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Thrifty and Dollar Drop Charges

Megsie1000

By Megsie1000,
in Florida Departures

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Megsie1000

Megsie1000

Posted
Posted

We are sailing out of Port Everglades in mid-January. The plan for our family is to fly into MCO on a Thursday afternoon, pick up a rental car, spend 2 nights in Orlando to do Sea World. Saturday morning we will wake up early and drive to Port Everglades to get on our ship.

 

When we get to the port, our plan was to drop me and the kids off with our luggage and then have my husband return the rental car and take a cab or a shuttle back to the Port.

 

I have been researching on this board and it seems like Thrifty and Dollar are the best options as far as a drop-off location that is easy to get to from the Port. However, when I went to find rental car options, those two companies want to charge $200 for a drop charge PER rental, which almost doubles the price (especially since it is only a 2-day rental).

 

Does anybody else have any advice as far as other companies? I was planning on avoiding the airport if possible because my husband gets easily flustered when driving in an area he is unfamiliar with, but we might not have a choice unless we can find another rental company that has a drop-off area near the port.

 

Thanks in advance! :)

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cruisegirl29

cruisegirl29

Posted
Posted
We are sailing out of Port Everglades in mid-January. The plan for our family is to fly into MCO on a Thursday afternoon, pick up a rental car, spend 2 nights in Orlando to do Sea World. Saturday morning we will wake up early and drive to Port Everglades to get on our ship.

 

When we get to the port, our plan was to drop me and the kids off with our luggage and then have my husband return the rental car and take a cab or a shuttle back to the Port.

 

I have been researching on this board and it seems like Thrifty and Dollar are the best options as far as a drop-off location that is easy to get to from the Port. However, when I went to find rental car options, those two companies want to charge $200 for a drop charge PER rental, which almost doubles the price (especially since it is only a 2-day rental).

 

Does anybody else have any advice as far as other companies? I was planning on avoiding the airport if possible because my husband gets easily flustered when driving in an area he is unfamiliar with, but we might not have a choice unless we can find another rental company that has a drop-off area near the port.

 

Thanks in advance! :)

 

Hello,

 

The cost will greatly increase since this is considered on One-Way rental. If you were to return it to the same location you rented it.. it would be much cheaper. :(

 

Not sure you will find any rental company giving a deal for one-way rentals. You could google coupon codes to see if you could find a code to use to lessen the cost.

 

Good Luck!

Sue

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newgirl2

newgirl2

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Posted

I am running into the same problem. We booked the cruise out of Miami but Southwest only flies to Ft Lauderdale. We thought we'd stay 3 days pre-cruise & rent a car to explore Miami & drop off car at the port but the cost is outrageous. I don't know what to do, cruise is booked, hotels are booked...might have to cancel entire trip! :confused:

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thinfool

thinfool

Posted
Posted

You all might explore the 'Name your own price' feature of Priceline. Some really super prices on rental cars happen there.

 

Plus, if unsuccessful, you can bid over and over until your trip is imminent.

 

Note: Priceline rates seem to be better within 2-3 months of your trip date.

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DanJ

DanJ

Posted
Posted
I am running into the same problem. We booked the cruise out of Miami but Southwest only flies to Ft Lauderdale. We thought we'd stay 3 days pre-cruise & rent a car to explore Miami & drop off car at the port but the cost is outrageous. I don't know what to do, cruise is booked, hotels are booked...might have to cancel entire trip! :confused:

.

You'd cancel an entire trip over the cost of dropping a car off? Miami and Ft Lauderdale are so close, you can just rent and return the car to the same place and take a shuttle service. If you plan to stay in Miami, and can't find a reasonable rental from FLL with an MIA return, just take a shuttle service to MIA and rent from there. It's not the ideal situation for sure, but far better than throwing out an entire vacation.

 

Not sure when these drop charges came into practice. It always seemed that Florida car rentals were fine to rent and drop at other locations in the state, with maybe airport concession fees tacked on. We rented in PBI this past January and returned to FLL and had no isssue. I'd also caution people to make sure when they do these online quotes that their drop off time is earlier in the day than the time you picked up the rental to avoid extra day charges. For example, pick up at 11am on Friday, drop off at noon Sunday is 3 days rental.

