Thrifty - Help with one-way rental PHX--ABQ
Hi,
could anyone help me with a one-way car rental from PHX to ABQ?
I've tried several codes that I found with the search function and, they seemed to give a good rate BUT added 30 cents/mile.
We're taking a family vacation and could fly Southwest to PHX and back from ABQ. We could also do ABQ roundtrip but, it would save us some drive time if we could find a reasonably priced one-way car rental from PHX-ABQ.
The dates would be July 22-August 5.
We're flexible and could use any size car but, would prefer a smaller economical one.
dieuwer2
Mar 10, 11, 5:08 pm
Hertz has a promo for $5/day from Arizona to surrounding states. Until the end of May however. I suggest you change your vacation.
Tuneman1984
Mar 11, 11, 2:36 pm
Since you're staying a while, I would break up your rentals into local and one-way. So for example, do a rental at PHX for the days you're there, then do a one day one-way from PHX to ABQ, and then rent for your remaining days at ABQ. If you have the same class booked, you might even be able to keep the same vehicle, unless Thrifty PHX has a specific vehicle to go back to ABQ (i.e. car with NM plates).
If this doesn't work, I'd book a rental for the full time at PHX and then call them directly to ask what the drop charge would be to return it to ABQ. They may just impose a flat drop fee without changing your rate or dropping the unlimited mileage.
I'd expect a reasonable drop fee to be around $150 for going to another state, but if you get there and they have a New Mexico vehicle, they may waive it entirely since you're taking back a car that needs to go back anyways. This last possibility is really luck of the draw, both that there is an NM car and that you get a sympathetic agent/manager that waives the fee, so I wouldn't bet on it.
Best of luck!
Auto Enthusiast
Mar 11, 11, 7:21 pm
Based on their website, Thrifty allows one-ways between PHX and ABQ, but with a $625-$825 flat drop charge. Theoretically, if one of those is a licensee that owns specific cars, Thrifty might have denied the rental, like they tend to do with other franchises. But since they allow it, both could be corporate stores with a randomly circulating fleet. In that case, the car doesn't "go back," so their high drop charge would seem unusual.
dieuwer2
Mar 11, 11, 8:10 pm
One-day one-way rental with Hertz for your dates starts at $90 all in.
jackal
Mar 12, 11, 7:27 am
Based on their website, Thrifty allows one-ways between PHX and ABQ, but with a $625-$825 flat drop charge. Theoretically, if one of those is a licensee that owns specific cars, Thrifty might have denied the rental, like they tend to do with other franchises. But since they allow it, both could be corporate stores with a randomly circulating fleet. In that case, the car doesn't "go back," so their high drop charge would seem unusual.
Both appear to be corporate stores.
That does seem to be an unusually high drop charge for such a sort distance. At first I thought that PHX-->ABQ had a very imbalanced one-way demand that could be causing the discrepancy, but the reverse (ABQ-->PHX) is not much cheaper at $625.
Doubt it's an emissions thing (like CA, where one-ways can be an operational challenge because the incoming cars aren't CA-emissions certified).
Very odd.
Try calling and asking for the direct number to Thrifty PHX and asking about a one-way rental...maybe they can at least explain why it's so high...