Renting a car in Katoomba
 

Has anyone ever actually rented a car in Katoomba? If so, from who did you rent? I'm having a bit of trouble finding a car rental agency location there. Thrift/Budget don't show it as a possible location.

Thanks,
Dave.

A White Pages search brought up

Thrifty Car Rental Blue Mountains
19 Edward St Katoomba 2780
Ph: (02) 4782 9488
Fax (02) 4782 9333

This location doesn't appear at Thrifty's Corporate website, so maybe they are independent.

Hi, copen!

My Blue Mountains phone book has a different number for Thrifty: 4784 2788. I can't remember exactly where this office is, so I am going to suggest an alternative for you. Get off at Valley Heights Station, in the mid-Mountains. There's almost nothing at Valley Heights, but the Redicar Rental Office is right across the road from the train station -- you can't miss it. The "road" is the highway that will take you straight to Katoomba, through some pleasant little Mountains towns like Woodford, Lawson, Leura and Wentworth Falls. There are a lot of signs pointing off the highway for road access to some pleasant lookouts (the one at Falls Rd, Wentworth Falls, is particularly easy to find). The driving will be easy along the highway and you will be used to driving on the "wrong" side by the time you get to Katoomba, where, to get to Echo Point and the Three Sisters, you have to drive through the main part of town, with all the hazards this entails. I don't know anything about Redicar's price structure, but I do know that they also have an office in Leura, and perhaps you could organise to drop the car there before returning to Sydney by train. Leura, which is only five minutes' drive from Katoomba, is quite the most pleasant town in the Blue Mountains, and is filled with nice restaurants, some of which are right by the railway station.

The number for Redicar is 4751 8920. I guess that extra driving ( about 30 km)would add a few dollars to your day's outing, but I think the ease of finding the car rental place and the pleasure of a leisurely drive up the mountains with minimal traffic would probably make up for it.

Just an addendum to the above, so that you don't have any unpleasant surprises: do ring Redicar the morning that you leave Sydney, just to ensure that they have cars available that day.... the trains from Sydney to Katoomba only leave hourly, so if -- I will admit this isn't likely, but just to be sure -- you detrained at Valley Heights and found that all Redicar's fleet had been taken that day, you would have another fifty-five minutes' wait for the next train west.... and with so much to see and so little time, an hour's waste because I advised you wrong would see you coming looking for me with a gun!

Alan, Could you by any chance dig up a Fax # or e-mail address for Redicar in either Valley Heights or Leura for those of us across the ocean?
I tried a google search, but only found info about the train depot.
Thank you, AndrewDavid

My White Pages search has RediCar at 42 Great Western Hwy Springwood, same phone number. Valley Heights is one stop short of Springwood, so I guess we're talking about the same location. I had no luck finding a fax/email address either - they don't seem to have a web site. They're also at Leura (which is one stop short of Katoomba). The Springwood/Valley Hts office doesn't have a Yellow Pages listing.

NOTE: the national White Pages and Yellow Pages directories are on line at www.whitepages.com.au and www.yellowpages.com.au. These can be useful resources - many listings have a location map and the Yellow Pages allow you to search by category of business and location anywhere in Australia.

It's odd that we can't seem to find a website that will acknowledge these locations. I spent quite a while googling, but no luck. This way, we could check prices & book without having to field long distance charges from the US.

Dave.

I spoke too soon. Google finally came through. Here is a Thrifty web site that *does* show Katoomba. Expensive! $85 AUD incl. insurance for one day.

https://webres.thrifty.com.au/newweb/

Dave.

After much research, it seems as if Thrifty has recently closed down their car hire location in Katoomba. Here is the email I received from their reservation team:

----
Good Afternoon,

Unfortunately, even though we used to be located in Katoomba, we closed the location down last year. The closest location to the Blue Mountains area is our Penrith location.

Kind Regards,

Email Reservations Team (MS)
Thrifty Australia
---

RediCAR Rentals have a office in Leura at
80 Megalong Street Leura
Ph: 61 2 4784 3443
Fax: 61 2 4784 2800
Web site: www.redicar.com.au
They will pick you up from and drop you back to from either Katoomba or Leura.

Who is this masked (A Better Deal For All) (wo)man who came to the rescue of us poor travellers. Thank you.

AndrewDavid

well done ABDFA - a worthwhile first and only post!

That was a very useful post from ABetterDealForAll, as I now see that Redicar has offices in Lithgow and Richmond as well. Clearly, as businesses like Budget and Thrifty desert the Mountains, this new company is moving in to pick up the slack.

If you hire the vehicle from Valley Heights (yes, that's the "Springwood" branch) you won't need anyone to pick you up, as you could literally call out to the boss there from the railway station platform. I wonder if they'd wear the idea of you picking the car up in Valley heights or Leura and dropping it back in Richmond? This historic town is reached by a different road (almost parallel to the main highway across the Mountains), and retracing your steps this way would allow you to see a different part of the Mountains, including the beautiful Mt Wilson, which is reached via a turnoff from the Richmond-Bell Rd (Bell is just near Mt Victoria). This would make an interesting variation to your trip -- it's easy to catch a train from Richmond back to Sydney.

One last point -- if, when you contact Redicar, either their rates or conditions make the deal unworkable, there is one other good possibility: leave the Mountains train at the foot of the Mountains, at Emu Plains (about 50 minutes from Sydney). Right near the station is a Budget Rent-a-Car office. I drive past ot regularly and they ALWAYS seem to have cars available. Emu Plains is about 15 km on the Sydney side of Valley Heights.

I did once about 6 years ago though. It was not a branded rental firm but a garage if I remember correct that seemed to only have the one car for rent.

Sorry cannot recall the name of the place.

Though usually when I go I get the explorer bus around. If you only wanted the car to drive around and do some sight seeing then maybe the bus is a better option. Some times you get an accomodation package that actually includes the bus fare.

The only reason I need to hire a car is to get to the Jenolan Caves and back. Is there another way?

Thanks,
Dave.

Hi, Dave!

There are two different bus companies running from Katoomba Station to Jenolan and back again in a single day. A few weeks ago I researched this for another inquirer; I located that old thread and topoped it for you -- it ought to be just below this one.

Alan,

Thanks. Hmm, so no bus there/bus back only operation? Sounds like you mentioned something like that in that thread, but would it be cost prohibitive, since we wouldn't be going on the bus 'tours'? We'd just be riding to Jenolan Caves one day, then back another.

Did you have a website?

Thanks,
Dave.

FYI,
I e-mailed Redicar when a Better Deal for All's posting appeared. So far no response. Is it a phantom rental agency?

AndrewDavid

No, it's real, all right. But, mate, this isn't America.... give 'em a couple of days, will you? The pace of life is somewhat slower in Valley Heights!