lisaspier

My 21 year old daughter will be working in Los Angeles this summer (June, July and August). She needs a car, as she is living near the USC campus downtown but will be working near West Hollywood. Does anyone know of a relatively inexpensive car rental/lleasing company or plan that would accommodate a 21 yr old with a clean driving record for about $1000 for the 90 day period? She is a rising senior and does not need a car during the school year and is unsure where she will be after graduation, so we prefer not to purchase a car at this time.

thanks for any advice!

lws

PaulRabe

Found this via Google{R}

http://www.supercheapcar.com/

I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA if they are reputable, but they do seem to have the rentals you are looking for.

janisj

Just did a dummy booking w/ that website for june 5 - Aug 24 (just plugged in dates not knowing exactly how long she actually needs it) and the cost is one to two thousand dollars over your budget, depending on the drive area. To get just over $2200 she would ONLY be allowed to drive in LA and Orange counties and it would be an older used car. If she wanted to drive anywhere else at all the base rate would be about $3000. If she needs it for the full 3 months it would be more.

If you don't want to pay that much, nor buy a car - uber/lyft might be the better option.

marvelousmouse

Is she sure that transit will not work for her? Perhaps a combo of bicycle and transit?

Ride transit for the majority of the trip and then fill in the gaps at both ends on her bike.

Surfergirl

If your daughter doesn't get parking included in the job, it will cost a small fortune to park it. West Hollywood has the all time worst street parking (the street signs are almost as long as War & Peace).

So if it were me (or my son), I'd invest in the Tap card and an uber icon. She could take the Expo line from USC to La Cienega and then take the bus north (the 705 Metro Bus) to West Hollywood or take an uber from the La Cienega station. The tap card can be used on all light rail, underground subways, and all bus service (Big Blue Bus, Metro Bus, and Culver City bus lines). That's how we get from the UCLA area downtown.

Jean

I agree with Surfergirl. Unless her housing near USC comes with secure parking, she'll have parking issues (security, cost) at both ends.

FYI, Metro Bus #705 doesn't operate on weekends or holidays, but there are others that run between the La Cienega metro station and West Hollywood, or possibly a combo of buses from USC to WeHo would work better depending on where in WeHo.

www.metro.net

fmpden

You cannot rent a bicycle for $10/day. Lets be realistic.

Jean

If a car makes more sense, contact Rent-a-Wreck. It's not as bad as it sounds. You can check Yelp and Google reviews.

http://www.rentawreckla.com/index.html

janisj

Even rent-a-wreck will run at least $20 per day (probably more for a young driver). That is well over the OP's budget.

marvelousmouse

And parking would easily double budget anyway...

Inakauaidavidababy

never mind insurance

janisj

lisaspier: The upshot is . . . there is no place that will rent her a car for $11 per day. And when you add in parking costs you would have to budget at least $3000 for three months of car expenses.

janisj

oops - meant to add . . . buying an old car is looking better . . .

janisj

. . . BUT you'd still have the parking problem.

marvelousmouse

How many days a week does she work? I never found zip car worth the money but it might work out for her. Often they have presence on campus.

DebbieDoesDulles

Hertz is $800 per month and no underage fee if she becomes an AAA member.

Enterprise is about $600 per month but $20 per day underage fee, I think they wave it for children/grandchildren of the military if you join USAA.

That's a tough commute by bus, over an hour. I don't know if Expo Line from USC could drop her within reasonable Uber distance of her office in West Hollywood. She could also check with her office about carpooling..even if it means taking Expo Line then connecting to someone with a car.

You'll also have to check with your own car insurance to see if she's covered for that long of a car rental. The collision coverage from your credit card does not cover such a long rental.

marvelousmouse

Is that with taxes and fees, Debbie? Just wondering- I don't know about hertz, but that looks awfully low for enterprise to me. At least for LA.

Tabernash2

This is a long shot, but it's possible there might be a college student who would like to lease their car out for the summer. It's worth posting an ad at USC, or other campus sites.

When DS was in college in LA, he had a car his last two years. The summer after his junior year, we were perplexed what to do with his car while he was at home in another state. We didn't want the expense of driving it back and forth, and putting the miles on the car.

We did find a private garage to rent for the summer, which was cheaper than driving it home and back, but that took a lot of looking to find storage.

RoamsAround

"Leasing" a car from a college student (or any private individual) is not at all viable. You have all sorts of insurance and liability issues. The owner's standard car insurance will be negated since he/she is not "in busines" and does not have separate business liability insurance. They would have to purchase a business liability policy otherwise the car owner can be held liable for and damage or injury to third parties caused by the lessee. The cost for the policy would undoubtedly be passed on to the lessee. The lessee would also have to arrange for her own liability insurance and most likely the car owner would also want lessee to insure against physical damage to the car. All this costs money.

OP is dreaming if she thinks she can rent a car from anybody for 3 months for $1,000.

Tabernash2

Sure, it would cost money, RoamsAround, but it might be the only alternative.