I don't have enough info on how you plan to use the car (leisurely trip between Boston and NYC/whatever), but this suggestion might help. Take megabus from Boston to NYC, and rent a car in NYC.

Those are standard rates. Unlike other parts of the country where car rentals are dirt cheap, prices in the NE generally run over $100 per day for anything except rent-a-wreck (not recommended). And dropping off in another city always costs more.

The question is - do you really need a car? If you want to see the countryside/small towns between Boston and NYC a car makes sense. If you just want to get from Boston to NYC the train is a much better option. And there are also low costs buses.

Do you belong to AAA? Go to their page (as opposed to claiming a AAA discount on a car-rental site) and see if you can do any better booking directly through them.

But we do need to know what you're thinking re: the use of this car - dates, your itinerary, etc.

If it were me, I'd try to pic up the car somewhere after Logan or drop it off somewhere short of JFK (Providence, Hartford, New Haven, etc.) and take alternative transport -- one-way rentals airport-to-airport are almost always outrageously expensive. You might find that train or bus are cheaper than a day's rental.

Thanks so much for your responses!

We are planning to see some colleges in the area, so renting a car is our only option.

I was able to get frequent flyer mile tickets with open jaw, so i grabbed them not realizing the car rental would be so expensive!

HKP -- do you have any advice on how to get to Providence from Logan by train or bus? Our first stop could be Brown. Maybe it will be cheaper to rent there?

Or even recommendations closer to Logan as to where to rent? Should we cab INTO boston to get a rental?

Our return will have to be at JFK, because we have limited time getting to our flight.

Thanks again.
I really appreciate your help!

dina

Unfortunately, we don't belong to AAA, but that got me to thinking that maybe Costco would have a deal?

Bostonians will have to hone the details for you, but I believe the Silver Line bus will take you from Logan to South Station where you can get a train to Providence. (There may also be bus service directly from Logan to Providence but I don't know as much about that.)

All you can do is put in some time on line to compare rates -- e.g., there may well be a downtown Providence office for some of the car rental agencies to serve students, as well as at the Providence airport.

(btw: I would be less eager to try to go into Boston to find a rental car - you'll spend all day trying to find it -- or at least I would in your situation.)

What week are you talking about? How far ahead are we now?

An afterthought - and NY'ers will have the details here - but depending on time of day, I'm not sure you can count on getting through traffic quickly enough to make returning the car at JFK a better bet than public transport. What is your last stop before your flight?

I had a similar issue last year, when I just wanted to drive from Western MA to Boston in a 1-way rental. The drop off charge was outrageous. unfortunately that seems to be the way it is. You should definitely shop around, but I have a suspicion you won't do enough better to make it worth the trouble of getting mass transit to somewhere else.

I think being a weekend is also part of your problem. Tons of those "city dwellers" are carless and rent a car on the weekend. We've rented one way a couple times between Boston and New York and it was amazingly affordable -- but always with a pickup on Mon or Tues and a drop off on Friday.

June 25-28, so it's still far enough away that maybe rates will drop... what do you think??

neopatrick -- maybe you're right about the wknd rates. bummer.

HKP:
we will be leaving Wesleyan Univ (middletown, connecticut) at 2pm to make a 6:30 flight at JFK

thanks again, everyone, for trying to help...

Just a suggestion but many of the airlines do allow redemption of miles for car rental. Not sure if it's possible with one-way rental, but you may want to call and check with your airline (that is, if you still have some miles in your account).

Good luck!

There is a commuter rail that leaves from both South Station and Back Bay station in Boston and goes to Providence, the trip is about an hour. If the weather is nice, you can walk to Brown from the train station, it's about 20-30 min. If the weather isn't great, there's always cabs at the station and the cab ride will only be about $5-$7.

I'm not sure if there's a train stop near Wesleyan, you'd have to check on that but, if so, you can take the Acela or Amtrak directly from Providence.

thanks again, everyone.

aafrequentflyer... i'm very intrigued by your idea of using miles for a car rental. i do have some left, but not sure where to begin.
will start checking out that option, but let me know if you have any tips...

