Re: Rental car companies

Charles wrote:
> What jerks.  No, seriously.  I want to go get my car in Toronto.  Not
> a big deal, right?  Like, call the rental place and just tell them
> I'll drop the one I have off in Toronto, right?  Of course not.  They
> wanted $540 for that.

I don't know about Canada/Toronto - but my experience with renting cars
vs oneway cars vs /when/ you pricecompare shop (not too much ahead and
not too close to the date) in Texas San Antonio and Corpus Christi is
that the price is all over the map, especially for oneway.

The fullsize car I recently rented in SAT was priced from $26-$85
depending on the timing of the shopping.  I declined renting it when it
was $60-$85 no matter who I got the price from, Southwest Airlines
carshopping branch, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc -- and the price directly
from the agency was 30% higher than if I shopped it thru' a broker like
Orbitz etc.  When I waited long enough for the price to get down to
about $40-$50 instead of 60-85, then I shopped it with Hotwire and got
it for $26.  The same agency that wanted $65-$85 at their site.

The last time I did something with a oneway, I could choose to do it
with Hertz for about $65 for an intermediate with no dropoff fee (price
was going to be the same per day no matter how many days I kept it), so
I just used the car one day and 'swapped' the Hertz for another agency's
because at that airport all of the cars were in the same lot and I took
a different fullsize car for $28 to use for the days I was in that city.

That problem was based on landing in SAT San Antonio and leaving from
CRP Corpus Christi where I was staying.

This time when I considered/shopped for a oneway, I couldn't find any
good deals at all, with outrageous dropoff fees, but none as bad as you
are describing.

-- 
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin

Charles wrote:
> "Mike Easter"

>> That problem was based on landing in SAT San Antonio and leaving from
>> CRP Corpus Christi where I was staying.
>
> Ah.  Right.  Well, I could (and you could have) always just hitch a
> ride. Really practical, huh?

Once upon a time I seriously calculated the logistics of taking a
shuttle/bus from the SAT a/p to the bus station to ride a Greyhound bus
from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, about 150 miles of pure 4 lane
divided freeway.  Once upon a prior time to that there was a shuttle
company in CC to drive people to or from the a/p in SAT.

-- 
Mike Easter
kibitzer, not SC admin

Charles wrote:
> What jerks.  No, seriously.  I want to go get my car in Toronto.  Not
> a big deal, right?  Like, call the rental place and just tell them
> I'll drop the one I have off in Toronto, right?  Of course not.  They
> wanted $540 for that.  But...  I can drive to the rental place, drop
> my current rental off and pick up the equivalent car then drive to
> Toronto for $224 (total including all taxes and for both rentals).
> Someone please tell me that their system works right!  No way!
>
> So, the deal is that if I took the car I already had up there I'd
> have to pay the day rate for the entire rental viz. $180/day (for
> that car). Whereas the car I had was $42/day for 3 days or $69/day if
> I went over 3 days.  [That alone is assinine and horrifyingly
> obnoxious.]  And the car they just gave me is $140/day ($140 + $84 =
> $224 => they actually gave me a free day of rental in there with the
> change between cars).

I travel on biz a lot and believe me, that is about par for rentals.
Rented a car for seven days on a six day trip.  It was cheaper
than renting it for six days even if I left the stupid car at the
rental car return lot a day early.  To top that, $dayjob bitched at
me for paying for more days than I needed to.  They insisted the contract
be redone to take that day off.  SO, can you guess what happened next?
That's right.  The rental company changed the contract from the weekly
rate to the daily rate and charged $dayjob an extra 50$.  :/  I work
for morons.

One thing to look at is the card programs some rental companies have.
Most are free and they offer some nice bonuses.  Like a free day for
so many days, or easy pickup without having to wait in line.

Another neat trick is credit cards that provide rental insurance
as a part of the deal.  That can cut a good amount off of the rental
contract.

-- 
DougW 

"DougW" <post.please.this.email.is.not.valid@example.com> wrote
in message 
news:fr4htu$d5g$1@news.spamcop.net...
> Another neat trick is credit cards that provide rental insurance
> as a part of the deal.  That can cut a good amount off of the rental
> contract.

AFAIK it's pretty common for your own car insurance company to pick up the 
tab for anything that happens while using a rental car. I guess if you're 
worried about causing an accident and having your rates go up that wouldn't 
be such a deal, but I've never worked anywhere that would pay for the 
insurance the rental car place provides, it comes out of your pocket. And 
since the car is always provided by the company contract with the rental 
agency, you're not using a card to pay for it to start with. My experience, 
anyways.... 

What jerks.  No, seriously.  I want to go get my car in Toronto.  Not a big 
deal, right?  Like, call the rental place and just tell them I'll drop the 
one I have off in Toronto, right?  Of course not.  They wanted $540 for 
that.  But...  I can drive to the rental place, drop my current rental off 
and pick up the equivalent car then drive to Toronto for $224 (total 
including all taxes and for both rentals).  Someone please tell me that 
their system works right!  No way!

So, the deal is that if I took the car I already had up there I'd have to 
pay the day rate for the entire rental viz. $180/day (for that car).  
Whereas the car I had was $42/day for 3 days or $69/day if I went over 3 
days.  [That alone is assinine and horrifyingly obnoxious.]  And the car 
they just gave me is $140/day ($140 + $84 = $224 => they actually gave me a