Car rental

[SSOWorld]

[In our last episode, Corco stated his intention to rent a car and drive to Tulsa.]

Make sure you can take it that far Corco - rental companies often frown on taking it beyond a certain distance.

[corco]

I've driven their cars a few thousand miles on a couple occasions over the course of 3-4 days to states as far away as Missouri, so it should be fine. These people are great- the Enterprise in Laramie doesn't even apply a surcharge to folks under 25, which is awesome.

Last time I rented I asked for about 7 states (they ask what states you'll be taking the car to) and laughed and said "Why don't you just fly" to which I just laughed, and then they gave me those states and all was good

And if not, it will cost pretty much exactly as much to take my own car (significantly worse gas mileage, plus costs of oil/maintenance offset it), so that'll work just fine too if need be

[hbelkins]

Make sure you can take it that far Corco - rental companies often frown on taking it beyond a certain distance.

They do? 18 years ago, my dad, brother and I rented a car in Lexington and we drove it all the way west to Vegas and north to Yellowstone before returning back to Kentucky. Not a word was said...

[mightyace]

Make sure you can take it that far Corco - rental companies often frown on taking it beyond a certain distance.

They do? 18 years ago, my dad, brother and I rented a car in Lexington and we drove it all the way west to Vegas and north to Yellowstone before returning back to Kentucky. Not a word was said...

Yes, the only time there was anything on a rental contract was in 2000 when I rented a car in California and it said that I agreed not to take the car into Mexico.  Since I was renting it in Sacramento, that was not a big problem!

[US71]

I tried to rent a car 5-6 years ago in Pittsburg, KS and I wasn't allowed to go out of town with it, which was stupid. 

[Scott5114]

There's not too terribly much to do in Pittsburg KS that would require a rental car!

[SSOWorld]

There were cars I rented from Dollar and Enterprise that had a contract that disallowed taking the car outside the state it was rented in and surrounding states - the latest one from Enterprise in California (Sac-town) said Oregon and Nevada.

Its in the fine print.

[US71]

There's not too terribly much to do in Pittsburg KS that would require a rental car!

My old van blew its transmission and it was going to take a week to fix it, so I needed a way to get home.

[corco]

There were cars I rented from Dollar and Enterprise that had a contract that disallowed taking the car outside the state it was rented in and surrounding states - the latest one from Enterprise in California (Sac-town) said Oregon and Nevada.

Its in the fine print.

This Enterprise location definitely allows you to take it to all 48 states- you just have to tell them which ones ahead of time

[Dougtone]

There were cars I rented from Dollar and Enterprise that had a contract that disallowed taking the car outside the state it was rented in and surrounding states - the latest one from Enterprise in California (Sac-town) said Oregon and Nevada.

Its in the fine print.

It definitely depends on the rental car company you go through.  I will even go further and say that it may also depend on the location you're renting a car from.

As for me, I always rent through a company that has Jeff Kitsko's PAHighways.com as a member of their affiliate program, since I'd rather give my money to Jeff anyway (my understanding is that he gets a small cut of the rental fees). 

I've rented cars through Thrifty in Georgia and Utah (their rule was that you had to keep the rental car on their side of the Mississippi River), Avis in Nova Scotia (I believe you just had to keep the rental car within Atlantic Canada and Quebec) and Dollar in Oregon and Arizona (the rule was that you could only keep the rental car within that state or a neighboring state).

As for the Tulsa meet, there's no way I'll be able to make the meet given the time.  Perhaps I will swing by at some point in the future, though.

[agentsteel53]

most of the time, if you rent from a local place, they will confine you to certain states, but if you rent at the airport, they let you take it anywhere in the US and Canada.

[agentsteel53]

They do? 18 years ago, my dad, brother and I rented a car in Lexington and we drove it all the way west to Vegas and north to Yellowstone before returning back to Kentucky. Not a word was said...

that is because 18 years ago, rental cars were not equipped with a GPS-based tracker, so they had no way of knowing where the car was.

