Reasonable mini van rates in Anchorage?
 

hi. Does anyone know any local rental companies that have reasonable rates for full size vans with unlimited mileage? The rates I'm seeing for the majors starts at $1100/week. Yikes! I have a party of 8 folks.....Thanks.

If you are talking about July or August this is what you're going to get. For 8 people this not so bad at all. Do search on this forum and you will find many discussions why Alaska's rentals are so high.<BR><BR>Hope you have all accommodations reserved too.<BR>Enjoy Alaska regardless when you go

Hi Flyhigh!<BR><BR>A couple of years ago we rented a 15 passenger van in Anchorage, for a one way rental for our party of 8, from U-Save Car Rental in Anchorage. Service was great, we dropped it off in Seward (can you tell we were cruising?). I believe the rate was about $250, but their drop off fee was much less than &quot;the majors&quot; and they were the only one with a vehicle to fit 8 people - and their luggage. These vans are pretty easy to drive too - with your group it'd be much more fun to all be in one vehicle.<BR><BR>Here's the URL:<BR>http://www.usave.net/franchisees/ak/anchorage/home.htm<BR><BR>Hope this helps!

P.S. A minivan just won't hold 8 people!

Hey Joan.. a couple of years ago (few) I was General Manager at U-SAVE and was the one who established the Seward &quot;office&quot; at Bell In The Woods.

I am going to take your &quot;Service was great&quot; comment as a personal compliment..... thanks.

*laughing*

FlyHigh... not sure if you've reservations yet, but in the past Thrifty has offered 8 passenger Dodge Ram vans. They look like a regular 15 passenger but shorter. And, they handle nicely.

Be careful what you rent - many vans, mini or maxi have little luggage room unless you want to use a roof rack - when they say 8 people - they mean 8 normal, non-fat people with unlikely enough luggage room for that many people.

Agreed Gail... that has always been the minivan dillema. If you actually NEED 7 passenger seating, you do not have room for luggage.

That is one of the reason I mentioned the Ram vans at Thrifty. They seemed to have some actual cargo space.....more than others, both behind the rear seat, and under the benches.

Hey akvis! Just saw your reply. You can definitely take that as a compliment. I called several times with questions, USave was very helpful to this dumb tourist. Thanks very much! And I believe we just left the van in the cruise ship parking lot in Seward, no return necessary. I liked that! This was June 2001.

Joan, in June 2001, I may have been doing some marketing for them, but had resigned as GM in 1999.

In the interum I was managing a hotel in Salt Lake City and trying to start my own business.

I'm curious now.... were you one of Collete's customers from Rainbow Mountain?

akvis, sorry it's taken so long to respond! No...I booked independently via the internet/phone, actually I was given a recommendation by &quot;Budget Queen&quot; from cruisecritic.com. She now posts here on Fodors occasionally too, a really helpful poster.

Yes she (BudgetQueen) is very helpful.

As for me, I'll be in Denali for the summer as a token local and hope to see a few of you there.