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I'd like to rent a car in the US to go from city A to city B (~5-hour drive), and then back from B to A within 1 week. I have no use for the car during the week, but renting one-way is significantly more expensive than for a round trip.

What I would like to do is to rent the car at city A, go to B, return it, then one week later pick it up again (or any other car), and go back to A, while being charged as in a round trip (paying for two days' rent, not one week's rent).

Is this possible? Does anyone know any company that offers such a service?

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  • It's possible, though far from certain, that a weekly rate could run you less than two one-way rentals if you shop around. Of course, you'd have to deal with parking during the week if you did that, which could be costly too.
    – Zach Lipton
    Commented Jun 17, 2018 at 1:28
  • In almost all cases the one way fee will exceed a few days rental, especially if you are using a CC and personal insurance to cover the liability and collision insurance. I have heard of (not experienced) specific city pairs where the one-way fee is waived (LA and SF) but that would be rare, at best.
    – Spehro 'speff' Pefhany
    Commented Jun 17, 2018 at 5:11
  • @ZachLipton it seems like it, but anything more than roundtrip greyhound is too much for me.. thanks for the tips, people!
    – bruno cuconato
    Commented Jun 17, 2018 at 14:32

2 Answers 2

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Not really. You will have to shop around to find the best deal but essentially the one-way fee is so that they can recover the car among their fleet at the point of departure. Agencies that have a lot of places they operate from may match that with someone doing the opposite trip, but they cannot guarantee it, so will charge each person the one-way fee.

It is impossible to prove that no agency offers this but it is unlikely. You can search ride-sharing sites that serve cities you are interested for other money saving options. Of course, this is not the same as having a car to yourself on your own schedule or if you are asking to do this with a whole family.

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There's a small chance this could work. For you to succeed at this, the following will be required:

  • The rental company needs to have a surplus of vehicles in City A during the time when you want to rent.
  • The rental company needs to have a shortage of vehicles in City B during the time when you want to rent.
  • The rental company locations from which you want to rent need to be aware of these facts when you book your rental.

I think it's pretty unlikely that this will succeed. All the stars would need to align. :)

The good news: a one-week rental tends to be pretty cheap compared to seven one-day rentals. Mind, you don't need the car for a week per se, but a one-week rental will be surprisingly competitive in price compared to two one-day rentals. In areas where there are kilometre or mile restrictions on how far you may drive without surcharges, you will also get more distance to drive, and more flexibility, since you'll get a week's worth of mileage to use instead of two separate one-day sets of mileage.

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