[Scott5114]

Rental car companies piss me off. My mom always insists on using Hertz, which has a renting station in a strip mall within walking distance of my apartment. They refuse to rent to anyone under 25, nor permit anyone under 25 to drive their cars, regardless of who's actually renting. So, after passing age 18, I can enter a casino and gamble (and work there!), purchase cigarettes, join the U.S. Army, select the President of the United States, and legally enter contracts; upon turning 21 I will be permitted to purchase and consume alcohol, and only four years after that, when I will have been driving for nine years, will I be permitted to rent a car. Does this make sense? Apparently their cars are more difficult to figure out and not wreck than the Electoral College!

[SSOWorld]

Its business, not law.  Insurance rates for 24 and under are way higher because insurance companies have compiled a history of younger drivers having more incidents (crashes, tickets, etc).  A majority of younger drivers aren't really "ready" to drive despite having their licenses.  They represent a liability and that is something that car rental companies generally don't want to deal with.

[Scott5114]

So charge me more, not deny me service–that is what the insurance companies do!

[Dougtone]

They do? 18 years ago, my dad, brother and I rented a car in Lexington and we drove it all the way west to Vegas and north to Yellowstone before returning back to Kentucky. Not a word was said...

that is because 18 years ago, rental cars were not equipped with a GPS-based tracker, so they had no way of knowing where the car was.

Actually, when I rented a car for my trip to Arizona last week, I was asked if I wanted a GPS.  I refused that as part of the package, but you may be on to something with GPS-based trackers.

[Chris]

Can you rent a car, in say, Atlanta, and drop it off in Chicago or do you need to bring it back to the place where you rented it?

[realjd]

Can you rent a car, in say, Atlanta, and drop it off in Chicago or do you need to bring it back to the place where you rented it?

All of the big car rental companies allow this, and I've never had a rental contract that wasn't unlimited mileage. I tend to stick with the big names though that cater to business travelers. National is my favorite, Hertz and Avis are decent as well. You may have a "one-way rental" surcharge, but not always. They tend to be more lenient with the one-way surcharge if both points are within the same state.

Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, and Enterprise are discount car rental companies. The cars are cheap and in poor condition (most Enterprise cars don't even have cruise control!), service is bad, and they sometimes throw in hidden mileage caps and the like. Avoid them at all costs.

[rawmustard]

Can you rent a car, in say, Atlanta, and drop it off in Chicago or do you need to bring it back to the place where you rented it?

Some rental companies allow this, but you're subject to a steep drop charge. Personally, I wouldn't recommend doing this.

[realjd]

Rental car companies piss me off. My mom always insists on using Hertz, which has a renting station in a strip mall within walking distance of my apartment. They refuse to rent to anyone under 25, nor permit anyone under 25 to drive their cars, regardless of who's actually renting. So, after passing age 18, I can enter a casino and gamble (and work there!), purchase cigarettes, join the U.S. Army, select the President of the United States, and legally enter contracts; upon turning 21 I will be permitted to purchase and consume alcohol, and only four years after that, when I will have been driving for nine years, will I be permitted to rent a car. Does this make sense? Apparently their cars are more difficult to figure out and not wreck than the Electoral College!

All of the car rental companies have this policy, except maybe Enterprise which charges an under-25 surcharge of $50/day. The only exception is if you are working for a company with a rental contract for employee travel. Those contracts usually allow rentals to under 25 if traveling on company business. It sucks, but that's the way it is. Blame the insurance companies.

[oscar]

There were cars I rented from Dollar and Enterprise that had a contract that disallowed taking the car outside the state it was rented in and surrounding states - the latest one from Enterprise in California (Sac-town) said Oregon and Nevada.

Its in the fine print.

This Enterprise location definitely allows you to take it to all 48 states- you just have to tell them which ones ahead of time

The Enterprise at the Baton Rouge airport tried to limit me to the state of Louisiana.  I objected, since I had business in both Baton Rouge and Monroe, and the fastest route between the two cuts through Mississippi.  They relented, and added Mississippi to the geographic restriction.

True, the following weekend I drove almost to Texas, and almost to Alabama, so there was much more mileage than they hoped for, though they didn't complain about that.  (Nor on some of my other long rental car adventures, such as one trip about 4000 miles from San Diego to San Jose via Portland and Lake Tahoe.) 

