Rental car options what would you do?

[mattR]

First rental

Need to get from LAX-Hermosa Beach-San Pedro.  Full size car for four of us plus luggage.

Right now have Hertz reserved for $154.   Pick up LAX Jun 25 drop off San Pedro Jun 26.  

Any better ideas maybe just Uber to Hotel and Uber to Port? 

We are flying in at 10am so might be nice to have a car for the day ?

 

Second rental

Need a car for two days from San Pedro to LAX.  Full size for four of us plus luggage

Right now have Hertz reserved for $307 Pick up San Pedro Jun 30 drop off LAX Jul 2

Also have Enterprise reserved for $184 Pick up West Anaheim Jun 30 drop off LAX Jul 2  (Had this booking for when we were planning on doing Disneyland but switched to doing a 4 day cruise instead. 

Other option is LAX -LAX $121 Fox or $246 Alamo 

 

I looked at a LAX to LAX rental from Jun 25-Jul 2 but it's $305 Fox plus $100 parking at the port and I usually get damage coverage when renting for one or two days but that would add up for a full week. 

 

Any suggestion or ideas cant believe how expensive rental cars are these days. 

 

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by mattR

[Philob]

Do you have a credit card that can pickup the rental damage?

 

Unless it's different up north 🙂 Credit cards generally offer "secondary"** coverage, but goes "primary" when the rental is out of the country. Or a few cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, has only "primary" coverage. 

 

**If secondary your regular auto insurance must pickup the coverage, check with your agent.

Edited April 28, 2023 by Philob

[KeepCalmBearOn]

First things first, I'd never use Fox rental cars. 45 years as a business traveler I've learned through hard, bad experience to stick with Hertz and Avis. I used to use National a lot, but Enterprise management has messed them up. I only use Enterprise as car replacement when my insurance company makes me use them. I've had 6 or 7 good Enterprise experiences and 2 horrid, awful, bad, I had to speak to the CEO experiences.

 

Unless you are staying in Anaheim for your post cruise days, I would not go to Anaheim to pick up a car.

 

Four people with luggage, that probably requires Uber XL, so in pure cost, it is probably a push cost wise LAX to hotel, hotel to pier. Uber is cleaner, just get dropped and no car to return, but since you arrive early, a car would be nice to have to go to Manhattan Beach, Santa Monica or Del Amo Mall in Torrance.

 

As to expensive...  try booking a car on Maui. A car that was $300 a week is now $1,200.

[Philob]

1 hour ago, scottca075 said:

As to expensive...  try booking a car on Maui. A car that was $300 a week is now $1,200.

Last year, $300, was the daily rate for a compact 😎

[princeton123211]

16 hours ago, mattR said:

First rental

Need to get from LAX-Hermosa Beach-San Pedro.  Full size car for four of us plus luggage.

Right now have Hertz reserved for $154.   Pick up LAX Jun 25 drop off San Pedro Jun 26.  

Any better ideas maybe just Uber to Hotel and Uber to Port? 

We are flying in at 10am so might be nice to have a car for the day ?

I'm with Scott on this one-- if the first rental is for transportation only, just use Uber/Lyft. Will be a push cost wise (and you might even save some $$) and save you a bunch of hassle. 

 

1 hour ago, scottca075 said:

As to expensive...  try booking a car on Maui. A car that was $300 a week is now $1,200.

Felt that pain a couple weeks ago-- needed to rent an SUV to get some extra folks to Hana with us and it was brutal. 

[mattR]

Thanks for the reply's. I was a bit leery of using fox.  I do have rental car insurance with my credit card but not sure of how big of a hassle it is if you had to make a claim?  My boss just made a last min 5 day rental in Florida for $200 total hopefully those deals will make their way back to more places soon?  

 

Anyone know how efficient Hertz in San Pedro is for picking up the rental car after the cruise?

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

3 minutes ago, mattR said:

Anyone know how efficient Hertz in San Pedro is for picking up the rental car after the cruise?

I mostly use Hertz and have for many years.  Join the Hertz Gold Club immediately.  Once you are in their system after your first rental (so they verify your ID and CC) you can walk directly to your vehicle without stopping at the counter.  At least that's true at most major airports.  It has saved me many minutes getting my car.  I used Fox once and never again.  I can't recall the last time I used anything other than Hertz.      

