Hertz locations in KS

Cammie Czuchnicki

Cammie Czuchnicki

EF1
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
57
Location
Godalming, England
On 4th June I am landing at Kansas City International Airport for my first chase. I have seen from previous threads that it may be beneficial to hire a car from a location away from the airport as it is often cheaper.

There are many different locations to chose from within KS and being from England I'm wary of choosing a destination so far from the airport, that the taxi ride will outweigh the money saved on the rental.

I'm planning to go through and try to locate these on a map, but was wondering if there were any in particular that people had experience of and therefore should be recommended / avoided.

Abilene
Anthony
Atchison
Dodge City
El Dorado
Emporia
Garden City
Goddard
Harper
Hays
Hillsboro
Hutchinson
Great Bend
Kingman
Lawrence
Leavenworth
Liberal
Manhattan
McPherson
New Century
Newton
Olathe
Ottawa
Overland Park
Russell
Salina
Shawnee
Topeka
Wellington
Wichita
Winfield

Many thanks in advance,
Cammie
 
Cammie, I'm a big promoter of AAA-affiliated auto club membership for international visitors http://www.aaa.com/PPInternational/Benefits_Intl_to_US.html. I think one is called "AA" in the British Isles.

You get significant discounts on Hertz rentals among other things, like free maps and road service. The trick with Hertz is to search from the www.hertz.com site (click on the "AAA Members save..." button at the right). There's a pretty extensive discussion in http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23005.

AFA renting off-airport from Hertz, this is very feasible and saves money. Many pick up and drop off, i.e. to a hotel/motel with free airport shuttle where you would be staying. This is a good plan IMO for arrival and departure and gives you the chance to organize your vehicle at somewhat more leisure.

There are a number of Hertz locations in the KC area to investigate. AFA all the other locations you mention in Kansas, I hope you have a big bank account if you would hire a taxi! However, you might consider scheduled airport shuttle vans that operate from area towns. See http://www.flykci.com/direction/shuttle/Index.htm.
 
Since Kansas City (either one :) ) and the airport are right near the KS-MO border (in fact, the airport and the larger Kansas City are in Missouri) you probably want to be looking at locations in Missouri also. Maybe Independence, MO or Kansas City itself.
 
I have rented cars many times and it has always been my finding that Hertz is one of the most expensive companies to rent from. I usually rent from either Avis, Dollar/Thrifty, or Enterprise. Just wondering if this is other peoples experience as well.
 
David Wolfson said:
Cammie, I'm a big promoter of AAA-affiliated auto club membership for international visitors http://www.aaa.com/PPInternational/Benefits_Intl_to_US.html. I think one is called "AA" in the British Isles.

You get significant discounts on Hertz rentals among other things, like free maps and road service. The trick with Hertz is to search from the www.hertz.com site (click on the "AAA Members save..." button at the right). There's a pretty extensive discussion in http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=23005.
...
Click to expand...

I also have a AAA membership in the states, and have searched the AAA site for their deals with Hertz. My experience has been that they do get a discount, but I've found using Hotwire a good option for even better deals.
Here's an example with 3 options:
midsize SUV rented from 6/4-6/11/10 via internet reservations:
1. Hertz rental via Hertz website $380.49 (which is 246.643 GBP)
2. Hertz rental via AAA website $377.19 (which is 244.40 GBP)
3. via Hotwire-Hertz airport not available, but does have one available through Budget rent a car at a pickup location about 6 miles from the airport for $249.75 (which is 161.79 GBP). There were also several off-site Hertz locations quoted, the most expensive one listed at about $350 for the week.

The caveat for using Hotwire is that it is a contract rental. What you commit to you cannot cancel or change (I've found you can upgrade for whatever the going extra rate difference would be, and of course can add on LDW insurance, etc.). That means that if you decide to cancel your trip due to good weather, you are stuck. The money is gone. I don't know if you can use Hotwire from the UK if you want to check it out. If you contact their customer service, they should be able to help you.

There are also other discount sites out there, like Priceline.
 
Jim, I'm looking right now at Hertz/AAA rentals at the Westin Crowne Center HLE in KC for the two weeks 6/4/10 - 6/18/10. A mid-size RAV4 is $530.21 total (not including CDW insurance). A standard-size XTerra is $633.77; and the full-size Tahoe is $1104.62 -- all with unlimited free miles and pick-up/return (15 min. radius, 1 hr. advance notice). There may also be some special additional coupon discounts -- I didn't check that. These reservations can be cancelled or modified on short notice without penalty, unlike HotWire or Priceline AFAIK.

These quotes bring up a possibility perhaps worth considering. You save about $500 by renting the XTerra rather than the Tahoe. You also, I'd suspect save at least $20/day in fuel. That's about $800 for two weeks, or what you'd spend for economy motels every night. Just a thought....

[ed. just re-read the other thread] Similar proportional rates for 23 days. Unlimited free miles unrestricted within the USA.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thats a great point about renting a cheaper car, and saving so much money you could stay in lower cost motels every night.

In the smaller towns, I am able to get hotel rooms for the night for around $60 per night total with taxes and everything, and that is for a hotel room that I will take my wife and daughter to! There are also always less expensive hotels available. At gas stations and in some hotel lobbies, you can find a booklet called "RoomSaver". Their web site is http://www.roomsaver.com/ When I am on the road, I don't ever really know WHERE we will end up that night, so reserving a room isn't an option. So, I pick up one of these little booklets and keep it with us. It is divided up by city. You go to whatever city you end up in, and look at the discount rates offered by different hotels in that city to pick one.
 
Thanks all - this has given me some further avenues to explore and things to think about. I've managed to get a 15% discount with Hertz already due to a promotional offer quite recently and from what I can see this isn't compatible with the discount I would gain joining AAA (I'm not already an AA member in the UK either so would have to pay to set this up). So unfortunately I do not think this will save me anything, but may be useful still for acquiring maps and tourist information.

In terms of choosing a smaller car and putting the money toward motels, this is something I am going to discuss further with my partner. You all have some valid points and I like the idea of reducing the frequency of having to fill up, considering the distance between gas stations and not wanting to go off route mid-chase. The only reason we were more tempted by sleeping in the car was that some of the previous threads gave lovely examples of parking up 5/6 miles into a dirt road, where all was silent and the sense of freedom was amazing. Also that pre developed national parks and grasslands offered shelter for the night and for 2 people on their first chase, it seemed an appealing adventure and that is why we chose a larger SUV. However, I will think about this more before we decide on exactly what to do, as we are on a budget.

Thanks for the links to the shuttles and mentioning that we should also consider Missouri. This has helped with my impression of the size of the area, distances and other options to explore.

Cheers,
Cammie
 
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