I agree that you should just take the Commuter Rail from South Station to Providence; you can get the schedule at www.mbta.com . The "Silver Line" is actually a bus that goes around the terminals and then to South Station.

Even if it's not cheaper to rent the car one-way from Providence, you'll at least save a full day of rental fees.

If you tell us your entire schedule (e.g., what's between Brown and Wesleyan), we might have more suggestions for public transit.

I'll be a little bit nervous to leave Middletown, CT at 2pm and have to return a rental car at JFK and fly out there at 6:30pm.

I definitely don't like the time frame for leaving Connecticut and getting to JFK. If you are going to do that, I might suggest the ferry from Conn to Long Island to avoid traffic. Even that though is not so great because if you ferry to Pt Jeff, you still have at least an hour and possibly longer to get JFK. Is it possible to leave earlier?

Googlemaps times the drive at 2 hrs 5 min.

I figured even if we got there at 4:30, took 30 min to return the car, we'd still be at the terminal by 5.

Is that really unrealistic?
Now I have something else to worry about...

Costco DOES have good deals on cars. Go to their website and you can link to the rental companies and plug in the codes that Costco provides.

I just played with your dates on kayak.com, then Alamo/national. Alamo didn't have cars downtown, but referred me to National. Their non- airport location is right next to the Boston Aquarium, so reachable by subway from Logan.
To go Logan-JFK was $556 (economy size)- $576 Midsize
To go Aquarium- JFK was $359 (economy) -$399 midsize

Alamo has a costco discount if you call them, but sometime the web specials are cheaper.

Good luck.

your trip sounds similar to the one we did last spring.

we flew out of sfo with a multi destination air ticket.
rented a car at logan to drive to the colleges around boston and to providence.
dropped the car off near south station boston and hopped on the train to nyc.
there after, it was cabs and subways.

i am doing a similar trip without dh next week but skipping providence.
i am terrified of boston and n.y. traffic so i am relying on the 't' and cabs in boston and instead of the train, i am taking a bus from so. station boston to nyc.
i just realized that it is so much cheaper than amtrak.
if you are booking early enough there is a luxury bus service - limoliner.
unfortunately i could not get 2 tickets on the day i needed.

lcuy -- that's a significant savings!
i'm not that familiar with Boston.

Are you saying we can get on the subway at Logan and go directly to the aquarium, where we can rent a car within walking distance of the subway station?

I will also check out costco.

thanks so much!

I think you are being VERY unrealistic on your Conn. /JFK timeframe. You are not allowing enough time, in my opinion. Have you driven this area before???


AND correct, the Blue line, which runs from Logan, has an Aquarium stop. Go up the stairs, turn left and you are there.

IF you could get from Middleton to New Haven, 30 miles, you would then have the option for MetroNorth. Then take a cab to JFK, or if you have an hour, the 42 bus/S train. To the A train to Howard Beach then Airtrain to JKF.

It's going to be very tight to get to JFK, any way you look at it -- esp. hope it's not a Friday. Have you a Plan B?

<< IF you could get from Middleton to New Haven, 30 miles, you would then have the option for MetroNorth. Then take a cab to JFK, or if you have an hour, the 42 bus/S train. To the A train to Howard Beach then Airtrain to JKF.>>

Actually, if you took MetroNorth to Grand Central, take a cab from there to JFK or walk across the street from Grand Central and take the direct express bus to JFK.

I think with all these trains and connections, a car would make this trip easier a good part of the time. BUT I'm in agreement that more time should be allotted to get from CT to JFK on departure day. Better to be early than to miss your plane.

You're not allowing for rush hour traffic. Coming from that far in CT I think there's a good chance you won't make a 6:30 flight from JFK.

(I've had it take more than 2 hours from West Haven CT into Manhattan - and I know all the best routes/short cuts. And Middletown is the best part of an hour past West Haven, and JKF is futher than Manhattan. And going via LI is NOT the answer, since major highways are mobbed in both directions from 4pm on.)

ok, we're talking about a sunday afternoon -- June 28th.

how much time should i allow with a car??

The last Sunday in June? Lots of people on the road going to and from summer homes, plus I believe that is the weekend of the Gay Pride celebrations in NYC, so it could influence airport congestion a little.