Rental car across state lines?

[kcs]

I can get REALLY low airfare from a regional airport to Las Vegas. I have read that DL is only a 4 hour drive away. Can I rent a car in Vegas and drive to DL? I could then drive up to SF to visit my son on the last part of our trip. I know SF to Vegas is 500 plus miles but we do that to visit my mom every year. My airfare to Vegas is 19.99. Or can I leave the car in SF and fly out of there? Anyone done something like this? A drive from our house to SF is 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jakeman]

I can get REALLY low airfare from a regional airport to Las Vegas. I have read that DL is only a 4 hour drive away. Can I rent a car in Vegas and drive to DL? I could then drive up to SF to visit my son on the last part of our trip. I know SF to Vegas is 500 plus miles but we do that to visit my mom every year. My airfare to Vegas is 19.99. Or can I leave the car in SF and fly out of there? Anyone done something like this? A drive from our house to SF is 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can usually take them across state lines. I've done it several times.

There are usually substantial extra fees if you want to drop off at a different airport though.

 

[CleveRocks]

I can get REALLY low airfare from a regional airport to Las Vegas. I have read that DL is only a 4 hour drive away. Can I rent a car in Vegas and drive to DL? I could then drive up to SF to visit my son on the last part of our trip. I know SF to Vegas is 500 plus miles but we do that to visit my mom every year. My airfare to Vegas is 19.99. Or can I leave the car in SF and fly out of there? Anyone done something like this? A drive from our house to SF is 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it totrally depends on the rental car company's policy, and how the rental contract is worded. You can't get an overall generic answer, you HAVE TO ask the rental car company you intend to rent from.

 

[Rob562]

The only restriction I've seen was one company that I rented from here on the east coast (would've been either Alamo/National in Orlando or Enterprise here in Massachusetts) had a clause that said by renting I agreed not to go beyond the Mississippi River. Odd, but true.
(Or maybe it was a moving truck...)

With all that driving, you want to make sure that you get a reservation that includes unlimited mileage.

EDIT: From Alamo's website:
"Rentals originating in the United States (USA) can be driven throughout the USA and Canada. Vehicles cannot be driven into Mexico. *Please note: Canadian citizens cannot rent a car in the US and drive it into Canada."
So you're OK if you rent from Alamo (and I presume National has the same policy, as it's the same parent company). Or check the "Policies" section of whichever company you're looking to rent from.

-Rob

 

[tampabrad]

Driving across state lines is up to the rental company.

True story...I have some friends who were driving from Tampa to Georgia and had to rent a car. They ended up getting a great deal for a weekend rate. When they went to pick up the car they were told they couldn't drive it out of state. That is why they got a great deal. The car was equiped with a GPS and if it crossed the border the engine would shut off.

 

[kcs]

Wow! Thank everyone! I guess I wasn't aware of the GPS issue!

 

[Phonedave]

I have driven across state lines with Enterprise numerous times. From NJ to PA, From NJ to NY, from FL to GA

I have also rented from one location and returned at a different location for no additional charge.

Of course this all depends on the company you choose and possibly the local franchise, but it can be done.

-dave

 

[eslocklier]

I've done this alot to save mileage on my own car, without paying airfare to a difficult or expensive destination. I've never heard of anything like the case of the engine shutting off above. Then again-I've never had someone tell me I couldn't drive it out of state.

 

[PiperGavin]

Affiliated with Airline

I try as much to book a ride from a ground transportation that is affiliated with the airline company. This way, I'm sure somebody will attend to me in case something wrong happens down the road. The last thing that I want is being left hanging in the air, which many companies are capable of doing.

 

[slappy magoo]

Short answer - check with any rental companies ahead of time, make sure they know what you're asking so you have no unfortunate surprises.

The first time my then-GF-now-wife and I went to WDW, we had a rental car with Alamo. It so happened that, near the tail end of our trip, a hurricane was brewing. 2 days before we were scheduled to go home, they already let us know that airports AND the parks were going to be closed, too. Seriously, we were tolf to buy groceries, hunker down in our rooms and prepare for some bad stuff.

My better half was worried that we'd get stuck in WDW for an indefinite period of time. Me? I could think of worse places to be stuck But she was a teacher and afraid of missing the beginning of the school year (the trip was late-Paril-early-September), plus the insanity of the airports once they reopened. So we contacted Alamo and asked them if they'd have an issue with us driving the car to the Philly Airport. I think they were happy to know one of their precious cars wouldn't be stuck in a hurricane :ROFLOL: they said go for it. We told the front desk we'd check early the next morning - I think THEY were relieved they'd have an extra room for extra people (between the people forced to stay longer AND the new vacationers who managed to get to WDW even after being told to stay home, I think they really needed space). Even the airlines didn't give us crap for opting to drive instead of waiting for the airports to reopen. We got up at like 4am on Saturday, the hurricane was about 90 miles off the coast, and still quite severe, but started traveling slower towards shore, like 4-5 miles an hour. We hit the road almost immediately, drove more or less straight through, saw no bad weather aside from some drizzles around Baltimore, and got to the Philly airport around 12:30am, dropped the car off, got picked up by my future inlaws...Disney gave us back enough money to cover TWO days of lodging, we got a refund of our return portion of the plane tickets, and Alamo not only knocked 100 bucks off our rental car, they didn't penalize us for not filling the tank (hey, everything around the airport was closed).

And we've driven to WDW ever since, except our last trip which was part-driving and part Amtrak's Autotrain