SandyB
15-06-2008, 20:58
Firstly, newbie here, and many congratulations on an outstanding site and forum area. Please therefore excuse what might be a lengthy post.
I am a reasonably regular visitor to USA and up till now have always booked my car rental elsewhere - but no longer!
Almost all rentals to this point, particularly in California, seem to have been with Alamo and I have had few problems in truth. However, because of the quality of the site and the quality of customer care that seems to be prevalent here, I will be booking here from now on.
I have a fairly unusual situation and would welcome thoughts and advice please. I am shortly making a 17-day trip to Los Angeles along with my 24 year old son who turns 25 during the trip, by which time we will be in San Diego for a week before returning to Los Angeles. I am not concerned about him driving for the week prior to his birthday, but it would be helpful to have him included from his 25th birthday.
My original intention was to arrange rental 1 for 7 days from LA with just myself as a driver, returning the car in San Diego on his birthday one week later (taking advantage of no one-way fees in California). At that point I would collect rental 2 from the same office with my son included as a driver for the remaining 10 days and return the car to LA, again taking advantage of the no one-way fees.
HOWEVER, reading elsewhere in the forum, there is the suggestion that I could simply make one LA-LA rental and go to the rental company office in San Diego on my son's birthday armed with the relevant paperwork and have him included as a driver free of charge (Gold Option) and without the necessity to change cars. Am I correct?
Bearing all that in mind, the site has offered me alternative prices from Dollar, Thrifty and Alamo with not insignificant differences in cost. Does anyone have any experience of Dollar or Thrifty particularly in California, and would you have any recommendations please?
Thank you for reading this far!!
I am a reasonably regular visitor to USA and up till now have always booked my car rental elsewhere - but no longer!
Almost all rentals to this point, particularly in California, seem to have been with Alamo and I have had few problems in truth. However, because of the quality of the site and the quality of customer care that seems to be prevalent here, I will be booking here from now on.
I have a fairly unusual situation and would welcome thoughts and advice please. I am shortly making a 17-day trip to Los Angeles along with my 24 year old son who turns 25 during the trip, by which time we will be in San Diego for a week before returning to Los Angeles. I am not concerned about him driving for the week prior to his birthday, but it would be helpful to have him included from his 25th birthday.
My original intention was to arrange rental 1 for 7 days from LA with just myself as a driver, returning the car in San Diego on his birthday one week later (taking advantage of no one-way fees in California). At that point I would collect rental 2 from the same office with my son included as a driver for the remaining 10 days and return the car to LA, again taking advantage of the no one-way fees.
HOWEVER, reading elsewhere in the forum, there is the suggestion that I could simply make one LA-LA rental and go to the rental company office in San Diego on my son's birthday armed with the relevant paperwork and have him included as a driver free of charge (Gold Option) and without the necessity to change cars. Am I correct?
Bearing all that in mind, the site has offered me alternative prices from Dollar, Thrifty and Alamo with not insignificant differences in cost. Does anyone have any experience of Dollar or Thrifty particularly in California, and would you have any recommendations please?
Thank you for reading this far!!