadillac STS (360hp V8) for 3 weeks and I think it came in at around £1000 after all the surcharges and whatnot were added on.
Edited by jbi on Thursday 6th May 18:47
Yup, aware of all of that... and fine with it.
The real thing that is irritating me is that it is impossible to find these prices clearly laid out and/or taken into account. I am ok with paying these fees if I know clearly what they will be. It seems that all hire companies want to make me pay 2/3rds now and the rest on arrival or return - however that final figure is an estimate?! - b
ks is it, they just want to get away with stupid charges once they've got you there on the back foot. Why is there no transparancy? We've got money, we're willing to spend it, but only if we know what we're paying for.
The real thing that is irritating me is that it is impossible to find these prices clearly laid out and/or taken into account. I am ok with paying these fees if I know clearly what they will be. It seems that all hire companies want to make me pay 2/3rds now and the rest on arrival or return - however that final figure is an estimate?! - b
ks is it, they just want to get away with stupid charges once they've got you there on the back foot. Why is there no transparancy? We've got money, we're willing to spend it, but only if we know what we're paying for.Hertz charged us everything up front, didn't charge us a penny after we dropped off the car and it was checked for damage. (they missed a few things like the missing front splitter which fell off after driving it through a field... phew)
We paid to reserve the car from the UK and then we were hit with the surcharges when we picked it up after arriving in America. They don't like telling you everything over the phone (wonder why
We paid to reserve the car from the UK and then we were hit with the surcharges when we picked it up after arriving in America. They don't like telling you everything over the phone (wonder why
Have a check on this website, you might be able to find someone hiring a Mustang in Seattle:
http://www.hotwire.com/
http://www.hotwire.com/
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