Audie

My daughter needs to rent a car for 6 days in July in Seattle. Since renting is a new experience, I would appreciate any input one could share. She has checked with the big companies and Costco, USAA etc. Someone mentioned there might be a local company that she is not aware of using. Also what is the general opinion of CAR SHARE and Turo? She would need to rent at the airport as she is flying into SEA. I believe the general rule is not to use the airport as it is cheaper off site but she may not have a choice. Thanks in advance for any help!

She would like to know if people have liked using TURO and if there is positive feed back.

guv1976

Off-airport car-rental locations might or might not be cheaper, even after factoring in the cost of a taxi. In some cases, you can rent from an off-airport location, and return the car to the airport with no extra charge.

Does your daughter own her own car, and have auto insurance? If so, she should check to see what coverage that policy provides when renting cars. If she does not have an auto-insurance policy, she will need to consider how to protect herself against third-party liability, as well as loss of, or damage to, the rental car itself.

In terms of rates, if she is employed, she should check to see whether her employer has a rental-car contract, and if so, whether employees may use the contract rate for leisure travel. Ditto if she is an alumna of a college or university.

What size vehicle will she need, and what are her anticipated rental dates?

drseagrass

July in Seattle is pretty much prime time so I wouldn't expect any bargains. There used to be some locally owned rental agencies off site at the airport that could be cheaper, but they are pretty well gone. All of the current rental car agencies operating out of the airport's off-site rental car center are listed at https://www.portseattle.org/sea-tac/...ion/rental-car. There are pretty stiff taxes and fees for airport pickups in Seattle, so do check in city rental locations to compare prices (Enterprise has many; Budget, Avis and Hertz are downtown) and at least a few of these locations are convenient to light rail stops from the airport. Picking up a car in town can be cheaper, but of course it is more trouble. Turo is a good alternative in some cases, but you would be advised to buy the insurance, insurance that comes with credit cards is generally not valid for Turo rentals

cblaisd

There is a Hertz location at the Seatac Marriott. I've sometimes gotten a car there for substantially less than the airport location. But agree that in July there will be no bargains given cruise ship season.

Audie

Has anyone used TURO and how satisfied were you? It is not available for me locally so no real chance for feed back from friends.

drseagrass

I have used Turo a couple times with airport pickups at DCA and BWI, when there were no rental cars available. As I indicated in my prior post, I have been concerned about the liability question as my credit card insurance coverage excludes car sharing arrangements like Turo, but they have an insurance option. You are dealing with individual vehicle owners each time you rent, so I would expect individual experiences will vary, but the vehicles I rented were very clean, the delivery was easy at curbside at the terminal, communication was straightforward, and you get to pick the specific vehicle, so you can pick more interesting vehicles than typically rented. You have to have the Turo app downloaded. Costs were competitive if not better than typical car rentals.

Audie

Just an FYI for you.....
I called and that Hertz in the Marriott is closed.

cblaisd

Sigh. Gotta love the Hertz website that still shows it open.

guv1976

Not seeing it on the Hertz app.

guv1976

OP: No decent rates available through your daughter's employer and/or alma mater?

Guyin

For many years I had been renting cars from Hertz HLE in Bellevue, Seattle downtown, Federal Way, Renton any other off airport locations. I usually will go for the weekly rate and extend it for the same rate.

From my experiences, there are usually very much cheaper than Seatac airport, the only hassle is getting to those locations from airport and back,

guv1976

With some rate codes, a pick-up from one of those locations will permit a return to the airport for no additional charge, so the hassle factor is halved.