One-way US Car Hire - CA to AZ

bairn7

Hi all

I've booked a flight for June flying to the US for 2 weeks (arriving SFO, departing PHX). I therefore need to get a one-way rental for 2 weeks. I've searched previous subjects and found quite a useful thread which has given me a couple of ideas, but there are a couple of things:

1. A lot of people in the past have recommended the AVIS UK/Dollar sites, but these seem to be coming in very expensive for me.
2. There has been a recommendation of holiday autos but there is no mention that any one-way fees are included in the price and it just says that one-way fees MAY be added by the rental company when I pick up the car.

I don't want to take the chance of having to pay hundreds of extra dollars in one-way fees! Has anyone used holiday autos and, if so, did you get confirmation when you booked that one-way fees were/were not included?

Also, can anyone recommend any other good companies that I should try? I've tried carehir3000 and uscarhire but they are pretty pricey. Any discount codes going about?

Thanks
bairn7

dzug1

I think you have to accept that for a one way hire out of state you ARE unless very lucky going to pay a hefty surcharge. Whilst yes it may be Avis or Hertz it's actually franchisees who own the cars and run the depots, so thay want that car returned to one of their own bases and not left hundreds of miles away at another franchisee's premises.

If you can't get a definite quote on line ring Holiday Autos - they will be able to get a figure before you commit (and if they can't, forget them).

Auto Europe is another one to try.

skr80

airline network are usually fairly competitive

Happy_saver_4

Try these guys http://www.usrentacar.co.uk/

I've just checked and they're quoting £186 inclusive of insurances for the trip you mention. Two weeks next June for a 30yr old driver. Seems fairly reasonable to me.

I think this Company have'nt yet adjusted their prices for the current exchange rate. I've just got a deal from them £300 less than anybody else quoted. for 3 months rental.

moneysavingmatthew

skr80 wrote: »

airline network are usually fairly competitive

Agree - now called netflights.co.uk - fairly sure there will be no one-way fee on this either with them....

Triggles

We did a one way car hire from AZ to CA one year that was brilliant - very cheap (they were trying to move stock so offered a great rate). There's tons of US care hire companies - enterprise, avis, alamo, budget, dollar, thrifty to name just a few. Check their websites and see if any are offering one way rate specials, many will offer cheaper rates for an airport dropoff.

Happy_saver_4

People hiring when in the UK seem to get better deals using the car hire agents/clearing houses, such as previously mentioned, rather than direct with the car hire Company.

blindman

dzug1 wrote: »

I think you have to accept that for a one way hire out of state you ARE unless very lucky going to pay a hefty surcharge.

Netflights.com T&C's for car hire.

One Way Rentals

A one way rental is any hire where the drop-off depot is different from where the vehicle was collected. One way rentals are available on a request and confirmation basis only, and will incur a "One Way Fee" based on the distance, in miles, between the two depots and not the distance driven during the hire. These fees are shown below.
Please Note - There is no fee for one way rentals within the states of Florida and California, or for one way rentals between the states of California, Arizona and Nevada.

Happy_saver_4

A few moments to spare with the following results:-

Pick up San Francisco airport, Deposit Phoenix airport June 5th to 19th 2009 for a 30yr old driver, 2 door economy car, cheapest quoted prices:-

Us rentacar £186
Airline Network £229
Car hire 3000 £239 with a note Additional one-way fees may apply for this rental

wdyw

dzug1 wrote: »

I think you have to accept that for a one way hire out of state you ARE unless very lucky going to pay a hefty surcharge.

While this is generally true in the rest of the USA almost all of the well known car hire companies do not charge extra for leaving the car back to a different location to where it was picked up from, within California, Nevada and Arizona.

bairn7

Thanks to everyone for their kind replies. I think airline network is the one I'm going for. I have actually used them before with no problems and its the only one I've seen so far that has it in black and white that there is no one-way charge!

Cheers :beer: