Posted on September 17, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

Thousands dream about it. Jack Kerouac wrote about it. Thelma and Louise took it to the exteme.    One thing’s for sure, there’s nothing like a cross-country US road trip for injecting a little adventure into your travels.  Unfortunately there’s one downside to picking up a car and shooting off in any direction.  One-way car rentals are probably the most expensive way to rent a car in the travel industry.
 

Travellers choose one-way rentals for a number of reasons, from avoiding backtracking on holiday, as a substitute for a cheap flight and of course, for the aforementioned road trip.

But Why So Expensive?

When you drop off a car in a different place than you picked it up, the car hire company has to move the car back to where it came from and consequently will pass on the associated costs to you along the way.  One-way renters are always punished with higher base rates and increased drop-off surcharges.

Our Top Tip:

Pay attention to the seasons.  At certain times of the year, car rental companies are under pressure to move their fleet form one part of the country to another.  In the US for example, many rental companies migrate their fleets south for the summer, to Florida and other Southern States from New England and other Northern states.  In the spring, vehicles migrate en masse back up north.  If you happen to be travelling in the right direction, you might be lucky enough to get a good rate on your rental from companies looking to transfer their vehicles.

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