Rental Car Question
 

Hi - We are getting a rental car in STT to take to STJ. Does anyone have an opinion - good, bad, or ugly - about Budget vs Avis? I know there is the whole issue of service on STJ. Any feedback would be appreciated!!!

Thanks!

If you are only flying into St. Thomas and are just planning to take the car to St. John (and not drive on St. Thomas), I just don't see the point of going to the time and expense of doing this. Take a taxi and the ferry, then pick up a rental on St. John. That's what I'd do.

Off hand, I don't know which companies allow you to take cars over. And I'm not sure what you mean by "the hole issue of service on STJ."

Agree with Doug. Why rent on STT? Denzil clyne is good on STJ

Peace, Greenie

Mostly for cost and convenience. It's cheaper to rent a car on STT than STJ, and even with the ferries, I'm saving $150+. (My hubby recently lost his job so every dollar does count for me!) Plus we are traveling with 2 kids, ages 5 and 7, so the convenience of getting everything into the car one time at the airport with all the bags is nice. No bags off/on the taxi, the ferry, and then into the rental on STJ. Plus we can also pick up some groceries on STT.

I know both Budget and Avis allow their cars to go over to STJ. So it's just a matter of asking others of which company is better?

Thanks guys!

i'm pretty sure we used budget. everything went smoothly and the car ran perfectly and did not have that overused look. my only thought would be to ask if either has an office on st. john in case you did have any issues.

there is an excellent large grocery about 10 mins before red hook if that's where you're going to ferry from. it has a good liquor section too. (we were always amused to pay less for rum than milk). also a smaller store right in red hook that has lots of yummy deli items.
we actually take a cooler full of things frozen with us(meats,fruit juice, butter, some premade appetizers, frozen choc chip cookie dough for fresh cookies, etc). also things like coffee/tea, pb&j, tuna packs, cereal repacked in zip loc in our checked suitcases. another useful tip is to think about what you plan to eat and take the necessary spices with you in zip-locs so you don't end up buying a 7.00 jar of garlic powder to use a tsp. we also take a huge supply of large & sandwich size ziplocs to use for storing on island. we immed put all chips & crackers in them to keep them crispy. as you'll have the car i'd suggest buying a case of bottled water. very convenient to freeze some at night to take to beach next day. if you plan to grill find out if your villa is gas or charcoal. if charcoal i'd find that on st.t also.

I would make sure you get a small suv, not a regular car. While a regular car is fine for St Thomas, most of St John is rugged and a 4wd vehicle is a better choice.

Deb

The one that does NOT allow cars to go to St. John is Hertz.

One last thing - I know everyone recommends a 4WD for St John. However, is that really mandatory? It's been 10 yrs since I was there, but I do remember regular cars on the road. (Though I must admit, I never drove there)

I ask this because it's a difference in price of about $225. That's kind of a big deal for me in that my hubby recently lost his job and we're on a tight budget for this trip. That would probably mean no sailing excursion. :( So if it's just a "nice to have" vs a "MUST have", I can deal with that. Just want to see what you all think!!

I appreciate all the feedback so far!! Thanks everyone!

It's "nice" to have, not a "must have" for most destinations. Of course, you don't mention where you're staying, and that could make some difference.

You can certainly drive the couple of main roads the crisscross the island in a regular car. As Doug mentioned, a lot of the private homes/rentals have driveways that a regular car simply cannot go up or down. That means parking on street and carrying your bags and other stuff [plus yourselves] up and down, a lot. There may not even be nearby street parking that is safe to leave a rental car on.

Even if a home has a doable drive, the smaller roads leading to it may not be easy to drive.

I would recommend asking the owners of the places your are staying, they know.

Deb

Thanks again everyone! Upon the stong recommendation from the villa owner, I ended up getting an AWD. I found a good deal (or so it seems) from Dependable on STT - $530 for 10 days. Only about $100 more than the car we had reserved. Less than 2 weeks 'til we're on the beach now!

Here's an "FYI" from someone who lives on St. John addressing the need for 4WD and about the reliability of the car barge from and to St. Thomas:

"Just catching up with the forum and noted your advice that four-wheel drive is nice but not necessary. That's not totally true. It's very difficult, usually impossibe, to get up the section of the North Shore Road heading east from Trunk Bay to Peter Bay if it's raining or the road is wet. I've seen many a driver spinning wheels there and the pavement has plenty of black marks to prove it. The section of King Hill Road that runs uphill from the North Shore Road to Centerline Road also has sections that are impossible in the rain without four-wheel drive. I also had a house sitter get stuck at the top of my driveway because she didn't have four-wheel drive and we had a couple of days of rain. Rain or wet pavement is the key. I'm sure plenty of people manage with two-wheel drive, but it does limit their activities or gives them some scary moments.

Also, I know that lots of people are now renting cars on St. Thomas because they feel they save money. I'd say 98 percent of the time the barge system between St. Thomas and St. John works fine, but that other 2 percent could cause them to miss their plane. I've noticed from reading Fodor's and other forums that people don't seem to grasp that things don't work here as efficiently as they do in the states. They seem to think the barge will leave on schedule and that there will actually be a barge. They don't leave enough time for things to go wrong. When we go to the dentist, we have an 8:40 a.m. appointment. We go on the 6 a.m. barge. We usually have plenty of extra time, but better too early than late."

Another point about the 6 am barge: IF you have a 7 am flight, forget about it! You will need to go back to STT the night before to return the car. Even taking the first passenger ferry of the morning back from STJ to STT, has an inherent risk that it may not get you to airport in time.

IF you have a morning flight, consider staying your last night on STT.

Deb

Sorry, meant to add this too: buying a roundtrip ticket for the car barge may save you a few dollar or cost you a lot. There are different barge operators and you cannot be sure which barge you will get. They do not accept the tickets if they were bought as round trip on another persons's barge. So you will have to buy a one way ticket to get back to STT and lose the $$ spent on the original roundtrip.

Deb