Hertz - One way car rental to the airport...

instead of taking a taxi.

Thanks to a FT recommendation for avoiding parking at HPN, I've recently become a fan of doing a one way car rental instead of taking a cab or car service to/from the airport. For our distance to EWR a cab costs around $80, car service more, + tip. It is over $120 to any of the NY airports. But a one way rental to the airport, picking up at a local HLE is $50, return EWR to local HLE is $60ish.

The only problem is Sunday. If you are flying out on a Monday or returning on a Saturday, it ends up being 2 day rental, and twice as expensive, because the local HLEs are closed on Sunday. I just discovered, however, that I can return to another private local airport (Teterboro, which is closer than driving back to Newark in 2 cars) on Sunday. :D So that alleviates the cost if returning on a Saturday and returning to Newark on Sunday. I can't pick up from Teterboro though, corporate plane use only.

Just thought I'd let you all know in case you are looking for an alternative to a cab or parking at the airport as well.

I've done this a couple of times too. Though in the reverse direction (to airport), since cab fare from PIT to downtown Pittsburgh or Oakland (Univ. of Pittsburgh & Carnegie Mellon Univ.) is only $40-$50 and is actually cheaper than renting out of PIT, though more than renting out of an HLE location.

Update, I'm wrong, I can't return it to Teterboro. :(
I can return to Passaic, which is still better than driving back to Newark.

For people in New York, don't forget about Hertz one way rentals to and from the airport.

Pick up Newark or LGA Thursday afternoon or Friday morning, drop off in Mahnattan within 24 hours, it's $23 to $27 depending on the car

Pick up in Manhattan on Sunday afternoon to Monday morning, drop off at JFK, LGA or Newark within 24 hours, same rate, $23 to $27 for the day.

If you live in NY and need a car for the day and it works out, you can zip around for the day and drop it off at the airport and take the trains/subway back and still save money.

This idea has been the biggest source of rentals for me. It's great here in Edmonton because there's no local transit, the shuttle drivers are lazy and skip half the hotels on their route, and the taxis are even worse especially when it gets cold. There's nothing like landing at the airport, walking past the line-up of people waiting for cabs to go and fetch a car waiting for me. A minute later I'm on my way.