car rental on St John
 

There seem to be a great number of car rental companies on that little island. Any reason to choose one over the other?
I know, e.g., that if one rents from Conrad Sutton, one can park in his lot. But we won't need that amenity since we'll be at Gallows Point (probably-- unless I can find a villa for 2 near good snorkeling) during that part of our trip. We'll be at Caneel first part of trip, and I wonder whether some rental companies have complimentary pick-up. I know I can contact each company directly, but I'm hoping for feed-back here.

Thanks very much.

poss,

I made our decision based on positive feedback from another forum. The USVI forum on caribbean-on-line is quite active, and after searching thru a few archives, We decided to go with St John Car Rental.

They had some of the lowest rates, (even though most are in the same ballpark).
They have a lot to park in if you need it. We are also staying at Gallows, but it's nice to know it's there.
Overall, they had very positive feedback, and were recommended by several posters on the other forum.

Hope this helps...

We rented from St. John Car Rental at the suggestion of our villa rental agent. No complaints.

-Bill

Thanks very much for those 2 replies. And I've since spoken with Gallows, and they seem to work with Cool Breeze-- so I'll settle on one of those two. Appreciate the feedback!

Wanted to give a quick in-put back here. I just telephoned St John Car Rental, and the woman whom I spoke with was most obnoxious. I said I wanted to rent from December 15-18, and she said that they did not do rentals less than 5 days in that period. I very politely said that their web site said otherwise (said 5 dy rental necessary from Dec. 20 on) and she became very sharp with me. I again gently said that I hoped they would correct their web site, and she became even more discourteous. After that, I've got to say that even if I could get a rate of half what other companies charge, I wouldn't rent from St John Car Rental.

Poss

We used Courtesy which was recommended by Calabash Cottages. Small lot but great people to deal with.

We have used Denzyl Cline the last 3 times we were there, and also rented from him in Tortola.
His neice, Brenda, runs the STJ business from what we can see...she can be a little gruff at first, but really is quite loveable. (I think it may just be their way).

Does Denzil Clyne have a website? One of my co-workers is going to Tortola followed by STJ in February. I was thinking Denzil might be a good option for them as he has rentals on both islands.

I am not sure about the STJ location, we always reserved by phone(340-776-6715).Sometimes you get a quicker response than waiting for an email response-island time, you know!!
But last year I did book online for Tortola, email address is
[email protected]

Thanks mahobaygirl.

We just returned from the lovely island. We were supposed to have use of a car for our entire stay but the battery died. Simple problem, tough solution down there. We decided on Cool Breeze (they were a little cheaper) and they came and got us at our villa and gave us a ride back when we returned the car. We also parked in their lot when we visited Cruz Bay. Whether that was OK or not we don't know. The car was where we left it with no tickets after dinner or drinks. We originally thought we would only need the car two days but we ended up having it four. No problem. We liked Cool Breeze.
Mav

I have rented from Denzil Cline as well, and have nothing negative to say. They are a small, locally owned and run company, have competitive prices and Mr. Cline is a very nice man. You can also park in their lot when in Cruz Bay. His niece must be the lady who works the St. John booth, and she can be short on patience sometimes but she is very sweet towards my toddler. IMO, anyone who loves kids can't be all bad!

Tuxedocat-that's Brenda! Loveable underneath!
We had to return the car once because something was squeaking, she was a little gruff at first, but when she finished what she was doing she went towards my husband saying "come to me, come to me". We still joke about that!

I have friends who go every year to St. John...they use St. John Car Rental.

Me--I use Avis on St. Thomas and take vehicle to St. John.

just got back on sat. used conrad sutton, they were friendly accomodating and easy to work with. you may want to use the parking he has as it is right near shopping and some restaurants.

We just returned from St John on 11/17/06. We've rented from Conrad Sutton twice before with no problems. We used Cool Breeze Car Rental this time since Vacation Vistas who we rented our villa from recommended them and offered us a 10% discount on the car. We arrived on a Friday night on the 7pm ferry and our car was waiting for us with the keys in the ignition, unlocked at their lot. They didn't even require a deposit since we were renting with V.V. We stopped by Saturday morning and filled out the necessary paperwork. We'd rent from them again and highly recommend them.

Conrad Sutton "mysteriously" gave our months-ago-reserved van away, after confirming it from the STT airport. Somehow there was an "emergency" in the 90 minutes between leaving the airport and arrival to their office. We had to change plans, when all we wanted to do was get our tired but eager selves into a car to head for our rental home. Still---having different expectations helps a lot on St J!

We used C AND C and they were super!! Van in excellent condition, and a sweet friendy helpful reservations person , Christine, was the greatest. Highly recommended!

Apoligies for the senior moment. The lovely young woman at C AND C RENTALS is named Clarice, not Christine.

Thanks for the in-put, everyone. We've reserved a car with Cool Breeze. I'll post when we return if there's anything particular of note about our rental experience. (Getting a 4-door Vitari this time, rather than the smallest kind of vehicle.)

Our experience with Conrad Sutton was not pleasant. The car we reserved was not available so they gave us a free upgrade. Sounds good, but not so. After we left the lot and drove to our Coral Bay villa, we realized the AC did not work, and even more important the 4WD did not work. Fortuantely, our villa owner loaned us his car for two days. We called Conrad Sutton and they said they would give us another car. So we drove from Coral Bay back to Cruz Bay when we could have been at the beach to find out they did not have a car, but they did charge us for the three days. They made arrangements for us to get a car at Denzil Clyne. However, this meant that we paid double for one day. Gr-r-r-r. The Denzil Clyne car was perfect. In addtion, the people at Conrad Sutton were extremely rude. We will write to them, but given the attitude of the people we had dealt with, we don't have any real hope of getting a refund for the day we paid double.