Dollar - Dollar at JFK Airport

Does anyone have any comments on what Dollar are like at JFK airport? I'm visiting New York next month from England and need to rent a car for a few days to drive down to Philadelphia.

For the price Avis are quoting me for their smallest car (group A - Chevy Aveo), Dollar UK are saying I can have a Dodge Charger (or equivalent full size) as there is some special offer.

I'm not that fussed about what car I have particularly, as I'm going to be light on luggage - although I am 6'5 tall. A Charger does sound quite appealing! Does anyone know what the chances are of actually getting a Charger at JFK?

Thanks,
Ben

welcome to Flyertalk.

I do not have any specific comment about Dollar at JFK, but in general I'd try
to avoid Dollar/Thrifty.

You may also want to check out Hertz and Enterprise and see if they have
any better rates.

Thanks. I guess there has to be a reason their prices are so low!

We did rent a car from Thrifty a few years ago and were none to impressed with them.

I've just checked out Hertz and Enterprise but they both come out more. I've also just been back to the Avis website and they now have a sale on (I'm sure they didn't the other day) but I can now get a medium Chevy Malibu for the same price they previously quoted for an Aveo (or an Impala for another £10/$20).

Thanks,
Ben

^ Great... Glad it worked out.

Also check again a day or so before you arrive. You may get some better
last minutes rates.

If you are 6'5", avoid the Chevy Aveo. It's about the smallest car that Chevy makes and is not very comfortable. (At least it's small for us big-car Americans!)

FWIW, I don't share cpx's opinion of Dollar/Thrifty. I've rented multiple times with both brands and have received decent service and brand new cars every time. On the whole, service is only average: in my experience, it's usually not memorable--in other words, not outstanding, not poor. As far as being worried about scams, etc.--not at a big corporate location like JFK, and in general, the Dollar brand is no more "dangerous" than any other car rental company (every one has its bad-apple locations and people--I know from personal experience). As one person so eloquently put it elsewhere on FT: if FTers boycotted every company that was complained about on here, we'd all be walking.

Although you can never be guaranteed a particular make or model, Chargers are nice. Search over in the Thrifty forum for an extensive discussion of the Charger (versus the PT Cruiser) spurred on by a question by another UKer. (Thread's probably about a year old or so.)

If you do go with Dollar and reserve a fullsize and they don't have Chargers available, you'll likely find other similar cars such as the Chevy Impala, Pontiac Grand Prix, Dodge Magnum, Ford Taurus or Ford Five Hundred, or you'll get a complimentary upgrade to something larger (an SUV or a van). All are definitely better than the Aveo.

If you go with Avis, Malibus are decent.

Also, check because I believe Dollar UK reservations include coverage (LDW, SLI, UMP) and prepaid fuel wrapped in the price. If that's included in the Dollar rate for the same price as a non-inclusive Avis rental, that's a significant savings and a great deal.

As far as being worried about scams, etc.--not at a big corporate location like JFK,

I wouldn't disagree with you there.. and not all of their locations are bad, but
Avis and Hertz have been consistently better for me.

I agree that Avis and Hertz in general strive to go the extra mile ("We Try Harder" and "Not Exactly") where Dollar and Thrifty probably don't, but you usually pay a good bit extra for it. But I'm not convinced that Dollar and Thrifty's service is lacking, at least enough to make paying extra for something else worth it. (What is the extra service you're paying for, anyway? Unless you're a member of an Avis or Hertz elite program, there's very little to distinguish rental agencies from each other--all of the majors have more or less the same rental policies, types and quality of cars, etc., and any variation is more by location than by brand. Maybe with Avis and Hertz you'll get more consistency across the country, since fewer locations are franchised. But I digress...)

Thanks for the replies. I've had a read of the Thrifty thread. Like the poster there, it is just the appeal of the Charger. It's a little iconic and not something we get over here in Europe.

I haven't booked either yet as they are both pre-pay with no refund (free amendments though). Both Dollar UK and Avis UK prices include Local Tax (TAX), Loss Damage Waiver (LDW), Additional Liability Insurance (ALI), Vehicle Registration Fee (VRF) and Unlimited Mileage.

Time to have a think!

Ben

It wouldn't hurt to check prices on the Avis and Dollar USA websites, which offer non-obligatory reservations (fully cancelable without penalty). You''ll have to add on about $30 per day (give or take $10) for LDW and ALI (Dollar calls it SLI, same thing), unless you're absolutely convinced that your UK insurance covers physical damage as well as third party property damage and bodily injury (or whatever the corresponding UK terms are). (You might be able to get away without ALI/SLI as I believe New York State requires rental companies to include at least state minimum liability coverage, but I'm not sure about that. ALI/SLI offers much greater protection that state minimums, though.)

Also, at least the Dollar UK one also includes a tank of fuel--pick up full and return empty. To get the same thing on the Dollar USA rental, you'd need to purchase a tank of prepaid fuel, which will likely cost about $50. So if that's free via Dollar UK, factor that in, too.

All in all, the prepaid deals from Dollar UK are usually a pretty good deal compared to buying everything separately, but it's always worth checking, especially considering the prepaid deals are, well, prepaid (and nonrefundable).

fwiw, i recently was checking rates in nyc for a 1way rental to PHL.

My findings w/no special codes but w/ current NYC promos, were that both Dollar and Thrifty while have some excellent nyc midweek rates, the drop off fee more than doubles the @US $50ish/day rate

OTOH, both Hertz & National had rates @US $80 but did not charge a drop off fee for NYC-PHL

good luck & hth

Just to update the thread. I went with a booking via Avis UK in the end through their sale. £126 for a category C (Malibu) but I also signed up for Avis Preferred. A few days before I left I received the membership card along with a voucher for a free category upgrade so I called to add that in.

I arrived at JFK, and I had to wait quite a while in the end because another customer was arguing with them over something. They weren't aware I was supposed to have a free upgrade either and didn't have any category Ds. I was offered a Ford Taurus or a Chevy Impala instead and given the voucher back to use again!

I chose the Impala and loved it. The boot was huge - which turned out to be useful with all the shopping we did!

One point to note is the car only had just over half a tank of petrol when I collected it. It didn't explicitly state that US rentals come with a full tank and I wasn't fully with it when I picked up the car, having been up for nearly 24 hours at that point. I therefore didn't think to check they were aware it only had a half tank. When I returned the car, it was over 7/8 full but they charged me $17.99 for fuel. When I queried the charge they said the car should have gone out full. I explained it didn't and the attendant refunded the charge plus a credit without an argument. This meant my rental in the end came down to £113!

I think $17.99 was a bit much considering I'd filled the car from empty in Philly for not much more than that!

Thank to those that replied.

Ben