Renting a car

One of the problems I read about is, after turning the car back in, the rental company tries to charge you for damage that you did not cause.

Some of the above samples are on extreme side like renting a car at peak of the season in Florida.
I rented cars several times on West coast and never had any issue.
Airports rentals charge extra for the location, at least in SF, but in strange twist of rules they offer unlimited mileage, while others do not. Most of companies will pick you up and bring to the office. Again, not at the peak of the season.
The only issue was when I was renting cheapest car for long drive and salesman talk me into upgrade to a car with cruise control. Guess what? The upgrade did not have CC neither, but they did not charge me for upgrade.
Beware about "in state" specials. With modern technology the office can track your travel and when they catch you breaking the agreement, the special is void and hefty penalties come to the play.

Thanks for the replies. This is such good info.
I wouldn't have thought about taking pictures of the car, great idea.

I hope we don't have to rent, but in casee we do, I like to know what to expect.

Relying on renting a car can leave you carless. Especially in Florida during busy season. Despite reservations months ahead of time for our Easter tour, when we got to Davenport (Orlando), we were stuck without one for the first 2 of our 4 days there. Only when I pushed the issue and wrote a complaint letter to Enterprise online did they get one sent up from Haines City for me. Not sure they would have done that if I had not already had the reservations done in advance.

C's Mom&Dad,

We rented cars during our three RV rentals. It was difficult at times as not all locations offer rentals like in Guerneville, CA. In our experience we found that sometimes the rental agent cannot get to you right away. We tried to rent in Napa Valley, CA., and we had to wait a couple of hours. In Lake Tahoe, CA, they only had a mini van which was much bigger than we wanted. Sometimes you can't get choosy.

We could not get a rental car from a 'big' company in Sedona, AZ, only from a secondary company that rented used cars. The only way to rent from the large rental companies were to fly into the airport.

I just wouldn't want to be tied to the schedule of a rental company. I would buy a small light-weight tow vehicle (Honda Fit or something similar).

Unless you plan your stops really well, unhooking to run to the store is a headache. Not a big enough reason to rent but you might need to make a quick visit to a store.

MM.

I've never had a single problem renting a car.

If you are a Costco member, you can get a great rate by going through their site.

You WILL have issues if you try to rent using a debit card. Many car rental places won't take them at all. The ones that do are quite likely to put a hefty hold on your account that may stay there until some time after the car is returned.

One thing that I do, but have never needed---take some good clear photos of both sides, front, back, front seat, back seat, and trunk interior--when you pick it up, and when you turn it in. Put the date & time stamp on the photos. Most rental agencies are honest but some of their help might not be.

Rent from Enterprise when needed.
Make friends with fellow campers. :B

Renting is easy. We've used Enterprise but I've never had them bring me the car to the site. They will come pick you up and do the paper work at the office and drop you off when you return but I've always been told they don't actually bring the car to you. Maybe they used to. It's usually a reasonable price for the rental. I am not sure what some consider expensive but you can get a decent car for $25 - 45/day depending on what you get. We tow our car 4 down, but we've rented in the past when we get somewhere and wanted a car and hadn't brought ours. Rented a Jeep from a private company once in Fla, now that was expensive. Fun but expensive.

The biggest consideration is your destination. If you want to rent a car, check your destination to see what's available. If it's remote, you may have issues. Otherwise it's pretty easy and straightforward.

I have never considered car rental a problem, just expensive. Remember, people don't write to 3rd parties about good experiences.

That said,I have had a problem in Palm Springs where there just aren't any cars to rent since they are reserved. Your best bet is to rent at an airport.

We have rented in the past from Enterprise, they delivered right to our site. But nowadays we tow the Grand Cherokee 4 down. Much cheaper than renting...