i need to rent a van/suv for 5 of us driving to FL in about a month for a seven day cruise.

what are some good services you have used?
price ranges?

thanks

9/12/2006 2:14:56 PM

they are all about the same in price
make sure someone is 25 years old

9/12/2006 2:15:51 PM

google coupons/discounts - use a corporate discount

9/12/2006 5:19:32 PM

Quote :

"make sure someone is 25 years old"

Why people always say this?

9/12/2006 5:21:38 PM

typically most car rental companies (nationwide ones - not local deals) won't rent to anyone under 25 - or add a surcharge to the bill

9/12/2006 5:27:09 PM

^ because most of the major car rental companies require the renter to be 25. some companies will allow people under 25 to rent if they pay an extra $X per day.

9/12/2006 5:28:11 PM

my recent experience was $25 extra/day for being under 25. i used thrifty, but went through orbitz. it's apparently commonplace to save a lot of money by getting a quote through orbitz or other travel websites instead of getting a quote from the car rental places directly.

9/12/2006 5:30:43 PM

Ok. I was just wondering since I've always heard this but have used a rental car multiple times before.

9/12/2006 5:52:45 PM

we just took a trip in a Navigator, best trip car ever
it can seat up to 8 people and its so comfortable its ridiculous

9/12/2006 6:00:21 PM

not sure about others, but driving it out of state from enterprise is a bit extra

9/12/2006 10:55:41 PM

Enterprises general rules are as follow:

21-25 will rent up to fullsize car with full coverage insurance that they can verify will transfer, and you may be able to get them to rent you something bigger with a major credit card (debit card don't count b/c it doesn't have a line of credit).

If your over 25, you can get whatever, but they still generally require credit on anything bigger than a fullsize car, and will need to verify full coverage that transfers on minivans and up, unless you have a credit card, in which case your good to go.

They will charge you about 20-30/day more for unlimited miles to Florida. Great, they know its going to be parked for a week down there, but thats how it is. If you don't tell them your going there, they will only put NC only on the contract and if you get pulled, they will impound the bitch and light your credit card up.

Your best bet is to setup the rental on the website. Usually the cheapest rates to be found. Compare airport rates to local office rates, but realize taxes are mucho more at the airport than the local branches, so if its just a couple dollars difference, your probably better off to do it at a local store instead of the airport. Lemme know if you have any more questions.

9/12/2006 11:07:20 PM

Find out if someone has a USAA, AAA, or similar account... you get an insanely good discount. I have USAA for credit card and insurance and through their deal I was able to rent a full-size SUV for 10 days in California for just $220.

9/13/2006 10:09:07 AM

Usually you only get that deal in insurance replacement situations. Otherwise its only like 5-10% off the price. The only folks that can rent retail and get that rate is agents/adjustors for the company.

9/13/2006 11:21:31 AM

I got that for a standard rental... was our honeymoon.

9/13/2006 1:12:04 PM

Well you got fucking lucky or got a guy whose office was fat as fuck at that time and just looking to get cars on the road.

9/13/2006 2:25:14 PM

If you work for a major corporation, ask someone in HR who their partnership car rental agency is.

My company has a partnership w/ National rent-a-car, and they booked me a Chevy Malibu for 2 weeks in Hawaii (honeymoon!) and their partnership gave me free 100% coverage insurance, about 60% off, and the best part: no "under 25 fee". National charges $25/day for those until 25, and I'm 21. Over the course of 2 weeks, it would've costed like $1,000 if I booked it myself, and I paid $368 for 2 weeks renting that car through the company.

Check into that for sure.

9/13/2006 2:32:30 PM

^^ I did it through the national website. I simply enter coupon (they had another term) codes and it adjusted the price. It also included the benefits of waived driver fees and extra coverage protection. Maybe SUV's are just cheaper in California or something but it was not some freak thing. The convertibles were about $420 for 10 days, so a big difference.

9/13/2006 2:38:48 PM

thanks for the help
and we do have someone over 25 to rent

how much to rent the Navigator lafta

[Edited on September 13, 2006 at 3:53 PM. Reason : a]

[Edited on September 13, 2006 at 3:53 PM. Reason : a]

9/13/2006 3:51:55 PM