[corco]

All of the big car rental companies allow this, and I've never had a rental contract that wasn't unlimited mileage. I tend to stick with the big names though that cater to business travelers. National is my favorite, Hertz and Avis are decent as well. You may have a "one-way rental" surcharge, but not always. They tend to be more lenient with the one-way surcharge if both points are within the same state.

Budget, Dollar, Thrifty, and Enterprise are discount car rental companies. The cars are cheap and in poor condition (most Enterprise cars don't even have cruise control!), service is bad, and they sometimes throw in hidden mileage caps and the like. Avoid them at all costs.

I've never had any problems with at least Enterprise, and even in getting their bargain basement cars, all have had cruise control

All of the car rental companies have this policy, except maybe Enterprise which charges an under-25 surcharge of $50/day. The only exception is if you are working for a company with a rental contract for employee travel. Those contracts usually allow rentals to under 25 if traveling on company business. It sucks, but that's the way it is. Blame the insurance companies.

This is incorrect as of about 10 years ago. As someone who rents frequently as an under-25er, I can tell you matter-of-factly that Enterprise's default fee for renters 21-24 is $15/day, waivable at many locations near college campuses. Most of the major rental car places now will rent to 21-24 for about $25-35/day. In the last year I've rented from Hertz in Boise (multiple times), National in Seattle, and Enterprise in Laramie WY (multiple times) and have never been turned down.

[Truvelo]

I've rental cars in North America on several occasions and they've never come with geographical restrictions apart from Mexico and some that don't allow travel within NYC. As someone mentioned earlier, perhaps it's because I've always picked the cars up at airports. Canadian cars can also be driven within the lower 48.

I've rented one way on one occasion and the surcharge doubled the rate but as it was in a small city they only had a couple of cars so I got a minivan even though I pre-booked a full size sedan. I seem to do well for free upgrades. Last year in Phoenix after waiting for an hour because the line was outside the door I ended up with an SUV because they had no full size cars left.

Here in Europe there's also discrimination against younger drivers. 23-25 seems to be the cut-off age with 21-24 being subject to a surcharge. As others have said, it's because statistics show that young drivers are a higher risk and it's obvious the rental car companies don't want their cars being returned wrecked.

[hm insulators]

In 1993, I wanted to drive from Los Angeles to Denver, Colorado for a convention of insulator collectors, and I knew my poor old 1979 Dodge wouldn't be able to make the trip, so I went to National and rented an Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera, I think it was. I told them I wanted to use the car for a very long road trip through several states, and it was no problem. I drove that car about 5000 miles, through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and down the length of California. Had a great trip and added some nice insulators to my collection.

[realjd]

I've never had any problems with at least Enterprise, and even in getting their bargain basement cars, all have had cruise control

I've only used Enterprise a few times, but I've never had cruise, power windows, or anything like that. Maybe I'm just unlucky, but these have always been "intermediate" level cars. My other problem with them has been with how long it takes to get a car. With most of the big name companies, they're either right at the airport terminal or within a short (< 5 minute) bus ride. Enterprise in my experience is always at least a 15-30 minute bus ride from the terminal. Then, when you get there, you have to wait in 3 different lines: the line at the counter, the line to be walked to your car, and the line at the parking lot attendant. One time it even took over 2 hours from when I got on the shuttle bus at the airport until I left the parking lot with my car! Compare this to National where I walk out, pick out a car, then wait maybe 5 minutes tops to leave the lot, or Hertz where I walk to the parking spot listed on my reservation and again wait maybe 5 minutes to leave the lot.

My Enterprise experiences were always in big cities and always when there was a big event going on which resulted in the other companies being sold out. The absolute worst was when I had to make a last-minute trip to San Diego during ComiCon. Flights were sold out, cars were sold out, hotels were sold out, it was a mess! I was really confused about it until I actually got to San Diego and realized it was the week of ComiCon.

This is incorrect as of about 10 years ago. As someone who rents frequently as an under-25er, I can tell you matter-of-factly that Enterprise's default fee for renters 21-24 is $15/day, waivable at many locations near college campuses. Most of the major rental car places now will rent to 21-24 for about $25-35/day. In the last year I've rented from Hertz in Boise (multiple times), National in Seattle, and Enterprise in Laramie WY (multiple times) and have never been turned down.

I stand corrected about the under-25 surcharge. It's been a while since I've had to deal with this.