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Complicated Car Rental Question


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Some girlfriends and I are going on a cruise out of Port Canaveral, flying into MCO. I am going a couple of days early to spend time with my Nana in Miami. I'll be renting a car at MCO Tuesday and and returning it at Port Canaveral on Thursday as I'm sure the cab fare between MIA and my Nana's would be more than the difference to return it Tues pm and rent a new one Thursday.

 

What would you recommend as the best option for figuring out the cheapest way to go about this? The comparison sites I looked at seemed geared toward renting at one airport and returning at another. Do you just look at each of the individual sites?

 

Also does anyone with more car rental experience know if you can return cars late at night, say 11:30 pm or so? If not I'll need to factor in extra money for oevernight parking and extra time in the am to return it.

 

Thanks in advance!

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So I looked into this a little more and found that I cannot return the car late at night.

 

So how do I figure out which of the below options is the best without looking at 5 different options on each company's site? I will definitely be picking the car up at MCO.

 

1. drop off at Port Canaveral Friday morning

2. drop off at MIA Tuesday afternoon, rent another at MIA Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

3. Drop off at a local Miami rental place, rent another at local Miami place Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

4. Drop off at a local Miami rental place, rent another at MIA Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

5. drop off at MIA Tuesday afternoon, rent another at local Miami place Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

 

We'll also need to figure out a way to get all 4 of us back to MCO on Monday but I think it will be best to figure that out separately - would you agree? If not that's yet another option to throw in the mix.

 

This is so complicated!

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So I looked into this a little more and found that I cannot return the car late at night.

 

So how do I figure out which of the below options is the best without looking at 5 different options on each company's site? I will definitely be picking the car up at MCO.

 

1. drop off at Port Canaveral Friday morning

2. drop off at MIA Tuesday afternoon, rent another at MIA Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

3. Drop off at a local Miami rental place, rent another at local Miami place Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

4. Drop off at a local Miami rental place, rent another at MIA Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

5. drop off at MIA Tuesday afternoon, rent another at local Miami place Thursday afternoon to drop off at PC Friday am

 

We'll also need to figure out a way to get all 4 of us back to MCO on Monday but I think it will be best to figure that out separately - would you agree? If not that's yet another option to throw in the mix.

 

This is so complicated!

 

Suggest calling car rental companies' agents and asking them rather than trying to determine your complexities on line or on CC. They are the experts.

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WOW:eek: I am confused

You are overthinking the plan

 

Why not rent a car in MIA & drop off at PC the day of the cruise you can pick up your friends at MCO if that was your intention

Hard to tell from your post

 

You could rent a car at PC after the cruise & drop off at the airport

 

Try Priceline or Hotwire to see if any deals

You can also bid on Priceline & see if you can get a good rate

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I'm lost? :confused: If you are flying in to MCO (Orlando) why are you renting a car at MIA (Miami) - which is about a 4 hour dirve to the south of both Orlando and Port Canaveral? How did you plan to get to Miami? :confused:

 

Any of the travel booking web sites can handle reservations for picking up cars at one airport and dropping them at another - if the big ones do not appeal to you try Kayak dot com or carrentals dot com.

 

I agree withe the above advice to drop th e car off the morning of your cruise and let the car rental company shuttle you to the port? Spend some time reading the PC FAQ thread - you'll find answers to many of your questions there. ;)

 

Good luck! :)

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Ha, I told you it was complicated! I have absolutely Zero interest in calling numerous rental car companies, I was asking ya'll because you are the experts. :)

 

 

But anyway, I figured it out. Thanks to Eeyoregon's rental codes I was able to get a car at MCO on Tuesday that I can drive down to Miami and back up to Port Canaveral on Thursday night.

I rented a second car for my girlfriends that they will drive to PC from MCO. (it didn't make sense for me to pick them up as they're getting in around 6:30 and i won't be leaving Miami til 8:30)

We will turn in our 2 cars on Friday am and then hop the shuttle to port.

Then on Monday we will pick up a new car, store our stuff in it for the day, and then drive it back to MCO with plenty of time to make our 5 pm flight.

 

Total cost - around $200!!!! Not bad at ALL!

 

It definitely helped looking into this once I realized that only Budget and Avis have rental locations close to port. (or maybe that's not accurate but I'm very happy with my rates so that's ok) :)

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I'm lost? :confused: If you are flying in to MCO (Orlando) why are you renting a car at MIA (Miami) - which is about a 4 hour dirve to the south of both Orlando and Port Canaveral? How did you plan to get to Miami? :confused:

 

Any of the travel booking web sites can handle reservations for picking up cars at one airport and dropping them at another - if the big ones do not appeal to you try Kayak dot com or carrentals dot com.

 

I agree withe the above advice to drop th e car off the morning of your cruise and let the car rental company shuttle you to the port? Spend some time reading the PC FAQ thread - you'll find answers to many of your questions there. ;)

 

Good luck! :)

 

I was thinking of renting a car in MCO and dropping it off in Miami so I am not paying for a car to sit in my Nana's driveway. However, it is cheaper and easier to just keep it.

 

Also as I said in my original post, the comparison sites I looked at make it very difficult if you're not dropping off at an airport.

 

If the answers to any of these questions had already been answered in the PC threads I would not have had to ask them again.

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Be mindful that there will be a number of toll roads during your travels. The best bet is probably to pay the car company for the easy pay for the time you have the car, unless you have your own toll pass and can make sure it is charged instead of the automatic one in the car. There have been nightmare's posted about people getting bills months later on their credit cards for tolls, plus the added fee of not paying, plus the added fee from the rental company. All together, these were quite high. A number of the roads do not have a way to pay with coins any longer.

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