HELP - Exorbitant Car Rental quotes!
 

We're planning to fly into San Francisco, rent a car for 2 weeks and fly out of San Diego. I've been trying to find decent rental prices without much luck. The base quotes are all fairly reasonable; however, the additional fees are ridiculous! I figured on an additional $100 for one-way pickup/dropoff, but not $222! In addition, there are various fees, taxes, etc. that add anywhere from $150-200 depending on the company. The cheapest was with Alamo using the AARP discount code and even that was $700! After reading previous posts about Alamo's bad customer service, I'm leary of that option. Any suggestions?

Are you picking up the car at SFO, or later in SF itself? I've saved considerably by doing the latter, and if you're starting in SF, you may not want a car in the city anyway.

Meanwhile are you going to be in one location very long -- like San Diego, for example. Some agencies don't add on a drop off fee, but they raise the daily cost on a one way rental. So if you pay the higher one way rental for a week, then drop it off and exchange for a local rental for a week, you can save quite a bit that way. Is that clear?

Is it during a holiday period?

Actually, $220 is pretty typical for a drop-off charge when the two cities are so far from each other. While I agree that taxes and fees for car rentals are typically outrageous, they are no more outrageous in California than anywhere else (and you are paying a premium for picking up and dropping off at the airport).

You might save money in several ways, and NeoPatrick has given you some good suggestions.

1. Do as NeoPatrick suggests and pick up the car somewhere other than the airport. That will save you a lot on fees. And drop if off somewhere other than the San Diego airport.

2. Consider whether or not you need the car for the entire trip or just for the leg from SF to SD. A car is more of a hindrance in SF proper and unnecessary to reach most tourist sights there. (Even taking a few cabs will be cheaper than the rental car, considering the cost of gas.)

3. Be sure to check Payless and Enterprise. They don't always come up in people's searches and might offer cheaper rates, but probably not spectacularly cheaper.

4. Consider using Hotwire or Priceline to bid on a car rental. That can also save a bundle sometimes.

I'm not sure if Hotwire is available for one-way rentals, but I wouldn't hesitate to use the site. We always use Hotwire for our US rentals and have never had a problem.

Just checked the Hotwire website and there is a one-way option.

Here's a link to another thread running currently re car rentals. Good info here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35083638

Try the Alamo location on O'Farrell Street downtown. Also there should be a $20 off one-way coupon on the Alamo website to add to your AARP discount.

The drop-off charge is to be expected, I'm afraid. We paid well over $200 4 years ago, with a pick-up in Phoenix and a drop-off in San Francisco. Next year, we are picking up from Manhattan and dropping off at LAX. The drop-off charge is $500, which is by far the cheapest (Alamo).
We rented from Alamo last year (Seattle to Seattle, so no drop-off fee) and were more than happy with their service and the car they provided us with - and I have no hesitation in booking with them again.

I was happy with the deal I got from Hertz using my AAA discount. I picked up the car at the Fairmont and dropped it off at LAX.

I would look for a corporate discount code e.g. University of California (rather than an association discount e.g. AAA). Many of these have one way fees that are limited by the terms of the contract.

I have always had good service from Alamo. Here are a couple of coupon codes I use:
AD3829MRB - $25 off weekly
AD395OL2VN - $15 off weekend

$700 for two weeks with a dropoff in another city. What is worng with that, for heavens' sake. We have used Alamo just fine. At any location on any given day, anything is possible.

I just checked www.kayak.com and came up with $342.24 for Nov 15th to the 29th. San Francisco with drop off in San Diego.
It is an additional $100.00 for different city dropoff. Hope this helps. Oh, the car was a Hyundai Accent.

Some additional things to consider
1. one way rentals are always more expensive.
2. airport rentals are always more expensive, both on rates, and airport concession fees and surcharges. Echo what others have said, take BART into the city and rent at a city location
3. If you have memberships to either Costco or Sams Club they have negotiated rates. Compare those to AAA and AARP
4. Did the rates you were quoted include insurance? If so,this will add a considerable amt to your rate and you may not need to buy this coverage. Check with your credit card provider, most gold memberships include rental insurance in the US. Also check with you own auto policy if may provide coverage on rentals.

The Rental's are not very clear to me....but definitely i'll check it today and let u know.
Pharel
Auto Quotes