How to Rent a Car for a One-Way Trip
There are many reasons why you might want to rent a car for a one-way journey. You may be moving to a new home, need convenient transportation from an airport to your final destination or may be stuck at an airport due to a delayed or canceled flight and need to return home before the next available flight. In any case, it is possible to rent a car for a one-way trip.
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Instructions
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Locate car rental agencies that allow one-way car rentals. Most major car rental companies do this, but it typically is easier to find agencies allowing this for journeys entirely within certain states, i.e., New York or California. Your options may be limited for journeys within other states or between states. It is best to choose a large rental agency, because it will be more likely to have a location near your destination. Note that some companies, such as Avis, offer after-hours key drop-off boxes at their locations.
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Narrow your list of car rental agencies to those that do not charge drop-off fees or other one-way surcharges. This list will become smaller the longer the distance that you travel because the rental company may want to return the car to its original location and that costs money. If the agency's website does not contain a detailed one-way rental pricing plan, you may have to telephone or email the company and ask about it.
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Note any restrictions on the type of vehicle you may rent for a one-way trip. If, for example, a company will not allow you to rent a compact car for a one-way journey, you might treat this restriction as a hidden surcharge because of the extra fuel that it will take to drive a larger car the same distance.
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Find car rental agency drop-off locations near your destination and further narrow your list to agencies with nearby drop-off locations. If you will need to take a taxi from your drop-off point to your destination, research local taxi fares. The higher they are, the more important a conveniently located drop-off point becomes.
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Contact the agencies on your list and find out the price for your journey including rental, mileage, gasoline and any other charges. If your journey is relatively short, don't be fooled by a low price. The price per mile is usually a better measure of value. If you cannot get a reasonable price for a short journey, it might be wise to make alternative arrangements.
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Tips & Warnings
One-way rentals are typically more expensive than return rentals. If you will continue to need a rental car for local transportation after you arrive at your destination, drop off the car and rent another vehicle at the return rental rate, since you will be able to drop off that car at the same location.
It would be wise to ensure that you will not have to leave the car at an agency located in a dangerous neighborhood, especially if your journey ends late at night.
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Comments
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georgesheer
Dec 17, 2009
How does this work? Who will pick up the car from my destination? I only tried renting a car in Jerusalem when I rent a car in Israel with Avis and it actually costs relatively high.
