One way car rental

[Truvelo]

Can anyone tell me if it's standard practice in the car rental industry to charge excessive fees for one way rentals? A quick Googling reveals most companies charge $300+ and it varies according to distance. I'm considering a trip from Denver to Boise via Yellowstone and Spokane. I don't want to cover the same ground which is why I would prefer a one way rental. However I'm not happy with the charges. If anyone can help me reduce the cost it would be appreciated.

[oscar]

Alas, the best way to minimize the one-way charges is unavailable to you -- to travel where and when the rental car companies want to move some of their inventory (such as from New England to Florida in the autumn).  I doubt there's any such seasonal inventory shift between Denver and Boise.  Also, a one-way rental guarantees that you'll be using a lot of your unlimited mileage, and that you won't be a dream renter who pays for unlimited mileage but never leaves town, so that gives the rental car company another reason to ding you if they can. 

I had good luck with National a long time ago with a one-way from San Diego to San Jose, but I'm guessing that might've changed or doesn't apply to your routing.   OTOH, Hertz wanted $400 extra for a one-way rental between Maui and Oahu in Hawaii (during the brief period when the late Hawaii Superferry was running, so you could do an interisland car rental), very short distance but still the hassles of shifting a car from one location's inventory to another and possibly creating an imbalance if the flow went mainly in one direction.

You could do a round-trip out of Denver, passing through Wyoming outbound and through Utah on the return.  Very different driving experiences, little or no backtracking.  And you'll get the pleasure of annoying (with impunity) your rental car company when they see how much mileage you put on their car. 

[realjd]

I've regularly had good luck with National for inexpensive one-way rentals. Google contract codes for National. Some contracted rates are open to everyone (I seem to recall one that all Walmart shoppers qualified for) and will often include free insurance, free Emerald Club, and waived fees.

[Jim]

For me, it's been hit and miss.  I did a one-way rental from TPA to FLL in April.  Fees were not too bad (don't remember exactly, but I bet less than $100 if I agreed to do it).   I also did a one-way rental from FLL to Naples over Thanksgiving.  We were investigating other options because the fees were so high, then suddenly a good rate showed up on a Travelocity search so I booked it immediately.  I don't think it cost much more than bringing it back to FLL in the end.  My advice is to keep checking and perhaps you'll catch a deal.  In the FLL to Naples rental, this was returning to an off-airport location.  Returning to APF or even RSW were prohibitively expensive, if I remember right.

[txstateends]

I worked for a Dollar Rent-a-car place in Amarillo for a time.  They had to send me once to Albuquerque to pick up a one-way.  I got there, and one of the tires was flat.  I asked them if they could fix the tire, they said they couldn't till the next morning.  I had to stay over that night and wait.  I knew it was about 300 miles back to Amarillo but I didn't know what kind of road conditions and countryside was along I-40 since I hadn't driven it before.  I'm glad I didn't try the doughnut tire since I-40 is mostly desolate and I've never tried to drive a car with a doughnut spare that far before.  So the local rent-a-car was out the availability of having the car to rent, and me being gone till I could drive the car back.  I didn't last very long at that place; it was basically a seat-of-the-pants operation and the manager was younger than me and a real d-bag.  Eventually it went bankrupt (what a surprise).

Anyway, I'd rather not pay an inflated one-way price but I can kinda understand now why they charge it.

[realjd]

For me, it's been hit and miss.  I did a one-way rental from TPA to FLL in April.  Fees were not too bad (don't remember exactly, but I bet less than $100 if I agreed to do it).   I also did a one-way rental from FLL to Naples over Thanksgiving.  We were investigating other options because the fees were so high, then suddenly a good rate showed up on a Travelocity search so I booked it immediately.  I don't think it cost much more than bringing it back to FLL in the end.  My advice is to keep checking and perhaps you'll catch a deal.  In the FLL to Naples rental, this was returning to an off-airport location.  Returning to APF or even RSW were prohibitively expensive, if I remember right.

I thought it was supposed to be illegal to charge a one-way rental fee on intra-Florida rentals but I can't find any proof of that so it may be a rumor.



Some relevant links to discount discussions from FlyerTalk:

National - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/national/851283-new-discount-contract-ids-coupons-thread-78.html

Avis - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/344152-avis-discount-codes-184.html

Hertz - http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hertz/1107806-few-good-coupon-codes-just-post-codes-here-22.html

FlyerTalk is a great source for stuff like this and I'm sure you can find coupon codes or discounts that waive the one-way fee, or at least get the base rate down low enough that you don't notice it.

[Jim]

It may well be illegal to add a specific fee for a one-way rental, but the rates that come up even intra-Florida are often significantly higher for one-ways.  Maybe they just get around it by rolling it into the base rental price.

[Truvelo]

I need some help again.

I'll be driving from Yuma, AZ to Phoenix so I'll need a one way rental. Hertz seems to be the only company giving quotes and the prices vary wildly between hertz.com and hertz.co.uk where the US site includes a hefty drop fee for one way rentals whereas the UK site doesn't show a drop fee. I tried hypothetical rentals covering longer distances such as Yuma-Denver and Yuma-Boston and the UK site shows a drop fee for these of $100 and $500 respectively. Does this mean foreigners don't pay drop fees where the pickup and return points are only a few hundred miles apart? Hertz's policy clearly states all fees payable will be shown at the time of booking so I take this to mean I shouldn't be in for a nasty surprise when I collect the car.

[AsphaltPlanet]

I looked at doing a one way rental through Enterprise from San Diego to San Francisco earlier this year.  I didn't end up booking that exact trip, but their one way rentals were quite reasonable.

