Wondering if the STW massive can assist…

My mate is off to the US&A next week (either Jacksonville or Oklahoma) for a period of 3 months as his daughter is going for some intensive medical treatment. He will require a car to get about but it’s looking to be costly as you’d expect. Besides the big companies, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on cheap(er) car rental?

Thanks in advance

if he isn’t going across state lines then there might be some long-term rental companies but, you’re right, it will be pricey as they will slap on a load of insurance and additional costs for being non-american!

could he do a top gear and buy something cheap and sell it at the end?

It will be tricky buying a car and expensive to insure as a non-resident (unless he has family/friends who can insure on his behalf)
I would say to ring (rather than go online) the car rental places, but try and call the local office close to where you will be renting from. These are smaller, franchise run, offices and will be willing to deal for a long term rental, and are defintely cheaper than than the airport locations.
Without exception though you will only be able to rent for 30 days at a time and then have to swap cars for another 30 day term,

These are smaller, franchise run, offices and will be willing to deal for a long term rental, and are defintely cheaper than than the airport locations

Not IME. I looked hard at this and 2 weeks rental from the Grips-in-Laws town was more expensive than three weeks rental from Chicago O’Hare airport, and we then didn’t need picking up as a bonus.

But it’s a good idea re the contract negotiations I suppose.

Oh, however a top tip for car insurance in the USA are these people:

http://www.insurance4carhire.com/

It’s £119 per year, 31 days max per hire (not per trip) which makes anything over a week or so far cheaper than paying for the hirer’s insurance. The hirer will try and put you off by saying that they won’t deal with a third party insurer, but this just means they won’t deal with them directly – you are still insured.

The best deals you will get are by booking and pre-paying online well in advance of going, but a bit late for that now.

You absolutley can book for more than 30 days, and it’s much cheaper to pick up from a city centre location. Just tried it on the Hertz website as that’s who I normally use for car rental