I’ve had two trips now to the USA. Two very different trips. But the big takeaway for me was that if you’re going to have the freedom and get to see places like you want then, you’ll need to hire a car. I’m a big believer in public transport but unfortunately that can be difficult in many places especially outside major cities. There are a few things to think about when hiring cars in the united states and doing so on a budget.
First up, check your prices. I’ve lived in Australia and New Zealand. The price you see in these countries is inclusive of taxes, thats how it works here. That’s not the case in the USA. You’ve got sales taxes, tourist surcharges, you’ve got additional insurance, airport charges, road safety fees etc. It is different in every state. We got stung the first time we rented in Tampa, when they said we had to take out the insurance, even though we had travel insurance. Not true. Buyer Beware! So what can you do?
- Firstly check that final price isn’t different to what you were quoted.
- Pay online if possible. That way you know it’s all included. If you pay at the counter like we did, you might get swindled/manipulated/coerced (whatever you want to call it) with those additional fees. I found that online those legit fees were included in the final price, and meant that you didn’t need to muck around with paying at the counter. I especially found rentalcars.com to be accurate with its pricing and I got an amazing one way deal through them.
One way travel savings
If you’re dropping off in a different location like we did, then know that you’re going to get the one way fee from most rental car companies. Its expensive. So what are your options?
- Consider getting a one way deal through transfercars.com. Many companies need their cars back to a different location than where they were dropped off. Some of these deals are unbelievable but they are real. We once drove an RV from Los Angeles to San Fransisco for no cost. Some also offer a fuel voucher. It can be a great deal. Only catch is you have a limited time to get it from pickup to dropoff.
- If thats not convenient, there are some companies that remove the one way fee for certain locations and dropoffs. We were lucky from DC to get one such deal. It saved us over a grand on our trip from Washington DC to LA.
Fuel savings.
If you can, go a hybrid or electric vehicle. It will really save you a lot of money. If you cant, find out where you can fuel up for less. gasbuddy.com/ is a great place to get an idea of areas that are expensive. Thats how we saved over a $1/G by filling up before Colorado.
These fuel and car rental tips are sure to save you a lot of money. Don’t be a chump and pay retail, and enjoy the trip. Especially if you are doing a ‘real’ road trip, soak in that experience. Its amazing to really see the USA and all it has on offer.