[KeepCalmBearOn]

3 hours ago, mattR said:

Anyone know how efficient Hertz in San Pedro is for picking up the rental car after the cruise?

 

I don't know how efficient Hertz San Pedro is, but I find Hertz in general efficient. I agree about joining the Hertz Gold Club.

[turquoisewater]

On 4/28/2023 at 9:49 PM, scottca075 said:

 

I don't know how efficient Hertz San Pedro is, but I find Hertz in general efficient. I agree about joining the Hertz Gold Club.

I do know that the Hertz facility at 6th Street in San Pedro is closed on Sundays so doesn't work for drop off or pick up on that day.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

2 hours ago, turquoisewater said:

I do know that the Hertz facility at 6th Street in San Pedro is closed on Sundays so doesn't work for drop off or pick up on that day.

 

None of the OPs dates involves a Sunday in San Pedro.

[turquoisewater]

29 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

None of the OPs dates involves a Sunday in San Pedro.

I was kind of putting the information out there for others who might be looking at options and might be leaving or arriving on a Sunday.  Inexpensive transportation options seem to be very limited in the Los Angeles area.  I tried to get quotes to and from LGB from all 4 of the shuttle options that you had listed in a different post.  They all responded back that they had no availability or they didn't respond at all.  Maybe they just don't do quotes for trips that aren't within the next few days.

[KeepCalmBearOn]

1 minute ago, turquoisewater said:

I was kind of putting the information out there for others who might be looking at options and might be leaving or arriving on a Sunday.  Inexpensive transportation options seem to be very limited in the Los Angeles area.  I tried to get quotes to and from LGB from all 4 of the shuttle options that you had listed in a different post.  They all responded back that they had no availability or they didn't respond at all.  Maybe they just don't do quotes for trips that aren't within the next few days.

 

Could be, but from LGB to San Pedro I'd use Uber. It is super easy. Look at the map below.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/bdWjCgabQQ5TZn2s6

 

From that Southwest jet you see (you can see the ramp to the left of the plane, no jetways at LGB) you walk to the street you see and get in your Uber and go.

[turquoisewater]

37 minutes ago, scottca075 said:

 

Could be, but from LGB to San Pedro I'd use Uber. It is super easy. Look at the map below.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/bdWjCgabQQ5TZn2s6

 

From that Southwest jet you see (you can see the ramp to the left of the plane, no jetways at LGB) you walk to the street you see and get in your Uber and go.

Thanks.  That looks good.  I have never used Uber but do have the app on my phone.  Would you recommend reserving one a day or two ahead (if that is even possible) or just try and get one as soon as we land?  I appreciate your sharing your California knowledge.

[Meander Ingwa]

Uber and Lyft are always my go to in urban situations.  I use Lyft the most   You can book ahead but I have never encountered big waits, even at 4am in Cincinatti where the wait was 15  minutes.  You can track the car on your phone (lyft) and they will ping you when they are 5 minutes out .

 

  When you request a car you also request the size of the vehicle.  A van might take longer than two smaller cars.  Not can contact them about booking for an airport arrival, I have never done it.   But if you want everyone to stay together and you need luggage capacity thus a bigger vehicle, then booking ahead may be a good idea. 

 

You want to secure your bags before you request a car.  Around airports the Uber/Lyft drivers are usually staged and they can respond quickly.  If a savvy driver knows a ship is due in , they might stage themselves near the port.  

 

 

[KeepCalmBearOn]

3 hours ago, turquoisewater said:

Thanks.  That looks good.  I have never used Uber but do have the app on my phone.  Would you recommend reserving one a day or two ahead (if that is even possible) or just try and get one as soon as we land?  I appreciate your sharing your California knowledge.

 

I'd think no need to reserve, the area is full of Ubers.

[turquoisewater]

On 5/24/2023 at 7:58 PM, scottca075 said:

 

I'd think no need to reserve, the area is full of Ubers.

Scott, do you know what address to use for booking an uber to the San Pedro cruise port?

[KeepCalmBearOn]

1 hour ago, turquoisewater said:

Scott, do you know what address to use for booking an uber to the San Pedro cruise port?

 

100 Swinford Street, San Pedro. CA