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drd-aus

drd-aus

Posted
Posted

One thing I do when renting one way is to look at rental car locations away from the airport. Airport locations are more expensive due to fees relating to the airport location and the convenience factor. Look at neighborhood dropoffs or hotel sites and other off beat locations like car dealers. For business I use Enterprise or Hertz and book through their web sites.

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Megsie1000

Megsie1000

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We have already done the airfare. We got it months and months ago b/c we use airmiles. In fact, that is how we ended up doing Orlando first is that it was much "cheaper" (in airmiles) go to through Orlando and we are big Orlando fans, so I figured we would just extend our trip a few days on that end.

 

Just FYI, it doesn't look like *all* of the rental car companies charge a drop-off fee. It was only Dollar and Thrifty. And, unfortunately, it looks like from reading these boards that those are the two that have the convenient drop-off areas near the port (that are non-airport).

 

For instance, Hertz wants to charge $102 per day for a Mini-van or an SUV (we are a family of 5 with carseats :)) for a total of $212 with tax. That is not terrible. Dollar and Thrifty have lower per-day charges but then tack on a $200 fee for the one-way. Avis, Budget and Hertz do not (at least it doesn't look like it from the initial search).

 

Should I just give up trying to find a port location for drop-off and do FLL drop-off? It might be easier than trying to search and figure out whether the Ft. Lauderdale non-airport location is anywhere near the port. LOL

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Megsie1000

Megsie1000

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Avis looks like the best deal. It lists the non-FLL drop-off location as

 

2301 Southeast 17th Street

Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

 

Does anybody know if that is near the port and whether they have a shuttle? Any other experiences with this company?

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swigso

swigso

Posted
Posted

The Rental at FLL is really close to the port about

a 10 min cab ride.

I would look at Hertz or Use Argus Car Hire, they are

an Irish car booking agency who I have used many times.

We have flown into the MCO and dropped off in either

Miami or Ft Lauderdale and never paid drop off charges.

In March we have a Ford Escape pick up at FLL drop off

at MCO no drop off charges rented thro dollar they have

rates of $211 including taxes etc for a ford escape

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DanJ

DanJ

Posted
Posted
We have already done the airfare. We got it months and months ago b/c we use airmiles. In fact, that is how we ended up doing Orlando first is that it was much "cheaper" (in airmiles) go to through Orlando and we are big Orlando fans, so I figured we would just extend our trip a few days on that end.

 

Just FYI, it doesn't look like *all* of the rental car companies charge a drop-off fee. It was only Dollar and Thrifty. And, unfortunately, it looks like from reading these boards that those are the two that have the convenient drop-off areas near the port (that are non-airport).

 

For instance, Hertz wants to charge $102 per day for a Mini-van or an SUV (we are a family of 5 with carseats :)) for a total of $212 with tax. That is not terrible. Dollar and Thrifty have lower per-day charges but then tack on a $200 fee for the one-way. Avis, Budget and Hertz do not (at least it doesn't look like it from the initial search).

 

Should I just give up trying to find a port location for drop-off and do FLL drop-off? It might be easier than trying to search and figure out whether the Ft. Lauderdale non-airport location is anywhere near the port. LOL

 

Everything is nice and close near Port Everglades. True that Dollar and Thrifty have a convenient location right outside the port, but Hertz is right across the road in the Crowne Plaza, and Enterprise is a block west of that. The Budget you see is right outside the north entrance of the port beside the Renaissance Hotel, and the Avis is at the Hyatt Pier 66, just across the liftbridge from there. Even the airport locations are close, and National and Alamo have a free shuttle bus from there to the port.

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newgirl2

newgirl2

Posted
Posted
.

You'd cancel an entire trip over the cost of dropping a car off? Miami and Ft Lauderdale are so close, you can just rent and return the car to the same place and take a shuttle service. If you plan to stay in Miami, and can't find a reasonable rental from FLL with an MIA return, just take a shuttle service to MIA and rent from there. It's not the ideal situation for sure, but far better than throwing out an entire vacation.

 

Not sure when these drop charges came into practice. It always seemed that Florida car rentals were fine to rent and drop at other locations in the state, with maybe airport concession fees tacked on. We rented in PBI this past January and returned to FLL and had no isssue. I'd also caution people to make sure when they do these online quotes that their drop off time is earlier in the day than the time you picked up the rental to avoid extra day charges. For example, pick up at 11am on Friday, drop off at noon Sunday is 3 days rental.

