Car rental advice

ryanjoachim

I'm driving to Indiana for my cousin's wedding this summer, and flying back the day after.

I was thinking of renting a car from the airport and driving home, since flights can sometimes be unpredictable time frame-wise. My question is this:

If the companies available to rent from at the airport don't have a branch in my hometown...what are my options?

For example, my hometown has Enterprise, but the airport doesn't. The airport has Budget, but my hometown doesn't.

skipf

If you're living in McMinnville, can't you have someone pick you up in Portland? Check on the one way fees too, they can be quite spendy. Enterprise might not have an airport location, but may well have one close by, and they "pick you up".

ryanjoachim

skipf wrote: »

If you're living in McMinnville, can't you have someone pick you up in Portland? Check on the one way fees too, they can be quite spendy. Enterprise might not have an airport location, but may well have one close by, and they "pick you up".

I could have someone pick me up, but I'm not sure when the plane is supposed to arrive yet (cousin bought the tickets). If the plane lands at 3am, for instance, I wouldn't want someone at the airport waiting for an hour or more to pick me up.

And thanks for reminding me about Enterprise's "pick you up" service. I had totally forgotten about that.

exalted512

cab service too expensive?
-Cody

Slaine777

My experience has been that you can only return one way car rentals to airport locations. It worked out for me; I drove to the airport, put my car in long term parking, flew out, drove back. Now, there are a couple of other things to think about. First, with a one way plane ticket you will get "special screening". Second, when I did this I had called the rental agency the night before to verify the car I was getting. I was assured everything was fine. When I got to the rental desk the only car they had available for me was one with license plates local to my area.

codyc1ark

One ways usually tend to include a pretty heafty drop fee, Enterprise will pick you up, but only if there location is close, then they'll have to haul you back to the branch and cut you loose from there most of the time. Any time you rent, tell them you are with whatever insurance company that you are with, and ask them if they can provide that rate, a lot of times they'll give you the discounted rate. Good luck.

bobman1235

Slaine777 wrote: »

First, with a one way plane ticket you will get "special screening".

I really don't think thisis true anymore, since "round trip" tickets are meaningless nowadays. You pretty much always just buy "one-way" tickets for each direction if you buy your tickets online, there's no more discount for round-trip.

ryanjoachim

exalted512 wrote: »

cab service too expensive?
-Cody

I never even thought to check on a cab...I have no idea what the fare would be for a 1 hour drive.

bobman1235

ryanjoachim wrote: »

I never even thought to check on a cab...I have no idea what the fare would be for a 1 hour drive.

Also check to see if you have any airport shuttles that go near your house. Those things are like 20 bucks, and typically run every hour or so, and just drop you off in some parking lot or bus terminal or whatever.

And while you're at it, here's a horribly designed website that does have some good deals on rentals that I've used once or twice : http://www.rentalcodes.com/index.html

ryanjoachim

bobman1235 wrote: »

Also check to see if you have any airport shuttles that go near your house. Those things are like 20 bucks, and typically run every hour or so, and just drop you off in some parking lot or bus terminal or whatever.

And while you're at it, here's a horribly designed website that does have some good deals on rentals that I've used once or twice : http://www.rentalcodes.com/index.html

Boy, you weren't kidding when you said "horribly designed", were you? I'll dig around there and see what pops up.

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the shuttle. Current pricing would be around $86 to get me home...depending on how much a rental would be, this might be the way to go.

And typical cab fare looks to be at least $100.

bobman1235

ryanjoachim wrote: »

Oh, and thanks for the tip on the shuttle. Current pricing would be around $86 to get me home...depending on how much a rental would be, this might be the way to go.

Holy crap. I live about an hour from Boston Logan, and the shuttle cost me 20 bucks.

ryanjoachim

bobman1235 wrote: »

Holy crap. I live about an hour from Boston Logan, and the shuttle cost me 20 bucks.

Yeah, not sure why it costs so much.

Enterprise would cost me $75 1-way fee, plus $20-30 an hour...so probably not going to go that route.

Jstas

ryanjoachim wrote: »

Yeah, not sure why it costs so much.

Enterprise would cost me $75 1-way fee, plus $20-30 an hour...so probably not going to go that route.

Why it costs so much?!?! What are you talking about? I had an hour drive from San Fran International and the cab fare would have been about 95 bucks. A shuttle was $49. $20 for an hour drive in a shuttle is a bargain! A cab would be 3-5 times as much.

ryanjoachim

Hey, I'm just going by what Google and the guy at Enterprise tells me.

megasat16

+1 on finding a shuttle from Airport to the place near your home.

But why can't you just call someone to pick you up at the airport after you arrived to the airport so the pickup party doesn't need to wait you for untimely flight arrival.

Or you can just call the person 15 minutes before the flight left from the origin airport and let them know the flight is late or on time.

It even works for me for International Trips.

ryanjoachim

megasat16 wrote: »

+1 on finding a shuttle from Airport to the place near your home.

But why can't you just call someone to pick you up at the airport after you arrived to the airport so the pickup party doesn't need to wait you for untimely flight arrival.

Or you can just call the person 15 minutes before the flight left from the origin airport and let them know the flight is late or on time.

It even works for me for International Trips.

I'll probably just end up having someone pick me up depending on when the flight lands, but I like to know my options just in case.

Gadabout

Just have the person sign up for flight notifications for your arrival flight. It will start sending text or voice mail as you depart or at a time interval before arrival. It will update and send a new one every time there is a delay or gate change if any.

That way they can plan their departure to be at the airport regardless of what happens.

The other option would be just to book a cheap hotel close to the airport and have them pick you up in the morning.

Scott