Thorn Tree travel forum
Replies: 7 - Last Post: 06-Feb-2009 07:15 Last Post By: sadiesantiago
Booking car rental- Road trip
Hey all,
1
There are about 6 car rental companies that operate nationwide in the U. S., e.g., Hertz, Avis, Budget, National, etc. They are the only ones who would rent a car to you for such a trip. They don't like to rent for more than a month. You may want to break the car rental into two or three legs so you can change cars. Car rentals typically carry "hidden" charges and taxes that don't appear as part of the daily rate. The actual cost of the rental can be two or three times the quoted daily rate. You want the rental companies to give you a TOTAL estimate of the cost of the rental. Don't trust the daily rates. Insurance can be an additional charge to the published daily rate too. Depending on your circumstances, insurance can be an expense as great as the rental car. Also be aware that there are state-to-state and company-to-company differences as to who may rent a car with respect to the age of the renter.If you don't know where you're going, you will probably wind up somewhere else. - Yogi Berra
2
See FAQ post #146: "Tips on Renting a Car in the U.S. and Driving It Here"Life's a bitch, and then it has puppies
3
No law prohibiting drop-off charges. Where do people get such ideas?? The presence of absence of drop-off charges (whether explicitly listed as such or essentially disguised as higher rental prices) depends on the company, exact location where you pick up the car, and exact location where you drop it off. A year or so ago, I rented a car at LAX and dropped it off in Albuquerque. I paid no drop-off charge, but at least with the company I used (Budget, I think), I would have paid a big charge had I dropped the car off in Denver. You need to check with each company, trying different pick-up and drop-off points. Sometimes off-airport locations are cheaper, but not always.
4
Why El Paso, Memphis, Oklahoma City? hope you enjoy watching the miles pass by staring out the window as you will be doing alot of it. You really need to figure out what your car costs are going to be because based on what you have said trusting the daily rate as your budget figure won't come close. Definately read the FAQ's about renting as car (First thing you need to do is eliminate the 'car hire' verbage from your vocabulary as in the US you don't hire a car, you hire a driver). You have plenty of time to plan this trip you are just underinformed right now.SLAP ! "You can act like a man!" Vito Corleone to Johnny Fontane
5
If I wanted to put my worst enemy on a brutal and boring drive, it would be hard to beat this route!"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." - Albert Einstein
6
Nutrax
The plural of anecdote is not data
7
Hello,
Posted By: VenessaP -- 28-Jan-2010 15:01
Posted By: VenessaP -- 09-Dec-2009 17:01
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