Saving a (small) fortune on one way US hire charges

Murphy_The_Cat

Unless you holidaying in Florida, or California/Nevada/Arizona, where different rules MAY apply, then one way car hire charges can give your credit card a nasty surprise when you pick up your car at the airport **.

Whilst its quite easy to get a car hire quote via a broker, getting a oneway hire price comparison can be quite difficult. & may only appear in the samll print at the end of a booking.

& the differences can be huge.
Using USrentacar, these are the supplements on a rental from Denver, CO, to San Diego.CA.
National would charge you $250
Alamo would charge you $300
Dollar would charge you $750
Thrifty would charge you $750

National Car hire has a blanket fee of $250 regardless of the distance, so it is always worth looking at National cars when considering a longer road trip.

I tried to do a dummy booking on Hertz and the best info that I could find was 'additional fees will be payable at the rental counter', but no guide at to what those fees would be.


If you're doing a one way hire in the US (away from the States that I've mentioned above), be sure to pay close atention to the One Way Hire Charge, as it may give you a nasty surprise.

** because the charge is paid locally, it also attracts those additional charges/taxes that our American friends are so inventive in creating. Aa a guide, a $250 (£154) one way charge magically turns into $317 (197) when the additional taxes/charges are added.

bagand96

Usually if booking via a broker such as carhire3000 or Auto-Europe they will take your booking and then get back to you advising of the one way fee. At this point you have the choice to cancel. Your booking isn't confirmed until you've accepted the fee.

The other year, after trawling throughout various companies T&C's I found hertz would be the cheapest one way fee for my rental. I noted down the hertz location addresses and then went back to the brokers and hedged my bets with a booking from those locations. Ended up getting hertz via auto Europe cheaper than hertz direct and with the cheap one way fee.

Murphy_The_Cat

bagand96 wrote: »

Usually if booking via a broker such as carhire3000 or Auto-Europe they will take your booking and then get back to you advising of the one way fee. At this point you have the choice to cancel. Your booking isn't confirmed until you've accepted the fee.

The other year, after trawling throughout various companies T&C's I found hertz would be the cheapest one way fee for my rental. I noted down the hertz location addresses and then went back to the brokers and hedged my bets with a booking from those locations. Ended up getting hertz via auto Europe cheaper than hertz direct and with the cheap one way fee.

good advice, but its a hell of a faff, isn't it ?

If you're driving a long way, one way Nationals $250 (plus taxes & charges), seems to work out well, especially if their original hire charges are respectable.

bagand96

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

good advice, but its a hell of a faff, isn't it ?

If you're driving a long way, one way Nationals $250 (plus taxes & charges), seems to work out well, especially if their original hire charges are respectable.

Yep... a faff is exactly what it was!

I remember at the time wondering why the car hire companies/brokers can't just quote these fees at the time of booking. I'm sure its not beyond the realms of possibility!

Murphy_The_Cat

bagand96 wrote: »

Yep... a faff is exactly what it was!

I remember at the time wondering why the car hire companies/brokers can't just quote these fees at the time of booking. I'm sure its not beyond the realms of possibility!

they are incredibly inventive with their assorted taxes and charges. it seems to be tax On tax On tax !

Amba_Gambla

Hertz don't always charge one-way fees.

I rented a car in the states last summer on a one-way, and the total rental cost was £35. The same rental would have cost my American friend over $250 (on the .com).

I was very dubious so rang to check the rate, and the guy on the other end told me there were no one-way fees on the booking.

Murphy_The_Cat

Amba_Gambla wrote: »

Hertz don't always charge one-way fees.

I rented a car in the states last summer on a one-way, and the total rental cost was £35. The same rental would have cost my American friend over $250 (on the .com).

I was very dubious so rang to check the rate, and the guy on the other end told me there were no one-way fees on the booking.

Nice one.
Was it in Florida, California, Nevad or Arizona by any chance ?

Amba_Gambla

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

Nice one.
Was it in Florida, California, Nevad or Arizona by any chance ?

No. It wasn't.
smart@rse

ferf1223

bagand96 wrote: »

Usually if booking via a broker such as carhire3000 or Auto-Europe they will take your booking and then get back to you advising of the one way fee. At this point you have the choice to cancel.

We've also had them search for another rental company that would be a better final total for us in this situation and for a small amount more (£8 or £12 more total if I remember correctly) they swapped us to a company with no one-way fee.

Handy hint on National though - will remember that if we ever need it.

Murphy_The_Cat

Amba_Gambla wrote: »

No. It wasn't.

Can you give any further details of the hire, as the car hire companies all seem to do one way hire charges by default (except for some deals in the above mentioned States.
I've just done a dummy booking for hertz now and they've included the one way hire charge in my quote - unfortunatley they are wanting more in ££'s than I will be paying in $$'s for the hire.
Included in the rates

• Loss Damage Waiver
• Tax and other charges
• Customer Facility Charge
• Estimated mileage
• Vehicle license fee recovery
• Drop fee (Paid at counter)
• Liability Insurance Supplement
• Airport concession fee recovery
• Energy Surcharge

from other sites, Hertz one way rental for long distance trip seems to be $750 (plus multiple taxes & charges)

Obviously_the_best

You can price compare one-way trips at skyscanner.net/car-hire to see who'll give you the best deal.