simairlinenet

Hello everyone. I have an upcoming trip that changes time zones, so I'm wondering how I'll be charged. For example:
-Leave Monday 12pm Pacific Time
-Arrive Tuesday 1pm Mountain Time

National's website is interpreting this as >1 day and thus charging a 2-day rate, but this example is 24 hours of use. Have other members experienced how this actually gets charged when returning? I have twice driven Mountain to Pacific, but can't recall how this played out. Thanks!

kxc262

Billing times are based on local time zones. You lose time as you travel east and gain time on your contract for free as you travel west.

Auto Enthusiast

In my experience, the Hertz system (including Dollar/Thrifty) understands time zones, but the others do not.

simairlinenet

Thank you both. I called the arrival office, and the manager graciously agreed to grant the extra hour free of charge.

TIGA31328

There is normally a buffer of 1-2 hrs in the rental, but calm the location of you are concerned. I would have just booked it as a 24hr rental.

Tiga

nd2010

You can take advantage of it both ways. Gain the extra hours going west and return up to 3 hours “late” going east across all time zones.
When driving cross country on free days solo, I need all the extra hours I could get for a 3 day rental. I could drive from NJ to Vegas using just two free days because of the extra 3 hours

ChurnieEls

Don't they just charge by the hour up to 2.5hrs post due time? After that is +1 day?

Auto Enthusiast

"Due time" is the question here. 12 noon in NY is 9 AM in CA. There are a lot of one-ways between just those 2, for example. Hertz would force you to return at the same actual time, not the local clock time- pick up in NY at noon, return to CA at 9. National would say return by local clock times, noon to noon, without recognizing the difference in time zones.

I've done cross country one-ways with both, FYI, but more with Hertz. The one time I did with National was going east, and I needed to return early anyway. I called ahead and asked how such one-ways are handled in case I could use the time difference for my benefit. The counter clerk said she doesn't know, it's a good question, they definitely get these cross country one-ways a lot.

duxfan

Just went throught this very thing. Picked up in Central, dropped off in Eastern. Manager had to "adjust" the return time, as the computer simply looked at the time stamp. 4pm Central does not equal 5pm Eastern in the computer. Was told outside 21 minutes, the clock starts for extra charges.

m907

I think it's 29 minutes.

ChurnieEls

Correct!

https://www.nationalcar.com/en/suppo...0will%20apply.

Looks like you'd have 2.5hrs though for an extra couple of bucks (2.5/24 = ~10% of the daily fee).

davedeboston

Just ran into this picking up in the Eastern and returning in the Pacific timezones. The extra 3 hours gained during travel were not accounted for on billing.