Cheap One Way Car Rentals?

[missmod]

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I have a bunch of interviews coming up and I need to rent a car in Pittsburgh and return it in Columbus. Does anybody know of a company that will allow you to do this cheaply?? Online, it seems as if most companies charge $70-$100 just for the privilege...

These expenses are really racking up. 🙁

 

[docB]

As you have found most car rental companies don't rent one way or if they do they tack on a big fee. I've talked with some travel industry people and they tell me that the fee is whatever the franchise thinks it will cost them to pay some one to drive the car back to the strating point. Even though we think Hertz in one city whould be able to trade cars back and forth with Hertz in another city they don't because each city's franchise is independent and they worry they'll get stuck with a clunker on the trade.

An exception to this is U-Haul. They do rent one way. Now you'll be driving an empty truck but the cost can make it worth while.

The other thing to do is to see if the cost of a 3 way plane ticket with local rentals in each city is less than the one way fee. Sometimes it is.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I have not found any either.

When I was moving across country, I wanted to sell my clunker and rent a car, buying a new one when I arrived here. However, I could not find a rental car company that would rent me a car for anything near reasonable with a one-way rental (we're talking quotes of around $1500 for 10 days since I wanted to take my time).

Consider public transportation between sites (ie, train, plane or bus) or the U-Haul idea (which is a novel one that I hadn't considered, since all my stuff was going by professional movers anyway), because it will undoubtedly be cheaper.

 

[mlw03]

i'm renting a car from budget and picking it up at one site and returning to another. however both sites are within the raleigh/durham area, so perhaps that helps. it doesn't appear that i'm being charged any fee for doing it this way, and by not renting from the airport i'm saving about $60 over 4 days, even figuring in the cost to take a cab from the airport to the in-town car rental location.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I think its when you cross state lines that they really rack up the charges.

BTW, just rented a mini-van yesterday from Advantage to take the whole family up to Sedona. FYI, apparently they have some new policy that they charge your card $300 for up to 2 weeks after you return the car in case they find some damage. No biggie to some, but if you are living at your card limit or use a debit card, it can be a big deal. I've rented recently from Hertz and didn't see that they did that.

 

[happytime]

possibly helpful ... www.carrentals.com