Hi,

Does anyone know now of a good, local car rental agency in Manhattan. I need to rent a car (compact) for a weekend and I don't want to spend a lot of money. All the majors (Hertz, Avis, Budget etc.) are about the same in terms of price. It doesn't mattter where in Manhattan that place is as long as the cars are in good shape and relatively modern. I'm not going far so unlimitied mileage isn't necessary.

Thank you,
LC

You may want to check out biddingfortravel.com People post what rates they've been able to secure through priceline.com, giving you a really good idea of what you can reasonably bid and have accepted.

Just wondering why you would need to rent a car in Manhattan for a weekend? How do you plan to use it? Do you really want to drive all about Manhattan and pay overnight parking fees>

Just guessing, but I suppose lac229 either lives in Manhattan or will be there and needs the car for a weekend to go somewhere outside the city. Isn't that logical?

Unfortunately renting a car in Manhattan is alwasy epensive - especially on the weekends - so many people don;t have cars but once spring arrives like to do weekend trips that they jack up rates for the weekend. Also, without advance reservations you will often find there are o cars available for weekends - or only the most expensive models. What abut picking the car up towards where you're going (ie white Plains for upstate or LGA or Westbury for LI)?

I don;t know any special discount renters except for the rent a wreck variety.

I live in Manhattan.

I would NEVER rent fom a local agency here.

Why?

-Everyone who warns you about the outrageous Manhattan car rental rates isn't kidding. One extended weekend rental of a COMPACT car cost me $400. That's with a corporate discount at Avis. The local rental agency quoted me a HIGHER price than that!

-Things happen. The majors offer extensive insurance options and a 1-800 number to call for roadside assistance. Small rental shops close at night - good luck.

-My local rental agancy has no cars. Seriously, all cars are reserved months in advance, nytraveler is on the right track here. Midweek will usually be OK, but you MUST reserve on the weekend. Majors have much larger fleets to work from and can bring in extra cars during peak times.

I STRONGLY advise you to rent outside the city. Stamford, CT had a cluster of rental locations adjacent to the Metro-North train station. It's literally half the price of a Manhattan rental.

If you are just renting to do errands or short hops, have you thought about Zipcar? I haven't tried it, but it looks to be a wee bit more economical than , say, Avis.

Two websites you could try are lowestfare.com and smarterliving.com. I have used "lowestfare" and got a better deal from Budget than I would have by renting from Budget directly. Others have recommended "smarterliving" to me, but I haven't had a need to try them yet.

Since you don't state how long you need the car, I don't know if this will help:

Avis has a page of "deals" and one of them is one-way rentals from Manhattan to EWR, and I think the other direction too, but on limited days, and hours too.

You might do well by going to one of the 'burbs and renting from a company like Enterprise. I often see deals from the Big Companys from EWR, but of course never on dates I'd need them.