Car rental, California... Yikes.

[jhilly8982]

Originally Posted by SDRider

I lucked last month in Orlando, we rented a brand new BMW 740i from Enterprise for 4 days and it only cost me $250. The car had 250 miles on it.

Enterprise is usually pretty decent IMO.

I got the same car in Boston through Enterprise. It was $100/day. I booked Luxury which said Cadillac XTS or similar. I was pleasantly surprised when the guy took me up there and said, we have a 740 or X3 to choose.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by fusionstorm

Flights from SF to LV are cheap, as long as you're not flying on a Friday or Sunday (and there isn't a major convention or event happening in Vegas at that time).

Won't work, we planned to drive highway 1 down to LA from SF with a couple of stops...

This way we drive highway one on the "right" side. Guess I have to give in... Couldn't in my wildest dreams think it was going to be this expensive.

Would have liked to give TURO a try, but since we aren't flying home from the same place....

[fusionstorm]

Ah well, that's a shame. Enjoy your trip here! Maybe even suggest meetups with other TRFers in the areas you'll be staying......

[bayerische]

Enterprise is pretty cheap, but charges a 390 dollar "DROP FEE".... wth!?



Against my principles.

[MonBK]

Originally Posted by bayerische

Enterprise is pretty cheap, but charges a 390 dollar "DROP FEE".... wth!?



Against my principles.

They all do except Budget.

Can't you rent at LAX and return there?

[breitlings]

rent an american, japanese, or korean car if you are worried about price.

[SMD]

Originally Posted by bayerische

I'll first admit, it's soon 20 years since I was last in California.

I didn't even have a drivers license then, being in my teens, but we travelled the state with my father and a rental car was of course a must.

We'll soon be visiting (wife and I), skipped on Hawaii this time, as my Wife has never been to Cali, and really wants to have a proper look, not just a few quick days SF, LA, LV and then off to Hawaii... So we're spending 2,5 weeks in California with a trip to Vegas.

OK, but... Rental cars?! Why are they 60% or more expensive than pretty much the rest of the country?

They aren't crazy expensive, if you pick some horrible little car, but for a "proper" car it's almost ridiculous.

I'm insured via my AMEX, so it's not the insurance part that racks up the price.

I usually use Sixt. Like their fleet. Today on "Cyber Monday" they have an offer "50% off CM".... OK, I choose the offer, and I get the exact same "offer" I got last week. It's not even an offer.

We're picking up the car in SF (Fisherman's Wharf) and returning it to LAX, but I can't think that's the problem, being same state and so on....?

All car rentals are IMHO from experience about as good or about as bad as the next one, depending on how you look at it. Only reason I tend to use Sixt, is as mentioned their fleet. Avis (who usually are the most expensive) was fairly reasonable, but only at the intermediate range of cars, We're just two persons travelling so I don't need a monster car, but it's always nice to get a BMW/MB SUV. But getting one in California looks like it's close to 100$/day.

Is it this expensive in Cali, or am I looking in the wrong places?

We're travelling in January, so shouldn't be high season.

This is the problem.

[Tri-Tip]

You CAN drive a convertible with the top down in California in January...not every day, but many.

If you pickup OUTSIDE the airport area, you can save some money, probably more than enough to cover an Uber fair.

Last year I was in Florida and saved about $60 picking the car up at a hotel rather than the airport, dropped at the airport and the cost to drop at a different location than I picked up was not significant (maybe because it was the airport).

$100 a day for a BMW/Audi is not out of line.

Be prepared to spend $50/day to park the rental in San Francisco.

[DeeTee]

If you return it at a different t location your paying 3-4x the price.

[RW16610]

Hopefully you're able to plan the pick up / drop off around this and get a more sensible price. More money to enjoy on the actual trip always makes sense.

[s14roller]

I'd highly recommend looking at Silvercar. Looks to be under $100 a day out of SFO and it's a recent model Audi A4. I used them on my last trip and the experience was great. You reserve online, someone picks you up at airport in Audi, takes you to the office (usually a few min from airport), you scan your app to the car and off you go. No up-selling on stuff you won't need at the "desk". No needing to search for your car or telling you there's an issue finding the car you supposedly reserved, both which I've experienced with regular rental companies.

[Runnin' Rebel]

CES is I'm town on the 9th-12th just under 200,000 people

PPAI with 20,000 attendance from 14th to the 18th

23rd-26th is the SHOT out door hunting etc.. show with 65,000 attendees

Concrete expo has 25,000 on the 23th to 26th

Porno convention from 24-27th 25,000 attendance

Some smaller ones all month long

[ckaynyc]

Originally Posted by breitlings

rent an american, japanese, or korean car if you are worried about price.

LOL! Common sense prevails.

[goin camping]

Couple of thoughts...

Rentals at an airport are always more expensive than the same retailer at a non airport rental counter. SF Yellow pages online should be of help there.

Midway car rental. Usually same price or lower but I have never gone into their lot and after having rented the compact. Upon vehicle inspection declared. "This one is too small for me. Got anything larger?" at which point they swap me into a large american sedan at the same price.

Best of luck.

I've lived in SoCal for the last 50 odd years so feel free to PM me with any local questions.

[GB-man]

I’m telling you. Rent the Tahoe through avis and call it a day. 750 is a bargain for that amount of time and it’s plenty comfy for the Vegas trip.

Also, although airports certainly charge a fee for those locations I have found that airports sometimes offer better deals than off site locations. Maybe because they do more volume? Idk but I rent cars often and lately the airports have been more competitive when you do a month.

[themast]

Originally Posted by bayerische

Enterprise is pretty cheap, but charges a 390 dollar "DROP FEE".... wth!?



Against my principles.

Check out travel sites such as Expedia. In 2015 I booked a car with pickup in Canada and drop off in the US with Enterprise through Expedia and, although expensive, it did not include a $390 drop fee. It was about $200 for a one day, one way, rental.

[bayerische]

Originally Posted by GB-man

I’m telling you. Rent the Tahoe through avis and call it a day. 750 is a bargain for that amount of time and it’s plenty comfy for the Vegas trip.

Also, although airports certainly charge a fee for those locations I have found that airports sometimes offer better deals than off site locations. Maybe because they do more volume? Idk but I rent cars often and lately the airports have been more competitive when you do a month.

I would, but can't find that price.

[Abdullah71601]

Originally Posted by bayerische

I would, but can't find that price.

Thrifty has a Chrysler 300 for $35 a day on Expedia.

[bayerische]

So, seems like I was looking at the wrong time.

Just booked a Merc with Sixt for under 500 bucks for the two weeks we'll need a car. Pickup SF and return LA. Prices seem about on par with FL.