The most important part of this entire journey will be the car we get. For us, there were two options in this regard, either we could hire one for a set price, giving ourselves important things like breakdown cover as part of the package; or we could buy one in Washington, dirt cheap, use it and abuse it, before trying to sell it in New York.
Seeing as how neither of us are particularly car savvy people, we have settled on the first option. Yes, renting a car is likely to be expensive, and will take a large portion of our budget, but the as-standard extras which most car companies offer is a significant factor in our considerations.
This far out no company can offer you a price for renting the vehicle for the two months we are going, but rough comparisons are able to be made. Insight Guides‘ guide suggests 8 major national car hire companies, Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty. Seemingly all car hire companies hire cars based on size and vehicle type. The larger and better the car, the more money it will cost to hire it. What follows is a rough breakdown of what each of the 8 offers and for what price. The figures will be presented for the cheapest medium sized car, for a period between 3 June and 31 July 2013.
Alamo
Toyota Corolla or similar – £1,422.06
Includes: Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Extended protection, Concession recovery fee, sales tax.
Doesn’t include: Sat-nav (at an extra $180), additional driver (up to $10 per day more – so potentially around the $600 mark). Also there is no mention of breakdown cover.
Avis
NB Avis will not give a quote on their website for any period over 28 days. Therefore the figures given are for 1 month only.
Chevrolet Cruze or similar – £710.41
Includes: Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), Additional liability insurance (LI), tax, unlimited mileage, one way fee.
Doesn’t include: Sat-nav (and seemingly doesn’t even offer it as an extra), additional driver (although the site confirms that the price will be given on collection of vehicle). The site also makes no mention of breakdown cover.
Budget
NB Budget will not give a quote on their website for any period over 30 days.
Ford Focus or similar – £698
Includes: Tax, LI, CDW, Vehicle registration fee, one way fee, unlimited mileage
Doesn’t include: Sat-nav (nor is it available), additional driver (there is no mention of this on their site), breakdown cover.
Dollar
NB Dollar make it difficult to find prices too far in advance, so this price is based on 56 days in February and March 2013.
Dodge Avenger or similar – £1387.31
Includes: Unlimited mileage, L/CDW, LI, uninsured motorist protection, tax, sat-nav
Doesn’t include: Additional driver (though this would be included in a “Platinum” package, making the cost £1614.08), personal accident insurance, nor does it say anything about breakdown cover.
Enterprise
Toyota Corolla or similar – £2414
Includes: Tax, and that seems to be about it.
Doesn’t include: DW, PAI, PEC, LP, sat-nav, additional driver, breakdown cover. Enterprise do, apparently, offer better plans for people on long-term rental. They have to be contacted directly to find out more information.
Hertz
Toyota Corolla or similar – £1565.90
Includes: Tax, vehicle licensing cost recovery, concession fee recovery (whatever that is), energy surcharge, Loss damage waiver
Doesn’t include: PAI, PEC, Premium emergency roadside service, additional driver, sat nav (optional extra at £124.02)
National
Toyota Corolla or similar – £1541.41
Includes: LDW, LI, tax, concession recovery fee
Doesn’t include: Sat-nav (extra at £112), additional driver (extra at £360), breakdown cover.
Thrifty
NB Thrifty couldn’t search for rentals in the date period, so the period February to March was used instead.
Dodge Avenger or similar – £1226.51
Includes: L/CDW, LI, uninsured motorist protection, taxes.
Doesn’t include: additional drivers, personal accident insurance, sat-nav, breakdown cover. The ‘Platinum’ rate does however include additional drivers and sat-nav (it costs £1717.59 all told).
So what does that all mean?
Well, some (Enterprise) seem to have ruled themselves out with a prohibitively expensive price. Amongst the rest, it seems to be very similar in terms of costs and what you get for your money. In particular, the ‘Platinum’ packages offered by Dollar and Thrifty look to be pretty good in terms of including most of the things we are likely to need at a competitive price.
U.S. Road Tripping 