Posted by One Man Rodeo on October 21, 2006, 12:09 pm
>I need a rental car I can pick up close to NJ and drive for a few thousand
>miles through most of the 48 states... It needs to be decent on gas, have
>enough room for me and my 11 yr. old son to sleep in if needed, and the
>company needs to support us well if their car breaks down in the middle of
>Bucksnort wilderness reserve, etc.
> I'm finding that most of the rental companies local to me have limitations
> on how far I can take the vehicle (not mileage, but can't go past PA, WA
> DC, etc.)
> Anyone have any tips on this? Trip is this coming August and I'm planning
> it out for us to have a good father-son time.
> If I can find a company that allows me to go into Canada and Mexico too,
> that would be a bonus, but not expected.
The reason most car rental companies put state restrictions is each of the
50 states has different laws on insurance. Only a big time country wide
insurer owned by one of the car companies can give you protection for all
states but it's pricey insurance and I doubt you can have the car for a
period of longer than 10 days.
Here in Ontario Canada we share a pretty long border with New York state but
only two car rental companies here will allows us to drive their vehicles
into New York State because of insurance laws. Go Figure the only two that
woud rent to us to drive in NY are American.
I would take the advice of another poster. By a decent used vehicle and
trip insurance like Triple A and sell the vehicle when you are finished. In
fact if you start early enough this may be the cheaper alternative cause you
can a buyer to might pay more for the vehicle when you are done than
after.....
Posted by Don K on October 21, 2006, 12:22 pm
>I need a rental car I can pick up close to NJ and drive for a few thousand
miles through most of
>the 48 states... It needs to be decent on gas, have enough room for me and my
11 yr. old son to
>sleep in if needed, and the company needs to support us well if their car
breaks down in the
>middle of Bucksnort wilderness reserve, etc.
> I'm finding that most of the rental companies local to me have limitations on
how far I can take
> the vehicle (not mileage, but can't go past PA, WA DC, etc.)
Years ago we rented a minivan for a Florida trip using my company's corporate
rental discount with Avis or Budget, I think. It didn't have any
travel restrictions.
One nice thing about a minivan is that you could leave the rear
and middle seats at home, and put in a couple of mats for sleeping.
Don
Posted by C. Massey on October 22, 2006, 5:43 pm
> RV rental sounds like the way to go.
Have you ever checked the price on renting an RV???
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Posted by Steve on October 23, 2006, 1:13 pm
>> RV rental sounds like the way to go.
>Have you ever checked the price on renting an RV???
Generally works out about the same as staying in a motel every night.
So it's really more of a lifestyle choice...
--
Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.
....Wendell Johnson
Posted by C. Massey on October 23, 2006, 8:48 pm
>>> RV rental sounds like the way to go.
>>
>>Have you ever checked the price on renting an RV???
> Generally works out about the same as staying in a motel every night.
> So it's really more of a lifestyle choice...
I guess that you spend more on motels than I do.
I have priced a small motorhome before and it was outrageous.
For giggles, I just went to http://wwwcruiseamerica.com and checked December
4-11 from Carrolton, TX on a 25 ft RV. Base price with no options runs
$777.70 plus a $500 deposit for a total of $1277.70. This includes 700 miles
with a charge of $.29 per mile over.
For me, if I was going west, 700 miles would barely get me out of Texas!
If I went from DFW to Atlanta round trip, that would cost me $290 in
mileage. Lets figure gas at a conservative figure of $2.00 per gallon at
another very conservative figure of 10 MPG (more like 6-8). Now you are
looking at another $340 in gas. It would cost me $1907.70 to drive to
Atlanta and back in the RV.
If I drove my car, I would estimate 20 MPG (more like 25) for a total of
$170 in gas. Looking at the first LaQuinta that comes up on
http://www.lq.com would be $560 total for Dec 4-11. That's a total of $730.
Looks like I would save $1177.70 by not renting an RV and staying at
LaQuinta...
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>miles through most of the 48 states... It needs to be decent on gas, have
>enough room for me and my 11 yr. old son to sleep in if needed, and the
>company needs to support us well if their car breaks down in the middle of
>Bucksnort wilderness reserve, etc.
> I'm finding that most of the rental companies local to me have limitations
> on how far I can take the vehicle (not mileage, but can't go past PA, WA
> DC, etc.)
> Anyone have any tips on this? Trip is this coming August and I'm planning
> it out for us to have a good father-son time.
> If I can find a company that allows me to go into Canada and Mexico too,
> that would be a bonus, but not expected.