Staying in Manhattan, wanting a hire/rental car for afterwards, how to work out my best place to collect it from?
On an upcoming trip, I'll be spending a few days in New York, fairly centrally in Manhattan. After that, I need to head to somewhere in New Jersey not well served by public transport, so it looks like I'll need to get a hire/rental car (delete as per your language preferences!)
From my experiences of walking in Manhattan, coupled with those of being in taxis and buses, I don't think I want to be renting a car from near my hotel if I can possibly avoid it. Much more tempting would seem to be to take public transport for a bit, to get out of the worst of the traffic, and ideally close to a major road going roughly the right way, then rent a car from somewhere there.
Doing a quick search throws up huge numbers of possible places to rent a car from in and around New York, far too many to look each one up on a map, check it's suitability for driving onwards, check its suitability for getting there on public transport, check the next rental location etc. It feels like the sort of thing a computer ought to be able to do better!
Taking a given start location in Manhattan, a desire to get to the location by public transport, and a rough direction / rough set of major roads I'd be looking to take, how can I work out what hire/rental car locations to look at?
(This could be made more general for all US cities if that turns out to be appropriate)
Best Answer
Often car rentals in the USA are cheaper at airports than elsewhere. If you find that, you might want to take public transit to a NJ airport. The smaller rental companies (even with strange names like payless and rentawreck) can be less expensive than the large rental companies, but you will get more uniformly good service from the larger companies. (I have used some smaller companies and never had a terrible experience. But some cars had seats with cigarette holes and other minor defects.) You can search for "car rental" near a location in New Jersey using google map. Then you can read reviews for the nearby smaller car rental companies. Car dealers also sometimes rent cars and will turn up using this google map search. Good luck. You might want to check if your credit card company provides insurance for rental cars. Such insurance is optional, but can be a good idea. It will add $10 to $15/day to rentals. So if your credit card provides it for free, decline the insurance offered by the rental company. Car rental companies always push their insurance because they make good money on it. Finally, credit cards are more widely accepted by car rental companies than debit cards. I do not know why.
Two more thoughts: Car rental prices vary very widely even for the same car from the same rental office for the same rental period. People who walk in often get the worst prices. Likewise, people who walk up to a rental counter at an airport often get the worst prices.
It is very difficult (impossible) for someone under the age of 25 to rent a car from a major company. (I just stumbled on this website that offers to rent to younger drivers: http://www.allcarrentacar.com/new-york-rent-a-car-and-underage-rental-fees.html.)
Pictures about "Staying in Manhattan, wanting a hire/rental car for afterwards, how to work out my best place to collect it from?"
Is it more expensive to rent a car and return it to a different location?
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.How can I maximize my rental car?
7 ways to save on Budget car rentalsWhy rental cars are suddenly so hard to find?
The bottom line. Rental car prices have been surging because demand is high and supply is low, both due to the coronavirus crisis and the chip shortage.How can I reduce the cost of car rental?
10 ways to save money on your next rental carWhat’s Behind the Rental Car Shortage? | WSJ
More answers regarding staying in Manhattan, wanting a hire/rental car for afterwards, how to work out my best place to collect it from?
Answer 2
I just did a famous website search. This indicated where public transit stopped and car was required. Given that, I'd look at final destination of the public transit and perhaps look for a local taxi/car for hire in that area and call ahead by the time I got there.
Edit to add: It might make more sense to rent a car near a place that's easy to return to, so hotel/airport is usually more convenient.
For a more explicit answer:
- Go to maps.google.com
- type in the search box Transit near [your location]
- type in the search box rental car
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Andrea Piacquadio, Andrea Piacquadio, Norma Mortenson, Norma Mortenson