valawee3

Group of 4 looking to do the scenic road trip of US highway 1 in California. All of us are from the east coast and would need to rent a car when we got there. I understand this is usually more expensive then returning the car to the same location, however I was looking for tips regarding finding a price that is manageable.. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Underhill

Just check all the major rental agencies; you might also try Orbitz, where we had good luck a year back.

tomfuller

How many days do you have for this trip?
If you have enough time, my thought would be to fly to PDX and rent the car. Drive over to Astoria on US 30 and then south on US 101. When you get as far south as you want to go head back over to I-5 and head back north to Portland.
Isn't US 1 the route from Florida to Maine (aka Tobacco Road)?

janisj

Hopefully you are talking about CA hwy 1.

US1 is on your home side of the country . . .

Not sure what tom is on about since he is talking about Oregon . . . Nothing to do w/ California or hwy 1

Whether there are high drop off fees or not depends a LOT on which city pairs you are using. So where are you flying in/out of?

valawee3

Sorry .. CA highway 1. We have 5-6 days.. I was thinking of flying into LAX, which is prob a bad idea. Any suggestions regarding where to fly into ? We were going to fly into LAX and leave out of seattle...

Dukey1

We did the trip a few years ago with LAX and SFO being the starting and end points. We did not pay any drop charge because the agency had a car they needed returned to SFO.

valawee3

Anyway for me to change the topic title since I made a mistake on the naming?

valawee3

Dukey1
What do you mean drop charges? Sorry a little new here. Also did you call and ask about this instead of making reservations online or?

RoamsAround

Dropoff charges - car rental companies usually add an extra fee if you rent a car in one location and drop it off in another. FYI - the fee varies depending on the the pick-up and drop-off locations. Sometimes it's a small amount, not worth worrying about other times it could be significant.

Here's my take on that - if you want to make the trip (i.e. picking up at point A and dropping off at point B) it's part of the cost of renting the car. So, if you don't have an affinity for using any particular car rental company, get cost estimates from several different car rental companies and go with the one that gives you the best pricing. It's as simple as that.

happytrailstoyou

We usually find the best rates at Thrifty or Dollar.

*Google for promotion codes at these companies.
*Join Blue Chip (Thrifty) and Fast Lane Express (Dollar) to pick up your car with minimum hassle.

HTtY

MichelleY

5 or 6 days is not enough time to fly to LAX, drive to Seattle and enjoy yourselves. You could fly to LAX and leave out of SFO. Or, better still, fly in and out of SFO and do a loop thru Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur. distances are far. A straight thru drive, LA to SF is at least 6 hours.

janisj

In five days you have - barely - time for SF to LA or LA to SF. Or you could do SF up the coast as far as Mendocino county, back through Napa/Sonoma to SFO.

You absolutely do not have time for Oregon/Washington.

jayne1973

Definitely need to take your time on Highway 1. The slowness is part of the whole experience. For me, it was more like a weeklong Sunday drive than a road trip.

Tabernash2

No way should you try to get to Seattle in that amount of time, unless you want to skip the scenic drive.

Be sure to rent a good-sized sedan for your drive. Hwy 1 is winding, and can be tough on queasy stomachs. I'd get at least a full-sized sedan, or spring for a luxury sedan, since two couples will be splitting the cost.

Also, I suggest you drive down the coast, for better views than driving in the inside lane.

Gardyloo

Um... September? January?

gualalalisa

No, no, no, no Jayne. The slowness is NOT part of the whole experience for locals who live and work on Hwy. 1.

Please remember it is not a "Sunday drive" for those of us who are trying to get somewhere to please, please pull over if you are not prepared to drive the posted speed limit of 55 MPH!

Best,
Lisa

P.S. the most scenic part of Hwy. 1, IMO, is from Point Reyes/Tomales Bay in Marin through Bodega Bay in Sonoma and then up the Jenner Grade and through Mendocino County to Mendocino. Just spectacular.

jayne1973

Oh gualalalisa, I live in Texas where we have many roads with speed limits of 75 mph. For us 55 is pretty slow.

janisj

In Big Sur if you are going 55 you'll likely end up at the bottom of the cliff in the ocean.

happytrailstoyou

In Big Sur if you are going 55 you'll likely end up at the bottom of the cliff in the ocean.

I've driven at the speed limit many times without running off the road! Most of Highway 1 can be driven at the speed limit (55 mph). The California DOT estimates driving times of various stretches of the highway at 50 mph: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/LandArch/sc...ays/route1.htm

HTtY

gualalalisa

Jayne, I love it!

Janis, well, yeah, you do have to slow down around curves but most people who live here know the road and anticipate when they have to slow down.

What is maddening (and we have had countless Town Meetings on this) is when people drive from 20 to 30 miles under the posted speed limit and don't seem to realize they are doing it. They are looking at the scenery (which is gorgeous) or at whales out in the ocean and not in their rear view mirrors.

Because there are no passing lanes from just north of Jenner to just south of Stewarts Point, these slowpokes leave locals seething and prompt some (not Gualalalisa, of course) to drive unsafely.

Best,
Lisa