Holiday in LA, Car hire or Taxis etc?

JackRS

We've a family (2 adult, 2 teenage) holiday to LA at the end of August for 8 days. We're considering if it'll be more cost effective and flexible to hire a car or to use taxi/public transport to get around? We're staying in Santa Monica and I'm getting a few different quotes for a Taxis from the airport ($50-$80). First car hire quote from Virgin is £170 (includes all insurance, fuel etc).

Just wondered if anybody has any advice and previous experience? Also can you please advise where else to hire a car from?

blindman

JackRS wrote: »

We've a family (2 adult, 2 teenage) holiday to LA at the end of August for 8 days. We're considering if it'll be more cost effective and flexible to hire a car or to use taxi/public transport to get around? We're staying in Santa Monica and I'm getting a few different quotes for a Taxis from the airport ($50-$80). First car hire quote from Virgin is £170 (includes all insurance, fuel etc).

Just wondered if anybody has any advice and previous experience? Also can you please advise where else to hire a car from?

Lots of thread on here about car hire.

I always go through Netflights
Never let me down and usually the cheapest with usually NIL excess
Always check what the excess is on car hire

Public transport in LA can be sparse and have "interesting" passengers
SuperShuttle or similar pick up from airports and there are some public transport options.

Some hotels charge for car parking and driving in LA can be a nightmare :eek:

IMHO a car is usually the best option as it's convenient and distances in LA are huge.

eslick

i would always say car hire, have a check of fifteen02.com or alamo.co.uk, fifteen02 has been the cheapest of all companies for us for the last few years but alamo is cheap at the moment.

pebblespop

just got back from la. you definatley need a car as everything is so spread out. taxis are expensive as you are sitting in traffic most of the journey. we went from our hotel in downtown to west hollywood (15 mile according to google maps) and it was $50 each way in a taxi. we drove from our hotel to santa monica and it took over an hour - doesn't look very far on the map!

we hired our car online from alamo via holidayautos. when you arrive at the airport shuttle buses pick you up outside the terminal to take you to the hire places.

check out the parking costs at your hotel, ours was $40 per night for valet parking + tips. it was very expensive. parking everywhere is expensive but you don't have much choice.

JackRS

Thanks everyone, some good tips there.

It was the parking at the hotel that was concerning us (Quoted $33 a night). So we’re thinking maybe hire a car for the few days we really need it and get taxi from/to airport which according to hotel is $25-$35 depending on the traffic?

JackRS

Thanks Russel

Does anyone know what the additional charge is for tyre and windscreen cover? Most of the prices include damage waver and no excess etc but mention the additional cover is available at additional cost. I remember in Florida a couple of years back being hit with additional charges for this when collecting the car.

Has anyone collected a car from LA airport? Does it take a long time to sort the car out with queues etc like Orlando?

dmg24

How far do you intend exploring? If you are just staying around Santa Monica then the buses are excellent (and so cheap!), but if you are planning to visit the theme parks you will need a car (and even then, they are a good distance away).

I got back from LA on Monday. Enjoy!

JackRS

Not the theme parks as such, the usual LA stuff though, studio tour etc. Which is why maybe the Taxi and public transport was an option?

dmg24

Maybe you could hire a car for part of your stay?

The Sony Studios tour (highly recommended) can be reached by bus from there, as can the Hollywood area (though you probably won't want to stay there for long, it is fine for a quick look, but rough). Universal can be done by bus and metro, but Warner Bros is too far out.

http://www.metro.net/index.asp has a public transport planner, including showing walking routes and distances. It also compares cost of bus travel with the cost of fuel for the route!

JackRS

Thanks dmg24 that's what we were thinking of. If we didn't have to pay $33 a day just to park at the hotel it would be simple decision...

cardiffgirl_2

I've travelled around LA by public transport with 2 preteen kids. The metro system is fine between Downtown and Hollywood but won't help in Santa Monica. Buses are very cheap and quite frequent with extensive coverage but distances are huge and journeys will take a long time. There are express buses on longer routes eg from Santa Monica to Downtown but would still take a long time. As someone else mentioned you get some interesting characters on the buses, clearly most people drive. We enjoyed the experience though. If you just want to go to one part of the city for the day and then back again I felt the buses were fine but if you plan to visit several different places you'd spend your whole time travelling.
I've also visited LA with a hire car. Don't remember a long wait to pick up car at airport. I wouldn't say I enjoyed that any more as we did find travelling around by bus and train quite entertaining. If you do go for the public transport option plan your time carefully and go to places on one route or near each other in the same day.