# Hiring a car in the US. Advice needed.



## skyscraper101 (Jul 21, 2009)

Situation: I have to go to a conference in Palm Springs (California) in October which is about four days long and it seems the easiest way to get there is to fly to LA and drive 2-3 hours to Palm Springs. I could also fly to its regional airport but I think it would cost a fair bit and I'd prefer to drive it anyway to be honest.

However, given I'll be needing to get back to LA after the fourth day I'll likely need to hire a car for both journeys and I don't know much about how car hire works in the US which is where I'd appreciate the advice. 

So should I just hire one for 4 days to get there and back with, or could I do two separate hire cars each way (if indeed you can do one-way car hire between LAX and Palm Springs).

If anyone has any advice or recommendations. I'd be very grateful. Ta.


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## Griff (Jul 21, 2009)

Only ever hired in a car in the States once - LA. The only advice I'd give is to book if first then upgrade once you're there as upgrades seemed to be much easier and cheaper once you're at the pick up point.

Got an upgrade from a shit-box Ford to a Cadillac V8 for next to nothing. 

Great for driving to Vegas in.


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## mattie (Jul 21, 2009)

I looked into 1-way hire from New York to Florida, v expensive, so much so that - when combined with premium for open-jaw flights - we drove there and back.  2,500 miles or so, brilliant fun but I'd have preferred one-way.

Dropping the cars off can also be a pain if you're not connecting to some other transport form  - I dropped the car off at New Jersey airport to have a day in New York, it took most of the morning, and as they had no other place to drop it in that area I would have been better served dropping it at the time of catching the flight.  You can pay a premium to have someone do it for you, but costs rack up.

Also, having a car in the US - especially outside of large metropolitan areas like New York - is very handy indeed, so keeping it may open up some possibilities that are sadly quite difficult otherwise.  Florida would have been awful without a car.


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## beeboo (Jul 21, 2009)

The only way to know is to plug your details into an online car hire website or two and see how the figures stack up.  Also factor in what car parking for 4 days will cost you.

Sometimes they'll charge you a massive premium for one-way hire, other times not, it depends how inconvenient it is for the car hire company to have their car end up in a different location.  

Seeing as you're not leaving the state, I imagine it might not be too expensive for you to do a one way hire, but I might be wrong.

Another thing to check out is exactly where the pick-up and drop-off locations are.  Sometimes large hotels have car hire drop-off within the building.  Last time we hired a car in the states, we drove into the hotel, left the keys with the valet and then just had to sign a bit of paper work at the desk - couldn't have been easier.


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## fractionMan (Jul 21, 2009)

When I hired in California one way would have cost loads more.  Just hire the car for a week, it'll be cheaper.


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## skyscraper101 (Jul 21, 2009)

K thanks everyone. Can't believe how much cheaper it is to hire a car there is. May as well just have it for a few days I guess.


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## mhendo (Jul 21, 2009)

As others have said, one-way rentals are generally much more expensive.

As far as cost goes, remember that the prices you are quoted on rental company websites generally do not include any kind of insurance. If you add all the insurance options, it can almost double the price of a cheap rental.

You can go without any insurance at all, of course, but then you're on the hook if anything happens to the car. Here in the US, having your own auto insurance often covers you for rentals. So, our car in San Diego is insured, and if we need to rent a car in Florida or New York or wherever, our own insurance will cover us on the rental. If you own a car in the UK, see if your insurance covers overseas rentals. Also, some credit cards (Visa, AmEx, etc.) offer some limited insurance for car rental. But make sure you confirm exactly what is covered.

check out these links for some advice (The Consumerist is a consumer-oriented website):

Save When Renting sCars
Which Credit Cards Have the Best Rental Car Insurance?
Car Rental Tips from a Pro
9 Confessions from a Former Enterprise Rental Salesman

Also, in my experience, it's often considerably more expensive to rent a car from airport locations than from regular rental car locations. If you're renting in LA, check out the LAX locations, and compare the prices with some downtown or suburban LA locations. If there's a difference, you can then decide whether the money you save is worth the extra cost/hassle of getting from the airport to the location.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 21, 2009)

skyscraper101 said:


> Situation: I have to go to a conference in Palm Springs (California) in October which is about four days long and it seems the easiest way to get there is to fly to LA and drive 2-3 hours to Palm Springs. I could also fly to its regional airport but I think it would cost a fair bit and I'd prefer to drive it anyway to be honest.
> 
> However, given I'll be needing to get back to LA after the fourth day I'll likely need to hire a car for both journeys and I don't know much about how car hire works in the US which is where I'd appreciate the advice.
> 
> ...



