Some Rental Cars Are Keeping Tabs on the Drivers

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 10:44:53 -0500, "Lenny"
wrote:

For the record, I'm a frequent renter in the Eastern U.S. and have
never encountered this "common practice." Is it primarily a creature
(a) of the West, where there are generally greater distances between
states, and (b) of smaller rental companies?


I would guess (b). I have rented many cars on the West Coast and never
encountered the "common practice."

writes:
On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 14:47:45 -0500, Alex Rodriguez
wrote:


A spouse is automatically included as a second driver at no extra charge.
At least that is the case every time I have rented. Also, if it is a
business rental, most agreements will also include all other employees of
the same company.


You might want to check this again - more than one rental company I
contacted specifically DID NOT include spouses or family members as an
additional driver at no cost - what is the problem the OP is trying to
highlight? Is it that the renter is too cheep to pay the $5 a driver
a day for the additional drivers???????

Spouses being included without additional cost is more common in some
companies than others, for example Avis normally has it. Also AFAIK some
states require it. Saving money (even $5/day as you say) is not
necessarily being cheap. Throwing money away is stupid.


--
Ignasi.

Lenny wrote:

For the record, I'm a frequent renter in the Eastern U.S. and have
never encountered this "common practice." Is it primarily a creature
(a) of the West, where there are generally greater distances between
states, and (b) of smaller rental companies?

One time when my car was either in an accident or was undergoing major
repairs, and I needed a replacement rental, I came across a restriction
like this. I rented the car in a Pennsylvania suburb of Philadelphia,
and I was told that I could not take the car into New York State. I
wasn't planning to do this, but I wondered about what I would have to do
if had needed to go to New England during this time period. To get from
Philadelphia to New England, I guess I would have had to travel west
through Pennsylvania to Ohio and then Michigan, cross from Detroit to
Windsor (I've been in that tunnel once, on August 27, 1985), cross
Ontario into Quebec, and then enter New England through Vermont, New
Hampshire, or Maine, whichever is most convenient to my destination.

Of course, there was probably a prohibition on going into Canada, too.

Another way would be to put it on some kind of a ferry in New Jersey and
come ashore in New England near my destination.

People renting replacement vehicles are most likely doing it out of
necessity, not as a discretionary expenditure. Already, they've been
inconvenienced by not having their own car. And now they find they can't
take a planned trip because they're not allowed to take the replacement
vehicle there.

--
Please note my correct email address:

rslitman [at-sign] infionline [dot] net

(Matthew Russotto) writes:

In article ,
Mark Hewitt wrote:

"HomeMadePizza" wrote in message
. com...
Just out of curiosity... what do you do when you NEED to rent a car
that you can take across state lines? (I don't travel much.)
-HomeMadePizza

I rented a car in Washington DC when I was in the states. Not crossing state
lines would have meant very few places to drive to!

If you rent a car in DC, it'll typically be OK for MD and VA also. If
you rent one at PHL, it'll be OK for PA, NJ, and DE usually.

It's up to the company. I have rented several times in the southern
suburbs of Baltimore. Usually, DC and VA are allowed on the rental
automatically. Once, I encountered a contract with the printed terms,
"Cars may not be driven outside of Maryland," and I planned to drive the
20 miles to DC that evening. The clerk told me it wouldn't be a
problem, but I refused to sign the contract until the clause was crossed
out. (I didn't use that company by choice; the dealer provided a free
loaner while my car was in the shop, and he had to get a third-party
rental because his own loaners were all in use.)

--
David Grabiner, , http://remarque.org/~grabiner
Baseball labor negotiations FAQ: http://remarque.org/~grabiner/laborfaq.html
Shop at the Mobius Strip Mall: Always on the same side of the street!
Klein Glassworks, Torus Coffee and Donuts, Projective Airlines, etc.

In article , CC Bailey wrote:

Everytime I've rented a car, I've been asked where I was
planning on taking it during the rental period. Budget and
Enterprise have had no problem with us taking vehicles
out-of-state.

The last car I rented was from Payless/Fox near LAX, and
they specifically told me that I couldn't take the car
out-of-state, which was fine since I was staying in the LA area.

In my personal experience renting cars in the US, the "first-tier" major
rental car companies (Hertz, Avis, Budget, National) have no geographic
restrictions (other than that their cars can't be driven into Mexico)
except at some franchise locations in rural areas of the West; such
restrictions are much more common with "second-tier" majors (Dollar,
Thrifty, Enterprise, Alamo, Payless) and smaller, independent companies,
and do seem to be somewhat more common in the West than in the East.

-SC
--
Stanley Cline -- sc1 at roamer1 dot org -- http://www.roamer1.org/
....
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might
be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune

"Fustanella" wrote in message
...
January 13, 2004

More like 2001-2002 when I first heard of this, including the quoted
person.
Is the NYT back into its old game of rehashing "news"?

There was one story about a car-rental company using a GPS system to track
vehicle speed and "fining," (for lack of a better word) renters for
exceeding some pre-determined limit.

See: http://www.newmassmedia.com/nac.phtm..._fea&ref=16435

--
Paul

"HomeMadePizza" wrote in message
om...
Just out of curiosity... what do you do when you NEED to rent a car
that you can take across state lines? (I don't travel much.)
-HomeMadePizza

Some people who drive on long trips will rent a car and drive that instead
of their own car - puts the wear and tear on the rental car and not theirs.
I did it once when my car's transmission failed two weeks before a trip and
even though the tranny had been repaired, I did not feel comfortable taking
it so far from home and decided to rent instead. Of course I informed the
rental agency of where I was going with the car and made sure that driving
the car from FL to NY would be OK when I made the reservation. They said it
was fine (and the unlimited mileage stipulation had no "in-state,"
restrictions) as long as I stayed out of Mexico (no problem there).

--
Paul

(Brent P) wrote in message news:pnzNb.75510$na.42332@attbi_s04...
In article , R.K. wrote:
quarter of the rental cars in the United States are equipped with
tracking technology, analysts estimate. The industry views telematics
as a way to enforce its contracts, but some customers regard it, at
best, as a means to make more money and, at worst, as an invasion of
privacy.

checking payless faq
too bad they didnt check the faq before they rente
Driving Restrictions Local rental and state restrictions may
apply. Under the terms of the rental agreement, the rental vehicle
will be confined to a certain area and that area will be defined on
the rental agreement. Most vehicles are confined to the state in which
they are rented. Sometimes that area is not attractive to numerous
rentals and the confinements may be expanded to a larger radius.
Please view individual location policies for clarification. Keyword:
GEOGRAPHICAL RESTRICTIONS.

Regina Litman wrote:

I rented the car in a Pennsylvania suburb of Philadelphia,
and I was told that I could not take the car into New York State.

IIRC New York state has some wierd rule about rental cars. Something having to
do with liability not being transferred to the renter?

In article ,
says...

checking payless faq
too bad they didnt check the faq before they rente
Driving Restrictions Local rental and state restrictions may
apply. Under the terms of the rental agreement, the rental vehicle
will be confined to a certain area and that area will be defined on
the rental agreement. Most vehicles are confined to the state in which
they are rented. Sometimes that area is not attractive to numerous
rentals and the confinements may be expanded to a larger radius.
Please view individual location policies for clarification. Keyword:
GEOGRAPHICAL RESTRICTIONS.

I get the distinct impression payless is a franchise and each franchisee
makes up their own rules.
--------------------
Alex