sparksals

I have major sticker shock here and perhaps someone can guide me in the right direction.

I fly into Phoenix tomorrow for two weeks and my husband is joining me on Jan 30th. We will head to Flagstaff, Sedona and then down to Tucson, flying out of Tucson.

Stupid me, didn't realize the drop off of the car in Tucson would be so expensive! We are talking thousands of dollars compared to phoenix.

I have it set to take the car back to Sky Harbour for a decent rate on Feb. 3 but then still have to get to Tucson and the rates are still outrageous for a shorter rental. I'm wondering if there is a way to get a better rate to drop it off at Tucson Airport? Anyone know any tips? I tried all the car rental co's and the prices are similar. Thrifty charges $200 drop off fee, which is the cheapest, but it still doubles the rental from dropping off in Phoenix.

Is this location specific and not the norm for dropping off in different locations? No matter where I tried, no matter what car rental company, the rates skyrocketed by dropping off in Tucson. Had I known this, we would have just driven back to Phoenix, but I thought we were saving time and money by doing so.

Hard lesson learned. Any advice?

If this is posted in the wrong forum, please direct me. I didn't know which car rental forum to post this in since it is not specific to one rental company.

ETA: I did finally find a coupon code that brought down the cost. When we are in Flagstaff, we will pick up a rental at Avis for less than $100 for three days. Then drive separately to sky Harbour to drop off the Thrifty vehicle. The rate from Flagstaff allowed us to drop off at Tucson Airport without the huge additional cost.

rocky

One way car rentals are almost always expensive. If you work for a major company, try their discount code -- many corporations will have negotiated rates that are cheap for one way rentals.

I checked your dates and it looks like Dollar/Thrifty will let you pick up in Phoenix and drop off in Tucson for ~$900.

new2japan

Drop it off to Sky Harbor. I can point out the easy way to get to from one to the other if you like.

sparksals

Rocky - with a bit of finagling, wound up getting it all for $670. That is picking up a car in Flagstaff and driving separately to Sky Harbour to drop off the Thrifty car, then continuing to Tucson in the car from Flag. Don't understand why it is so cheap to take the car from Flag to Tucson, but horribly expensive from Sky Harbour.

Also, glad I noticed but some of the Avis codes didn't allow for unlimited miles!

new2Japan - I know there is a shuttle, but that would have been our last resort.

ascensions

You could always "accidentally break down" on a non-one-way rental, and then subsequently suggest "I don't want another one of your lousy cars!" and drop it off wherever it "accidentally" breaks down. <cough> Tucson.

sparksals

LOL! That sure is creative!

SJC1K

I've often found National to have tolerable one-way rates. I just checked and could have booked a one-day rental, picking up at noon 2/3 at PHX and returning at noon 2/4 at TUS, for rates in the $60-$70 range (plus taxes and fees).

Because the rate is still higher per day, I arrange the trip so that the one-way rental is a single day, even if I have to book separate rentals before and after the one-way rental.

DesertNomad

Last July we were able to get a one way rental from Dallas to Reno with Hertz in a Toyota Camery for about $900 for 30 days. They were by far the cheapest (I think Avis wanted about $3500)

Auto Enthusiast

A quick Orbitz check shows one-way PHX to TUS pickup Jan 31 starting at $21/day with unlimited miles. Check all the companies again, not just the "discounters" like Thrifty.

Many erroneously think that the discount brand will always be the best deal in town. So they assume companies like Hertz and Avis will be more expensive than a high one-way rate quoted by a discounter and won't investigate further. Counterintuitively, the discounters tend to be more expensive and less flexible on one-ways than the companies that are more "expensive" for roundtrips. The reason is the discounters run a higher utilization. While this means lower rates for roundtrips, it also means a smaller, less flexible fleet.

I recommend the moderators move this to the car rental "Other Questions" forum, so a wider audience can potentially comment on it.

mlbcard

Yeah, like auto enthusiast said, I've often found Hertz to be the best deal for one-ways. Great that you found a way out.

raph

Edit [Why does strikethrough not work?]
I thought that Alamo doesn't charge a fee for dropping off the car within the same State (Here: AZ / AZ) and between CA and NV (I picked up in SFO and returned to LAS last month).

For Inter-State oneways, National has a flat-fee of $250 which is gladly used for coast to coast trips.

I did however verify Alamo's conditions and it says:
No fees will be charged for rental within California, Florida and Hawaii, between California and Nevada, between California and Colorado, between Airports Seattle SEA and
Los Angeles LAX/San Francisco SFO, between Arizona and Nevada, between California and Arizona, and between Georgia and Florida.

Auto Enthusiast

Are those your contract code terms? Those T&Cs are generally not available to retail customers. National's regular one-ways tend to be $195/day plus tax, with cross country one-ways something like $1,195 plus tax. Some European tour vouchers have a flat $250 drop fee, or no extra charge within certain states. Some corporate contracts have "special" one-way pricing between certain cities the corporation is likely to heavily use, when the retail prices are otherwise exorbitant. While it's less than National could theoretically have gotten, it prevents the business from going to Hertz or Avis, who typically charge $85/day plus tax.

Raj Yadav

Hello Guys, I need to drive from Denver to San Francisco around July 10. The different drop off location is very expensive. They are charging me 500/day. Most of the rental car company is in that range. I am thinking is it possible to rent and have it shipped back the rental car using an auto transport company. I would save atleast $1000. bucks that way. Have any one tried this. Please advise.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

Do you have any affiliations (e.g., college or university alumnus) that might entitle you to negotiated one-way rates?

84fiero

You can get a one-way airline ticket for <$200 for DEN-SFO.

I've sometimes (though not always) found much lower one-way rates with Enterprise, particularly their non-airport locations.