You should rent it for the full 4 days. It will probably be cheaper than trying to get two one-way rentals. The vast majority of car renting here, is just by the day/s, and not by the trip. They like it when the car comes back to the place it was rented from.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 21, 2009)

Also, if you have the car for the full time, you can do some exploring around the area: it's quite scenic there, lots of attractions.


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## Gavin Bl (Jul 21, 2009)

sounds like you might be doing this anyway, but I would book the car while still in the UK, it is less complicated, and when proper insurance is included, the same price or cheaper than booking in the US.

And I would suggest taking the insurance they offer in the UK, which (short of drink driving and stuff like that) is fully comprehensive. i.e. you total the car, and have no bill. I would be wary of relying on your UK insurance, its a complication that could be difficult if you were to have a bump.

Hire a car for the full period, its a total no-brainer, there's so much fantastic stuff to drive to round there, even if you only have the odd afternoon free.


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## skyscraper101 (Jul 21, 2009)

Cheers.

I should point out that I have no insurance in the UK as I don't drive here at the moment, so I'll have to just take the short term policy on offer. But I'll probably just sort it out in advance from here as I don't really want to be messing around with it all after a long flight.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Jul 22, 2009)

skyscraper101 said:


> Cheers.
> 
> I should point out that I have no insurance in the UK as I don't drive here at the moment, so I'll have to just take the short term policy on offer. But I'll probably just sort it out in advance from here as I don't really want to be messing around with it all after a long flight.



They make it really simple. The insurance coverage can be tacked on as a daily add-on to the basic rental rate. But you're right: the reservation can of course be made in advance at the rental company website. I just did so today.


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## Fuchs66 (Jul 22, 2009)

skyscraper101 said:


> K thanks everyone. Can't believe how much cheaper it is to hire a car there is. May as well just have it for a few days I guess.



Yep hired a car for a bit of a road trip round the east coast, Niagara etc earlier this year, it is really cheap and extremely convenient. Definately book it before you get there though, saves hassle and money.


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## kyser_soze (Jul 22, 2009)

Just remember to get the equivalent of excess insurance cover, as well as CDW...and yeah, I echo what JC2 said, keep the car and go exploring around the area - Palm Springs is lovely, and the whole region is worth taking a trip around.


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## HobgoblinMan (Jul 22, 2009)

Every time I hear about Palm Springs, I just think "Spring Break!!!". If the world of shit Hollywood cinema has taught me anything, it is that Palm Springs and Spring Break are the same thing. I bet Skyscraper's "conference" is something to do with an International Wet T-Shirt Contest Olympic bid for 2012 or something very very similar.


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## skyscraper101 (Jul 22, 2009)

kyser_soze said:


> Just remember to get the equivalent of excess insurance cover, as well as CDW...and yeah, I echo what JC2 said, keep the car and go exploring around the area - Palm Springs is lovely, and the whole region is worth taking a trip around.



CDW is Collision Damage Waiver right? Yeah, keeping the car seems the best choice to go exploring if I get the chance.



HobgoblinMan said:


> Every time I hear about Palm Springs, I just think "Spring Break!!!". If the world of shit Hollywood cinema has taught me anything, it is that Palm Springs and Spring Break are the same thing. I bet Skyscraper's "conference" is something to do with an International Wet T-Shirt Contest Olympic bid for 2012 or something very very similar.



lol. If only! It's an in-flight entertainment conference. Lots of spoddy types with interactive airline seat cinema systems most likely. Just what I want to be discussing about after two long haul flights I'm sure.


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## kyser_soze (Jul 22, 2009)

HobgoblinMan said:


> Every time I hear about Palm Springs, I just think "Spring Break!!!". If the world of shit Hollywood cinema has taught me anything, it is that Palm Springs and Spring Break are the same thing. I bet Skyscraper's "conference" is something to do with an International Wet T-Shirt Contest Olympic bid for 2012 or something very very similar.



He he, whenvere I hear Palm Springs I think 'rich retirees, liposuction and ludicrously hot winds'


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## JWH (Aug 1, 2009)

Make sure to check whether the price you are being given includes all the daily use fees, taxes, surcharges, carpet tacks and all that shit. holidayautos.co.uk for example often turns out to be cheapest, with the advantage that (IIRC) they include the insurance, taxes, everything all up front.

also, do consider getting/taking a GPS esp if you can charge it to expenses - much easier than using crappy US maps in featureless grid towns.

Book the cheapest class: there's a pretty good chance you will be upgraded one class (because they don't often have many of the very smallest class anyway) and further upgrades are cheap. 

Alternatively, join something like Hertz #1 Gold Club (which is perennially running a "membership fee waived" promotion) which usually gets you an upgrade and a couple of free days' rental: https://www.hertz.com/rentacar/emember/join/index.jsp?targetPage=clubsOverView.jsp


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