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Exorbitant Vancouver car rental rates

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Old May 15th, 2006, 08:30 AM
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Exorbitant Vancouver car rental rates

National, Alamo and Avis are charging around 1500 US for renting an intermediate sized car for 2 weeks in early August from Vancouver International. Are these normal high season rates?

The same deal costs around $450 in Seattle.



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Old May 15th, 2006, 07:05 PM
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Airport rates are always higher.

Look to Enterprise who don't have an Airport location but will pick you up/drop you off there-also their rates are somewhat lower.

A few things to keep in mind-it is '<i>high season</i>' and <b>BC</b> stands for <b>B</b>ring <b>C</b>ash-nothing is cheap here.
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Old May 16th, 2006, 11:21 PM
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We booked with Thrifty on our last visit a few weeks ago, and the rates were somewhat better than the other airport-based companies.
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Old May 17th, 2006, 11:41 AM
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I just checked Priceline for you because I booked a car with them this morning for a little trip we are doing and got an incredible rate. I took the dates Aug 7 - 21 as an example. The guaranteed rate it showed there for a full size car with Budget (the others were considerably higher) was $275 Canadian/week taxes included. When I got a rate this morning for our trip I went back in and bid - even lower on a daily basis and did even better.
Good luck. You can't beat those rates!
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Old May 18th, 2006, 09:36 AM
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Thanks to all for the information. I'll check out Priceline. Hopefully, I can save myself the hassle of schlepping to Seattle.
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Old May 22nd, 2006, 01:07 PM
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we are flying into vancouver in late july and staying until aug 16. we got a midsize rental(jetta or similar) for $670 CAD. it it through budget rental but i found it though one of the search engines. good luck.
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Old May 22nd, 2006, 03:09 PM
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I just logged on Travelocity, and the quoted weekly rate from all the majors for a Full Size is around $250 CDN for August 1 to August 14.

Are you sure you got the right city?
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Old May 23rd, 2006, 07:48 AM
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I wound up renting from Thrifty in Seattle. I got a convertible for $700 US for 11 days, including all taxes and liability insurance. If I went midsize, it would have cost $475. I could have gotten a better deal through Priceline, but I decided to go with a convertible.
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Old May 23rd, 2006, 09:03 AM
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Make sure you have proof of you personal auto insurance when you take the rental car into Canada.

There is a form that Canadian Customs may ask to see. My insurance agent knew exactly what it was, and sure enough, they asked to see it when I was going from Buffalo to Niagara Falls a couple of years ago.
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Old May 24th, 2006, 06:44 PM
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I've taken hundreds of different rental cars from Seattle into BC and have NEVER been asked to see any sort of a form for personal insurance.

Perhaps this ties to the fact that personal auto insurance is simply NOT required of people in rental cars going across the international border.

If it were, then only people who own cars would ever take rental cars across international boundaries.
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Old May 26th, 2006, 11:20 AM
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I just looked into reserving an economy car from Calgary for 13 days in July and I was *stunned* by the price differences.....I went to Yahoo Travel (a really good site, btw) and first looked at airport rates...it ranged from $422 to $598 (for the same car size!). Then I looked outside the airport...and it dropped to $287. I mean, that is dramatic.
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Old May 27th, 2006, 09:17 AM
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I booked a compact through Enterprise for two weeks, July 20-August 4, the total come to $460 CDN including taxes. It is up $505.14 now, but still a good deal.
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