ACI – Vancouver

We want to fly to California next year. Pick up a hire car at San Diego International Airport and drive up to Seattle in Washington state. It would be good if we could take hire car across the border to enable us to visit Vancouver in Canada. We would return the rental car to Seattle International Airport before flying home. Is this possible? If yes, suggested car rental companies?

Regarding car rental company policies for cross border travel from the US to Canada:

Alamo – yes, as long as you return it back in the US

Avis – yes – "US cars may be driven into Canada by US residents. A Canadian non-resident insurance card may be required and is available at the Avis rental location."

Budget – yes -"US cars may be driven into Canada by US residents. A Canadian non-resident insurance card may be required and is available at the Budget rental location."

Dollar – probably – "At most Dollar car rental locations, driving is restricted to the Continental United States and Canada. Please refer to the local policies, which are found within the reservation process, for specific information regarding geographic limitations at the Dollar rental car location where you intend to rent a Dollar vehicle."

Enterprise – maybe – "Some offices will allow their vehicles to cross international boundaries. Please contact the office that you plan to rent from to see if they allow their vehicles to cross into another country. You can find an office phone number at www.enterprise.com."

Hertz – yes – "The renter will need to advise the rental counter if they intend take the rental car into Canada.

You must have a valid license and rental record. Rentals from some cities may require presentation of Liability Protection Letters, Certificates or Stickers at Customs for driving into Canada."

National – yes – "Any U.S. Citizen renting a vehicle in the U.S. may drive across the U.S./Canadian border with no restrictions. The driver may be asked by Customs to show a rental agreement and a form of identification, such as a driver’s license. "

Source: http://www.best-car-rental-tips.com/rental-car-into-canada.html#ixzz0UZbwRI9G

Can I rent a car in the states (Seattle) and drive it one way and drop it to a rental agency in Canada (Vancouver)? Do car rental companies allow this?

This can be arranged but it will cost more than the typical rental because of the extra paper work involved, insurance, etc. You may have to check a few rental companies to find one that does this. If you cannot arrange this rental, you might be able to arrange to be met at the border with another rental car from the same company, leaving the US rental car on the US side. Or you could arrange different transportation (taxis cross the border all the time) just to get across the border and pick up another rental car in Canada. Best of luck with your plans.

Any Travel Agent will make the Reservation for you. The Travel Agent has access to all the availability and rates.

My mom and myself are coming to the island for a week in June. I’m not yet 25 but we are planning to rent a car for at least most of it to travel the coast. Any ideas which car rental companies are the best? I know that I only have to pay 80 dollars through enterprise to be able to drive so if we were to go to any other company I probably wouldn’t be driving as its 25 to 50 dollars a day. Any info you can give would be great.

enterprise is good
budget is super expensive
and national on douglas in the travellers inn is the grossest car rental place ever
the guys are creepy, they not helpful and the service is generally horrible.
We just rented a car from them for our wedding and were 15 mintues late bringing it back, so they charged us extra. How’s that for bad service?

Hello, I will be travelling to Vancouver B.C
I need to rent a car for a month.
Can anyone tell me which rental company is the best to go for?
and please quote the price including tax(apprx.)
Thanks.

There are many car rental companies in Vancouver. At different times of the year, different companies offer different specials. The best thing to do is go on Yahoo and check the rates.
I find Enterprise usually has the best rates. I used them the last two times I went to Vancouver.

Will my american driver’s license be accepted to rent a car or do I have to obtain some other license to drive a rental car in a foreign country like Canada? Vancouver to be exact.

A valid US driver’s licence is all you need – that, plus a credit card. Road speeds are given in kph – kilometers per hour – so you will have to be aware of the difference and watch the speedometer. Because most cars in Canada were made in the US, they have both miles and kilometers on the speedometer. 60mph is the same as 100 kph. And gas is more expensive in Canada, although it seems to keep creeping up on both sides of the border, doesn’t it?
Enjoy your visit to Vancouver.

You can rent a car in Sidney (closer to the ferry terminal than Victoria).

we are travelling to vancouver bc, we plan on spend 3 days, including a day trip to victoria. do we need a rental car?

If you plan to spend your time downtown in both cities, I wouldn’t bother with a car. Pacific Coach Lines runs bus service between the two cities, where the bus drives onto the ferry, you get off for the ferry ride, get back on when the boat docks, and continue to downtown. It has the possibly enormous advantage, in summer, that the bus always gets on and off the ferry before the cars, and on the bus, you’re guaranteed to get on that sailing. In a private car in busy times, you either pay extra for a reservation which you forfeit if you arrive 5 minutes too late, or make sure to get there way ahead, and it’s quite possible to have to wait for the next sailing if it’s a busy day.

Please I need to know what website to look at ASAP.

There can often be limitations to one-way car rentals, especially when done internationally, which is what you are talking about doing.

Have you considered other ways to get to Vancouver? There are regular flights, both from Sea-tac to Vancouver Airport and Kenmore Air flies from Lake Union on floatplanes that land in downtown Vancouver.

And there is the train – Amtrak has one train a day (and 4 busses a day) leaving from downtown Seattle for about $35 each way.

And greyhound offers regular bus service to Vancouver as well…

If you really need the car when you get to Vancouver, you could rent the car once you got there….

Which car rental company has the cheapest rate if I am picking up the car in Vancouver and return it in Winnipeg?

Check with the various car rentals and see if they have a car that has to go back (someone from Winnipeg dropped it off in Vancouver). The probabilities are not good . . .otherwise you will be paying a lot of money as the car company has to fly someone out and pay them to bring it back.

Check around