Can I avoid paying to drop off a hire car in another state?
I’m driving from Austin, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee over the course of three weeks in September. Is there a US car-rental company that doesn’t charge an extra £300-odd for me to drop a hire car back in a different state to the one I rented it from? I’m pretty sure they all charge stupid amounts, but wanted to check with you just in case.
The short answer is yes, the “drop charge” is standard practice in the US. The deal is usually that intra-state dropoffs are free, so you could pick up in Austin and drop off in Dallas, for example. Sometimes pairs of states are allowed — say Florida and Georgia, allowing an Atlanta pick-up and a Miami drop-off. But usually as soon as you want to take a car over a state line and leave it there a locally payable charge is applied, with $500 ( just over £300) not uncommon.
I have a few suggestions, though, for your road trip from the Texan music capital, Austin, to the country music capital Nashville. First, can you break it up? I speculate your journey will go Austin-Houston-New Orleans-Memphis-Nashville. The first leg offers little reason to stop between two great cities, and the obvious way to cover the ground is for $5 on Megabus (comfortable, fast, downtown-to-downtown).
There are lots of reasons for renting a c ar bet ween Houston and New Orleans, allowing you to vi si t the fabulous beach resort of Galveston, and explore Cajun country in the Mississippi delta. Last time I covered the journey the drop-off fee through Dollar rent-acar was only $150 due to the proximity of the two cities.
You absolutely don’t need a car in New Orleans, where most places are walkable, public transport is excellent and parking is a nightmare. And the best way onwards to Memphis is by train: the City of New Orleans departs daily at 1.45pm, taking eight hours alongside the Mississippi. Fares of $59 one-way are easy to find. And once in Memphis, you’re in the same state as Nashville and car rental is cheap and easy.