One way car rental in US [duplicate]

I'm planning a trip from Chicago to San Francisco and wanted to drive and was looking for one way car rentals and there charging upto a $95 daily return fee making a 7 day journey with $1200. I looked at hotwire priceline and all individual car rental websites. I was wondering if such a rental would actually cost that money. Any tips to waive the one way rental fee.

Best Answer

You should be able to find a bit cheaper, but yes, generally you pay dearly for one-ways.

The concept behind it is that the rental company needs to pay a guy to drive the car back and fly home. Some one-ways even out, of course, but not all, as tourists have preferred directions. For example, many people drive down the East coast and end in Florida, so Florida ends up with having tons of extra cars. They often run specials where you can get a car one-way out of Florida for 49 $ for a whole week. Route 66 is the same - most people go Chicago to SF.

You should check for such specials on your way, and also consider driving the other way round (if this works for you).

Another trick I used often is to split the rental in two, for example if you spend the last 3 days in SF, you return the one-way car right away and rent another one for the remaing days (which is much cheaper as it is not one-way). You could also split into two one-ways, by 'changing' cars in the middle, etc.

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Can you rent a car in one state and return it in another?

One-way car hire is ideal for when you need to pick up a rental car in one destination and drop it off in another. Pick up your car straight from the airport and drop it off at a convenient location when you're done.

Why is it hard to rent a car one-way?

It's costly and inconvenient to return a car back to its original location. Fleet management systems aren't designed to find another driver who is willing to return the car. So car rental companies charge extra for a one-way rental, effectively discouraging the practice.

Why is one-way car rental more expensive?

One-way car rentals are sometimes priced more or less the same as roundtrip rentals, but in many cases you'll have to pay more due to one of two factors: drop-off surcharges and high base rates.

Does Turo have one-way?

Guests can add any of the following at checkout: Unlimited mileage. One-way trip.

5 Tips for One way Car Rentals

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Images: Charles Parker, Tim Samuel, Tim Gouw, Tim Samuel