Car Rental near NYC to drive upstate
 

I am flying to up to NY (LGA) and spending 2 days in the city before I need to rent a car to drive upstate to visit family for the weekend. What is the best place to rent a car - in the city, at the airport, Brooklyn, etc?
I will be returning the car to LGA before I fly back out.
Thanks!!

Take New Haven RR into New Rochelle, there is a Hertz right at the station. You will most likely have to pay a drop off or one way charge to return it to LGA.

If that doesn't work, try Rye NY. You could get a car at White Plains Airport. A taxi should be able to take you to White Plains airport. Maybe Enterprise will pick you up, I think they are in LArchmont, also on the New HAven line.

You could also take metro north to White plains train station, but it is further from there to airport.

Deb

It won't be the cheapest, but the most convenient place would be at the LGA car rental counters. You would then have the car for all of your travels.

One of the travel portals should be able to help you do price comparisons.

As soon as I posted that I thought that with all the train and taxi charges, it <i>might</i> be cheaper just to rent it in the city and go from there. You are going to have to price out a car directly from the city and how much a train ticket [is there more than one person - that would add up too]

I wouldn't go to Brooklyn to rent - way out of your way.

Deb

There is not one best place for everyone all the time. It depends on where you're staying, how many you are (to factor travel costs to get to the car), how much luggage you have and how fussy you are about type/size of car. For example, if you need a minivan or SUV, that may limit options. Dropping at LGA may limit options. There are some suburban places where they may not offer drop offs at LGA. There are loads of rental offices in Manhattan and if that's where you're staying, it's certainly easiest.

So what's most important to you? Convenience? Cost? Kind of car? Where are you staying?

Here are some options NY Magazine wrote about for locals. There's some good info but don't know how up to date it is.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/travel/features/471/
http://nymag.com/bestofny/fun/2008/halfcar/

Just one person? Depending on where upstate you are going, it might be worthwhile to take a train (Amtrak or Metro North)to a stop closest to your destination and rent a car from there.
Locations closest to the city tend to be more expensive, and by renting further upstate, you might end up having to rent for less time so that could come out even cheaper. You need to price all options, though

(You certainly don't want to rent the car at LGA when you arrive as you'd then have to pay for the extra 2 days and the parking)

I agree with your 2nd post Deb, not your 1st. I have colleagues/friends who do this about once a week - rent a car in NYC to drive upstate. Their conclusion is that by far the best way is to rent at a local office in NYC, close to where you are staying. Getting OUT of the city really isn't an issue unless you're trying to get to NJ at evening rush hr. By the time you get yourself to Grand Central, get a train out of town, then rent a car you could be well on your way upstate with far less hassle.

I completely disagree that renting at LGA is the most convenient. It makes no sense to rent a car, drive to Manhattan and pay to rent & park the car for 2 days. It also makes no sense to schlep back to LGA to get a car. Every major rental car co has offices in Manhattan.

I like to use www.orbitz.com to comparison shop for rental cars then go directly to the rental car co website to make the reservation.

It also depends on where upstate you are going, plus how important cost is to you.

Obviously, you're farther out east if you pick up from a Connecticut location. Farther west if you pickup from North White Plains. I've picked up from all these locations, plus the Westchester airport, and each have quick entries to interstates.

Another thing is you don't mention when you are going. If you are renting during the summer, reserve as much in advance as possible because cars get snapped up quickly. Not sure how the economy is effecting agencies this year though.

Renting out of the city makes more sense the longer you rent. During peak season, the one week rate is about $300 say in NWP. In the city, the one week rate is about $500. For one day, it's a wash and not worth the extra hassle and more importantly, time.

I rented from Hertz and picked up the car just a block from my hotel and drove it out and was ready to roll. I DEFINITELY vote for renting from any of the major agencies and picking up at the location closest to you (your hotel). I've done this in NYC and San Francisco - and it was cheaper than picking up at an airport due to the added airport charges.

Car rentals in Manhattan are usually about $90 per day on a weekend (often more than $100 during the summer), and I think that's way too much. You can sometimes do better if you rent mid-week.

Hertz has a location across the street from the Metro North stop in North White Plains. Rates there are about $40 per night cheaper than in Manhattan, so it's a good deal. The Metro North ticket costs about $13 one-way, if I remember correctly, but prices just went up. Alternatively, you could rent at the airport if you are flying back home after the trip upstate.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

My experience is the same as starrs.

HTTY

Hi
Have just returned from Boston/NY trip where we rented a car from Avis which was much cheaper than anywhere else as their price included the drop fee - saved us about &75 or so. Car was excellent. Picked it up from downtown Boston and delivered it to mid-town NYC. No problems at all.

We rented a car in NYC a couple of years ago. We picked it up a few blocks from our hotel, the Embassy Suites near Ground Zero. We drove it to Baltimore and left it at the airport there. No problem at all. I don't remember which rental company it was, though.

Yes - but rental rates in NYC are usually more - esp in the summer. Many people don;t opwn cars but have houses in the country or at the beach and rent every sumer weekend - so anything under $100 a day is a great deal.

If you can get a car mush cheaper at North White Plains I would do that. If not, just rent near your hotel.

I forgot to add that we got a discount for paying in advance, and cash back by paying via a cashback site. In all we paid $121 for everything (including tax) for two days rental of a Ford Focus or similar. On top of that we got about $20 cashback.

Flying into jfk, We'll be at Embassy suites. heading after a few days to Philly. then to buffalo. and flying out of Buffalo. Is North White Plains still the best bet? If so, how to get there...now here's the big catch...there are 6 of us..so we know we need a mini van, or large suv.
??????
PeaceOUT...how was the embassy. no pool or spa I see??:(

Here's what I'd suggest. Because of the huge price disparity between Philadelphia and NYC, unless you really need to drive from NYC to Philadelphia, you should spend your entire time in NYC without a car and then take the combo of NJ Transit/SEPTA to Philadelphia. This will cost you about $20 each, but then you will save tremendously in the cost of renting a van in Philadelphia. You might actually be able to make use of a minivan there (however, definitely reserve the van immediately).

You might have to pay $125 or more a day to rent a minivan or SUV in NYC, and I'm not sure where you'd find one (probably at the airport, but almost certainly not in Manhattan, where smaller cars usually prevail).

Maddie, we were at that Embassy Suites four years ago. Our room needed a minor face-lift then, but was fine for what it was. We had our family, so the suite set-up was perfect. The full, hot breakfast was a nice bonus. It ain't the Ritz, but it was fine for us, and a very good price.

P.S. I've reserved a couple of rental cars in California for July, and I noticed the larger cars weren't that much more expensive than mid-size. I guess everyone is trying to use less gas and renting smaller cars.