Road Tripping in the USA!

peter said:
Flights booked, car booked with Avis premium £500 for 21 days , our Canadian friend said anything not American but how can you place a Volvo in a road trip photograph ?
Class G: Premium
Avis Example: Ford Taurus LTD
Chrysler 300
Buick LaCrosse
Chevrolet Impala
Dodge Challenger
Dodge Charger
Kia Cadenza
Lincoln MKZ
Toyota Avalon
Volkswagen CC (Avis lists it as VOLK CC2S 4DR)
Volvo S60
Volvo V60
need something to fit camping kit and a cool box in but only two occupants so can use the back seat. What would you chose?
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The Impala or the 300 are the best cars in that list but you don't get a choice, it's from whatever is available. Cars at Avis are pre assigned so you will need to try your luck asking for something else.

I personally would not select Avis for a USA rental, Alamo with select your own would be a better bet.
 
peter said:
Alamo are £300 more expensive for the weeks we want from Vancouver , I know it is pot luck what you end up with but we can get to the airport early in the morning and ask nicely. As there is no rush ( we are landing two days before and staying with friends before heading down into the states) we can get there and see what is available,
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Oh Canada, fair enough. I am using Avis for Canada too.

Note that in Canada it isn't zero excess.
 
Joe T said:
That's what I thought until I read the Enterprise website. Odd.
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I wouldn't use them, the Enterprise brand is more aimed at local rentals and insurance replacements etc, they tend to get the cars moved out of the Alamo and National fleets (same firm).
 
There are thousands and thousands of hotels within that area, rates change constantly so what was a good buy for somebody may not be for somebody else.

Your best bet is to go onto Hotels.com, filter on Guest Rating to only show hotels above a 4.0 rating, set the distance filter to show your max acceptable distance from town and then order by price.

Then go through and pick the one you like the look of with favourable reviews. Hotels can vary so much even within the same establishment by room type and who the staff are at that time so one persons recommendation is nothing like as useful as getting a feel for how the place generally is by flicking through the reviews. Always ignore the outliers - ie 1 star reviews saying it was WORST HOTEL EVAR1111 and 5 star reviews saying OMG TEH BESTEST HOTEL!!£$££3 and just see where the general feel is.
 
We just pick somewhere near the airport then leave. I wouldn't waste 3 days in LA unless you have particular things you want to see. Its just sprawl.
 
The USA price is exclusive of any CDW etc as most Americans have it through credit cards or car insurance. Once you add it on, which you have to, the price will be much much higher. It never ever beats going through the UK website. As a result the Insiders programme is of no value for UK residents.

Try virgin Atlantic car hire too. They use Alamo and are fully inclusive and often cheaper than going direct.
 
Yes the hertz quote is inclusive.

Why hertz btw? I would be surprised if they see cheapest and Alamo/National who share the same fleet also have the Yukon/Tahoe in the full size suv class and it'll probably be a newer car than hertz.
 
The Tahoe and the Yukon are the same size (They are actually the same car but different badges).

The Suburban is a stretched Tahoe and you will need a Yukon XL as the equivalent to that.

The Cherokee isn't classified the same as the Tahoe or the Yukon as it is not considered a full size SUV. I believe Alamo refer to the full size class as Tahoe or similar. Never seen anything smaller than a Tahoe in the full size suv aisle.
 
We did two nights and day tripped to Cedar Breaks and Bryce from there. This worked best because the rest of the area is fairly isolated and there isn't any obvious places to stay for reasonable money.
 
Flights booked for me now too.

3 weeks out of Vancouver is not enough to get down to Vegas etc. Plus if you are going that far down why are flying into Vancouver, one of the most expensive cities to fly to!?

Focus on the Pacific Northwest.
 
Seems like a waste to me, you can do Yosemite any time, flights to California are cheap and easy and there are a host of decent routes in that area.

You are surely better off exploring more of the Canadian Rockies, Vancouver island, etc on this particular trip?

The more you start to see the more you will realise that Yosemite, amazing as it is, is very hyped and there are many other places just as good if not better. Glacier National Park in Montana for example is incredible..
 
The price from Dublin is excellent but it's a long way off and I doubt prices are only set to go up from here. I guess the Manchester thing complicates it but its hardly that difficult to get to Heathrow where you should be able to get direct flights under 450 once the airlines start caring about the fact that bookings have yet to pick up for September.

First decent prices for my LAX trip last year, same time of year as you, didn't show until late March.

Don't forget to add in a hotel for Dublin as risking a same day return on separate tickets has disaster written all over it.
 
The Manchester flight isn't outrageously priced to be honest and its Thomas Cook who operate a slightly different (and arguably more transparent and sensible) pricing.methodology than the regular airlines.
 
If it wasn't Thomas Cook I would agree but if they are anything like the other leisure airlines they might not be as dynamic with pricing as the normal airlines.
 
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