 

 

Hi Dan, I wouldn't cancel the trip completely, but pick a cruise out of FLL instead of MIA. I would have to cancel everything & re-book which I really don't want to do since I was excited to sail on the Eclipse. You mentioned a shuttle to MIA then renting a car there...is there a shuttle from FLL to MIA & if so do you know approx. cost? That would be ideal but I just didn't know it was possible. Thanks! :)

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DanJ

DanJ

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Posted
Hi Dan, I wouldn't cancel the trip completely, but pick a cruise out of FLL instead of MIA. I would have to cancel everything & re-book which I really don't want to do since I was excited to sail on the Eclipse. You mentioned a shuttle to MIA then renting a car there...is there a shuttle from FLL to MIA & if so do you know approx. cost? That would be ideal but I just didn't know it was possible. Thanks! :)

 

You have several options. First off, I would check several rental companies. I'm not sure who you have looked at, but prices can vary widely from one to the next. Shop around as renting from FLL and returning to MIA is your best option. Compare those prices to ones you get by renting and returning to the same Miami location. If you are within about $50-75, I would just rent at FLL and return to Miami. If you want to rent from Miami Airport, a couple shuttle companies to look at are QLS and the Go Airport Shuttle. These shared van shuttles are in and around $25 per person.

 

SAS is another shuttle service from FLL that services the hotels and port of Miami, but not the airport, if you wanted to go to your hotel directly, or rent from a company near your hotel. This would probably take a little more research on your part. Perhaps if you post the hotel you are staying at, some people here might be able to suggest rental car companies nearby.

 

Of course, you can always rent and return to FLL, and stay at a hotel in Ft Lauderdale and travel around from there. There are many hotels in the FLL airport area right on I-95 and Miami is a relatively short drive down from there. Or you can still stay in Miami, enjoy your three days there, return the car to FLL early the morning of your cruise, or the evening before, and take one of the shuttles mentioned above back. There are several options for you, and I wouldn't let this issue stand in the way of taking the cruise you want. Many people fly into FLL for Miami cruises (and vice versa).

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wiseguycruising

wiseguycruising

Posted
Posted
We are sailing out of Port Everglades in mid-January. The plan for our family is to fly into MCO on a Thursday afternoon, pick up a rental car, spend 2 nights in Orlando to do Sea World. Saturday morning we will wake up early and drive to Port Everglades to get on our ship.

 

When we get to the port, our plan was to drop me and the kids off with our luggage and then have my husband return the rental car and take a cab or a shuttle back to the Port.

 

I have been researching on this board and it seems like Thrifty and Dollar are the best options as far as a drop-off location that is easy to get to from the Port. However, when I went to find rental car options, those two companies want to charge $200 for a drop charge PER rental, which almost doubles the price (especially since it is only a 2-day rental).

 

Does anybody else have any advice as far as other companies? I was planning on avoiding the airport if possible because my husband gets easily flustered when driving in an area he is unfamiliar with, but we might not have a choice unless we can find another rental company that has a drop-off area near the port.

 

Thanks in advance! :)

 

Check with Alamo in MCO (Orlando International). They don't have drop off fee. At the FLL you can catch a free Alamo Shuttle that will drop you off at the Port. That also will save you a taxi trip.

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ehough

ehough

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Posted

We've run into the same problem, but my advice would be to keep trying. We're flying into Orlando on a Friday, renting from Budget, and dropping it off at the FLL airport on Sunday, for $65. Not bad, really!

 

I tend to use expedia.com just to get an overview of which company would be cheapest. Then I Google for coupon codes for the cheapest company. I book that price, just to lock it in, and then I keep checking prices. I've cancelled and re-booked several times now. I even had a $50 rental through Dollar- at one point I wasn't getting charged for the one way, but then we changed our flight time and they wanted to adjust my rental to $200, so I cancelled.

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alligirl78

alligirl78

Posted
Posted

The drop fee changes per company based on when/where they need vehicles. I rented a car, one way, from Orlando to Port Canaveral and back a week later (one thru Dollar, one thru Budget) with NO drop off fee. A week later, the same booking had a drop off fee. Keep checking.

 

And isn't there a train/tram from FLL to Miami..?

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