I am wondering if you experienced travellers have any suggestions about car rentals agencies in Florida. Thanks again for your great info!

National is the best! I have tried them all in Fla. Sign up for "Emerald". Airport Shuttle whisks you to car lot where you can choose from a selection of 6 or 7 cars. You drive away. Simple! Return is a breeze! No line ups! Perfect! A no brainer!
PS Have you found a hotel???

It can really depend upon your destination, size can and if you wan tot pick up and drop at same location. I've found Thrifty to be least expensive the last few times with Dollar a close second bur you won't get Hertz or Avis service. You need to decide what's important to you!

My advise is to be aware of the worst drivers in America. My cousin's wife was run over and killed by a motorist in front of their hotel while attending a convention.

WOW Thanks for asking about the hotel. I did reserve one night at the Ft Lauderdale Airport Wyndham property.........used to be a HILTON, I believe. Apparently they are doing a huge upgrade. I hear that the gardens there are spectacular. Do you know anything about it? AS for the rest of the stay.....still looking.......
I will give National a call. THANKS.

I am having trouble joining the Emerald Club on line.....Is there a trick?

I've never had a problem with Budget, and everytime I've booked them in Florida, I always got an upgrade if I reserved a compact. Just join their Perfect Drive and FastBreak programs. (FastBreak, you just walk in, check for your name and pick a car in your designated area)

Also be aware that what wemr is talking about is that no one in South Florida uses their turn signals. They also weave in and out of traffic dangerously. Just keep your eyes peeled while driving and you should be ok.

Living in Florida (and contrary to popular opinion I use my turn signals), I've learned you have to check all options.
Joining the clubs is good, mainly for quicker pick up.
I often do one day rentals to go from Naples to or from the Ft. Lauderdale airport where I often like to fly out of. I've learned that USUALLY I get a whole lot better rate from National going from Napes to Lauderdale, but a whole lot better rate from Dollar going from Lauderdale to Naples. Go figure!

The Ft. Lauderdale Airport Wyndham is supposed to be new (at least according to the Wyndham site) so you may not catch any reviews on it yet. I had a really good map for driving that included Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Can't remember which one off the top of my head. I'll check B & N on my lunch break and let you know.

THANK YOU missjanna..you are the best!

For South Florida check out Thrifty for weekly rentals. They have a special from certain airports for minivans and convertibles. www.thrifty.com

Okay got the name of the mpa for you.

It's by Rand McNally, it's a EasyFinder map for Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach. I used this map twice (once in Ft. Laud once in Miami) and never had a problem. Also the pop out maps are good, too.

missjanna: Thanks for posting the name of the map you used. We're heading from Miami to the Keys next month and I've been looking for a good, clean map to use to get from the car rental location to the turnpike. We'll check this one out.

This URL on biddingfortravel lists discount codes for the various rental cos. It's time consuming to check each code, especially Avis as there are so many. Some may not give better rates than normal.
http://pub210.ezboard.com/fpriceline...icID=155.topic

There's also a section for last minute deals.

If you can manage to rent not at an airport (difficult for most people) that's what I've found to be the best prices.

We used Enterprise in March and they upgraded us for at no additional cost and the car was in great shape.
We used Avis in Sept and the car stunk of smoke and felt like it would fall apart when driving on the highway.
The service at Avis was pretty poor also.
If we did a Bad Drivers Poll here, I think NJ would be right up there in the deadly driving catagory, as well as NYC with cab drivers whose last vehicle was a mule. Florida drivers to me are very fast drivers but in Ft Lauderdale and Miami, they are old and slow. But then, there are so many people driving in Florida who are from other states, how can we say that "Florida" drivers are bad?

I find the combination of very young drivers who speed and very old drivers who creep to be lethal.

Hard for me to believe that the drivers in Florida can be any worse than in big cities. I am forewarned though......so I will be prepared. THANKS!!!