[agentsteel53]

And you'll get the pleasure of annoying (with impunity) your rental car company when they see how much mileage you put on their car.

and bill them when you change the oil!  I once put 17000 miles on a car in 21 days, and I sent them the receipts for two synthetic oil changes and they reimbursed me.  I'll bet I'm on their blacklist forever, though...

[PHLBOS]

I looked at doing a one way rental through Enterprise from San Diego to San Francisco earlier this year.  I didn't end up booking that exact trip, but their one way rentals were quite reasonable.

I didn't know that Enterprise even offered one-way rentals.  I know they didn't offer such at all in 2005 when I did a one-way rental from SEA to PDX.  Lack of one-way rentals was (or now used to be) one of the disadvantages w/renting w/Enterprise. 

I wonder when they started offering such?

[realjd]

I need some help again.

I'll be driving from Yuma, AZ to Phoenix so I'll need a one way rental. Hertz seems to be the only company giving quotes and the prices vary wildly between hertz.com and hertz.co.uk where the US site includes a hefty drop fee for one way rentals whereas the UK site doesn't show a drop fee. I tried hypothetical rentals covering longer distances such as Yuma-Denver and Yuma-Boston and the UK site shows a drop fee for these of $100 and $500 respectively. Does this mean foreigners don't pay drop fees where the pickup and return points are only a few hundred miles apart? Hertz's policy clearly states all fees payable will be shown at the time of booking so I take this to mean I shouldn't be in for a nasty surprise when I collect the car.

I've had good luck with National, Europcar's partner in the US. Check both National and Europcar's websites. Even though the both book through the same locations worldwide, they often have different rates. I did a one-way rental in Australia BNE-SYD and Europcar didn't charge a one-way fee but National did. On an upcoming trip to the UK, National's rates are about half as much as Europcar's for renting out of LHR and about 25% less than Avis and Hertz.

[froggie]

I didn't know that Enterprise even offered one-way rentals.  I know they didn't offer such at all in 2005 when I did a one-way rental from SEA to PDX.

That's odd, since I did a one-way Enterprise rental from Mayport, FL to Norfolk, VA after my 2005 deployment (it's how we got back to our parent command after the ship pulled in).

[sammi]

My get-home-from-Michigan car was from Enterprise. Ann Arbor to Toronto. Exchanged it for an Ontario plate at YYZ.

Tangentially relevant: The Michigan car they didn't clean thoroughly and had bullets in it, which we only found when we got across the border. Lucky we didn't get inspected at the border (although in my experience Canada doesn't even do that; we got through in like 45 seconds).

[formulanone]

And you'll get the pleasure of annoying (with impunity) your rental car company when they see how much mileage you put on their car.

and bill them when you change the oil!  I once put 17000 miles on a car in 21 days, and I sent them the receipts for two synthetic oil changes and they reimbursed me.  I'll bet I'm on their blacklist forever, though...

Having worked a lube-and-tire shop that serviced rentals, we also didn't give them much of a discount on oil and filter changes. Some customers could wave a coupon to get better deals for their own vehicles...although if you took it to the dealership, the rental companies hate that.

although we did have customers bring in rental cars that needed an oil change (for example, customers who rented cars for 3-6 months at a time), and if they called up, they'd tell them which nationwide-brand to go to, and we'd charge it to their account via unit number after we called in for a fairly quick approval.

The drawback is if you get some doofus who hates dealing with "national accounts", who can't be bothered to make the easiest sale in the repair business.

[usends]

My anecdote: a little over a year ago, I did a one-way rental in the L.A. area (picked up at one airport, dropped at another).  The online reservation made no mention of a one-way drop charge.  When I dropped the car, they tried to tack on a one-way fee, but when I showed them a printout of the reservation, they dropped the extra charge.

[PHLBOS]

I didn't know that Enterprise even offered one-way rentals.  I know they didn't offer such at all in 2005 when I did a one-way rental from SEA to PDX.

That's odd, since I did a one-way Enterprise rental from Mayport, FL to Norfolk, VA after my 2005 deployment (it's how we got back to our parent command after the ship pulled in).

Enterprise may have only offered such for certain regions back then.  All I know is I could not book such w/Enterprise back then for my SEA-PDX run.  IIRC, I even called them to verify and was told that they (Enterprise) did not do one-way rentals period.

I even tried to do a mock one-way PVD-BDL (or BDL-PVD) booking and nothing from Enterprise showed up.  I changed it to a r/t booking; Enterprise listings started showing up.

[corco]

Enterprises fleet is entirely franchise based, so it varies randomly. Usually you can rent one way if its the same franchisee on both ends, and then some franchisees have agreements with each other to allow one way rentals between them. Corporate doesnt have much control over it, which is why its so inconsistent (and why rental restrictions are more inconsistent than other companies)

[Truvelo]

My anecdote: a little over a year ago, I did a one-way rental in the L.A. area (picked up at one airport, dropped at another).  The online reservation made no mention of a one-way drop charge.  When I dropped the car, they tried to tack on a one-way fee, but when I showed them a printout of the reservation, they dropped the extra charge.

That seems interesting. As I always bring a printout of the reservation with me I could try doing that if they attempt to add additional charges.

[corco]

I think that works pretty well- those charges are entirely arbitrary and if you have a confirmed printout you would have a legitimate complaint with the company. I rented a car a year or so ago and they were going to overcharge me for underage fees- the fee online said per rental period and at the branch when i went to get the car they said it would be per day. I pointed this out and as a goodwill gesture she actually waived the underage fee completely.