Car Hire

Save yourself time and money and organize the car hire yourself. There are a couple of great, all inclusive sights that I have come across that you can use that make the process pretty simple. One of the important things in hiring a car, is to have a plan of your travels. This obviously allows you to organize the car rental.

Here are some tips to make your money go further

Hiring a car will cost you less in the long run as apposed to doing transfers to and from the airport unless you are staying around the airport. In that case, there will more than likely be a free shuttle that runs between the airport and the accommodation. Be aware that sometimes, the shuttles don’t run the times you need. We had this problem in San Diego where we were we flew in late and then had an early flight out the next day. We would normally stay at a Marriott as I am a member and I did book that hotel but after some closer investigation, and that was only a couple of days before we were travelling, I realized that the airports shuttle didn’t operate the time we landed or took off. That wasn’t going to work so I looked in to other hotels nearby and we ended up staying in a similar priced hotel only an 8 minute walk from the airport although we did take the shuttle. It was 10.30pm after a long day flying from Florida to San Diego with a connecting flight in the middle so no one was in the mood to walk……except for me of course! The lesson here is do your research and understand what needs to happen vs what is the reality and then you won’t run into little problems like we almost did.
Buy a satellite navigation system in the US from Walmart (like our Kmart), target (like our target) or similar or you can always buy one off one of the US websites and have it shipped before you leave. Firstly, they are cheap. You can find them as low as $70 US. You may be thinking you can use your mobile but the data rates are crazy if you use your own phone in roaming. You can also buy sim cards before you leave and then use your navigation on your phone. I find it very easy to have the sat nav and it’s more than paid for itself. I’ve even lent it out to family when they go!
Petrol – Unless you know you can actually bring your rental car back empty, DON’T get the prepaid fuel. When you get to the counter to pick up your car, they will try and sell it to you. You can get all inclusive packages which includes fuel on the car rental sights but you need to look into what’s the best for your trip. If you are only doing short trips, you’d be better to fill the car up yourself before dropping it off.
When at the counter, talk up that you have a few bags. I have been upgraded to a bigger and nicer vehicle in the past at no charge. In saying that, they also will try and get you to upgrade so you spend more. If you want to upgrade and they want to charge, haggle. I did the same when we came back from our cruise and were driving to Orlando from Fort Lauderdale. Our luggage had grown considerably over the few weeks we had already been there so a smaller car was going to be tight. I was offered a bigger car for an extra $150 for the week and declined. I was prepared to spend $50 and after going back and forth, we got a much better vehicle, in fact it was brand new and had satellite included for less that $60. So saved $90 and had a really nice car!
Make sure you know if there are any parking costs at the place you are staying. The prices at some hotels and resorts can reach $40 per day!
Be aware that airports have different places to pick up and drop off you rental. For example, when renting a car from Dollar in Honolulu, the rental yard is not in the airport like other car rental places. You need to take a shuttle to the yard. When returning the car it saves time your back and money, to drop the family off at the airport with the luggage and then return the car yourself. It will also save you a few bucks tipping the driver unless you’re my wife who ‘forgets’ to tip!

One way rentals

In the US, there are a few destinations that allow you to pick up the car from one location and drop it off to another location without a one way fee. You can get one way rentals in Florida and between LA and Las vegas.

If you are not going to drive or are not confident enough to drive in the states then it’s going to be important to know the different options to get around. Our first trip was all public transport and as much as it was an experience, I wouldn’t do it again unless we were going to somewhere like New York or Chicago and planned to stay around the city.

Which rental company to use? When using booking systems like rentalcars.com, you can pick what vehicle you like and from whichever company you prefer. See example.

In the early days, before booking a hire car, I’d look up and see what the reviews were like. In most cases all companies had both good and bad reviews. For the majority of my rentals, I have used dollar rent a car. They are well priced and I have never had a problem with them other than a lengthy wait once at Fort Lauderdale when we were heading on a cruise.

These sites offer a great range of suppliers, vehicles and packages.