Changing return to one way rental
 

I made some mistakes in planning a trip to city A and now need to fly into one airport and depart out of city B. I had an Avis rental for the original ticket (into and out of city A) but now that reservation wont work as I need to return elsewhere. I tried to change it or make a new rental online and it's clear that the location wont let go of any more cars, they have plenty of options if I keep the return as that airport, but nothing if I do a one way and drop at city B.

In the past I have often changed plans and had no problems, I am under a large corp contract and we have no one way fees, at most some locations can charge us mileage. I have no idea if the fact that the location wont currently allow a change online means that I wont be able to make something work once I land and drive away for a few hours, any ideas?

Last time I attempted to convert my round trip to a one-way with Avis where I couldn't do it online the customer service representative advised that the new rate was about $300 higher. It's not just one-way fees that occur, rate changes are often the bigger issue.

I had to drop off a one-way Avis rental car out of LIT in MSY instead of MLU once due to changes in my schedule. Initially they added a $1,500.00 fee, but the lady who checked me in couldn't believe that and sent me to the counter where the fee was removed and in the end I paid the same rate as if I had dropped off the car at the original destination.

So I WAS about to start another thread related on one-way question but figured id just post on here.


I booked a one-way trip to the bay area next week and will be arriving and picking up my rental at SFO. Im not sure what day ill even go back home and may take a different airlines back home. Certain airlines like Southwest dont serve SFO and only OAK and SJC. I did a dummy reservation via avis to see how much fee's/cost would be if i did a one way rental from SFO to SJC/Oak and the prices remained the same. Is the price only locked if i book it ahead of time? I was thinking of keeping my round trip rental reservation just incase i get a flight out of SFO... but in the case i do have to go to another bay-area airport, i would just return the rental at the specific airport i choose to go too. Will i be slapped with a fee then or will it be like the test reservation i did earlier and be the same price no matter which airport i choose to bring it too?

Edit: This was in response to post #1

Try calling. I've found them to be much easier to work with on the phone.

If it's a specific location that won't rent one way, you could always rideshare/taxi/public transit to another location.

Yes, price will be locked in unless you change the reservation. If you change it then all bets are off.

My advise would be to book/keep a SFO-SFO reservation. If you depart out of another airport then call Avis as soon as you know your plans to see what the price would be to change. If it's insanely expensive, then just drop off at SFO, then take Caltrain to SJC or BART to OAK.

BTW, Southwest has served SFO for about the last 10 years :)

Mmm I was ill try that then. I was hoping as there wasn't a one-way fee when i reserved it, that my Awd had some kind of special exception heh.

Your right. I had a brain fart but what i meant to say was that the certain times/flights im potentially looking at to HOU were from SJS/OAK airports.

Thanks! Ill ask again when i pick up the rental and/or when I get a set return date.

I don't believe it's so much a fee, but more they jack up the rate for certain one ways that take cars away from high demand locations.

A while back I tried to rent a one way from Fairfield to SMF for 3 hours (about 40 miles) just because I didn't have a ride to the airport. Avis wanted over $500 :eek: The Fairfield location usually has only 4-6 vehicles at a time. I found another way to SMF.