Triangle Trip

Car rental companies are eliminating flexible one way car rental returns. Major car rental companies like Avis, Hertz and National used to treat a Metro area as one car rental facility. With corporate and leisure rates, customers used to be able to rent from one metro area and return to another – i.e., rent at SFO and return at SJO. As recent as January 2009, I rented a car from National at LAX and returned the car at SNA without penalty.

Since March of 2009, I began to realize the major car rental companies are charging their customers for returning to a different car rental facility. I was looking to rent a car from Hertz or National at Burbank airport and returning the car to LAX and noticed extra charges for dropping the car off at a different location. National Car Rental adds a drop off charge with unlimited miles while Hertz charges a standard daily rental rate plus $0.30 per mile.

There are however exceptions on the east coast. Due to the competitive nature of the one way rentals in the greater New York area, you can still get good rates when you rent from NYC and return it to New Jersey/Newark. I have also rented from downtown Philadelphia and returned the car to PHL without any penalties or extra mileage charge.

I recommend you read the fine print of the car rental quote before you commit to the contract. Flexible return policies are out the window in this tough economy.

Let me preface this post by telling everyone that I really despise Avis for its poor customer service. I have not rented from Avis in over 10 years due to a really horrible experience at Newark Liberty International (EWR). Ironically this post is about renting from Avis’s Newark facility. I won’t get into the details on my horrible experience; I will save it for another post… Given the latest Avis offer, I may actually consider going back to them to give it a go.

As one of the options to go from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to NYC, I used to recommend National Car Rental with their one-way rental program. However, National Car Rental has ended its one-way car rental offer between Newark and NYC for $25 a day – which was an awesome deal. Avis has recently picked up the one-way car rental promotion. This means you can rent an Avis car from Newark Liberty International (EWR) and drop it off in New York City for $25 plus taxes or rent the car from an Avis location in NYC and return it to EWR. Here’s the link to reserve at Avis. You can also call Avis and mention AWD #K462601.

The Avis offer only works if you’re going from EWR to NYC on Thursday or Friday and from NYC to EWR on Sunday or Monday. The reason for this offer is Avis needs to get its cars from EWR to NYC for the weekend rentals. As a renter, you’re essentially doing the driving for Avis.

You should also be aware of the following restrictions:

• One-way rental from EWR to NYC can only be picked up from Thursday after 1PM to Friday 10PM and it must be dropped off by Friday.
• One-way rental from NYC to EWR can only be picked up from Sunday after 3PM to Monday 10PM. The car must be dropped off by mid-night on Monday.

Also read the fine prints from the link.

Regardless if you’ve corporate accounts with Hertz, Avis, Budget, etc., National Car Rental offers the most flexibility when it comes to return locations.

Hertz and Avis offer one way rentals but they often want you to stick to the itinerary. Any last minute changes will cost you $75 to $100. National however allows you to return it to any of its regional locations.

I had a car from Hertz last month from LAX and needed to return to Burbank due to a flight change. Hertz wanted to charge me a drop off change fee of $75. I had to escalate the issue to a supervisor to get rid of the fee.

I had a car from National last week that was picked up from LAX and scheduled to be returned to Burbank. Due to my travel schedule change, I had to drop off the car at SNA. I rang. National and just told them about the change and they switched my return without hesitation. I actually didn’t have to call. National is very good about just accepting cars at their facility. I also had similar experience in NYC when I said I would return the car at the 43rd street facility and dropped it off at the 12th street lot.

National is flexible and they get business travel!