It’s one way car rental season again! It’s what? One way car rental season is that magical time in Fall when rental car companies practically give away car rentals because you’re doing them a favor: Getting the cars back to Florida from up north. You can create an amazing road trip with half the miles and a quarter of the price! Travel Hack Traveling Mom Dia Adams has the scoop on how to score a one way car rental deal.
One-Way Car Rental Deal
Every Spring and Fall, I look for one-way car rental steals. Most months of the year you pay a mint to pick up a car in one place and drop it off in another. But in fall car rental deals to Florida from states up north hit rates as low as $5/day. During April and May it goes in reverse.
The best part: the companies price all sizes from economy up to full size the same. So even with taxes you can get a full size car for less than $70/week.
Coming from the DC area, I don’t want to do the round trip drive to Florida if I have less than 10 days; we lose too much time en route. However I’m happy to pick up my super cheap car at home, drive down with the kids on Thursday morning and tool around Florida till Sunday when we fly home.
This year is an especially good one to road-trip halfway with the cost of fuel so low. But act now. Gas prices around $2 a gallon may not be around forever.
Fall Trip to Florida Without Disney
Last year, the kids and I MacGyvered a last minute late fall trip to “Disney World without the parks.” The kids thought I was nuts when I pitched the idea of being so close to the Magic Kingdom and not riding a single ride but agreed to give it a shot. We flew down and stayed in Disney Hotels for around $100/night (prices tend to go down after summer and before Christmas week).
During five jam-packed days, we swam in Disney pools, watched Disney movies on the lawn, oohed and aahed at Wishes fireworks, shared s’mores with Chip and Dale, played Disney mini-golf, traded pins, and tackled the Kitchen Sink sundae at Beaches and Cream.
As we said “See Ya Real Soon!” for the last time, I asked the kids to rate the trip from a one to 10. Nine-year-old Deal Girl gave it an immediate 10. At 12, Deal Kid was a bit harder to impress. After pondering a moment, he settled on 8.5. His rationale? He docked two points for no rides then gave .5 back when I pointed out that if we had done the parks we would have spent at least 90 minutes a day in line. I’ll call it a win!
We then had a blast driving back in a loaded Dodge Charger. I loved the muscle car thrill of 8 cylinders while the kids sang along to Disney radio on XM. The price? $8 a day including taxes.
How to Find the One Way Car Rental Deals
Expedia is the best place to find the one way deals; it covers the major car rental companies. Each company’s terms are a bit different so using a search engine like Expedia puts them all on one handy page. Expedia also offers a free rewards program that earns you credit toward future hotel bookings. Searching the first week of December, I see rates as low as $4.95/day for a full size! $5/day is as low as I’ve ever seen one-way car rentals.
Remember when you see the car rates to take into account the airport fees and taxes. If I have a choice where to pick up I’ll check more than one location. Fees vary widely. For instance, at Orlando airport you’ll pay $17.72/day for a $9.95 rental. Pick up your car at Disney World’s Dolphin hotel and you’ll pay $14.55/day for the exact same rental. For a week-long rental it may be worth taking the hotel shuttle and picking up your car in town. Many of the neighborhood locations will come get you at your hotel so you aren’t out a cab ride to the rental site.
What You Need to Know about One-Way Car Rentals
Now there are a few caveats to keep in mind. Certain Florida airports do not qualify for drive-in rates (Jacksonville for example) so if you can’t find any one-way deals, try a different Florida airport. Most companies start this program between September 15 and end it Christmas week from the Northeast and November 1 from the Mid-Atlantic . You may still find a few one-way specials into January depending on demand. You can find the reverse in the Spring when one-way car rental deals FROM Florida kick in.
One-way car rentals can go from as short as one day or as long as three weeks. I’ve been known to keep the car around after we don’t “need” it because at the rock-bottom rental price it can be cheaper to commute in the rental car than to add the miles to our own car.
Have you done a one way car rental to or from Florida? How did half a road trip work for your family? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Palm Beach with Kids: Food, Fun, and Chocolate Factories
Thanks for the tips!
Ive done this for a few years, fly to Maimi and then drove to Daytona one year, last year we stayed at South beach on a good deal on a timeshare, so combine it with timeshare deals on Tug2.org.
I love timeshare rentals, too! Glad to see this deal in action. Thanks for sharing.
Three years ago, my THEN boyfriend (now husband) and I did an East Coast road trip from Miami (where we are from) all the way to Massachussetts. Major stops included Atlanta, Williamsburg, Philly, Cape Cod and Boston. A trip I will never forget and not to mention the great price we got for the Drive Out of Florida deal!!!
Thanks for sharing! So glad to hear success stories.
I started searching today 3/20 and Enterprise is advertising this deal. BUT, they will not take reservations before April 1. Flights are so limited that its hard to gamble and book a flight not knowing if I can get a car.
Hi Cindy,
I just took a look at Enterprise’s website. You can book now, it’s pickup that’s limited to April 1-May 30. It’s only specific locations in FL, so if your first try doesn’t work check the list of available locations. Good luck!
Just curious, what are the specific days for fall drive in deals?
Hi Duane,
It varies by year, destination, and company due to demand. Looking at my archives the average is October 1 or 15 to Dec 15 to 31.
Dia – one quick question. Would you know WHEN the special fall rates usually come out? We are road trippin’ around December 15th and right now I see no special rates posted on expedia or any other website yet. Thanks!
Hello,
I found the deal for this fall going to Florida. My question is that when I am about to confirm it says that the car won’t have insurance and it offers me to pay extra $100 for it, what do you do in this case? Thank you!
Hi Betsi,
I use a credit card that offers rental car insurance such as the American Express Platinum. You can also check with your car insurance company- most cover rental cars as well.
Where did you see the fall rate going to Florida? On what website?
Hi Gail,
I use Expedia as it lists all the car companies. If you aren’t seeing the rate, play with the date and the cities. Each site has slightly different requirements. If you’re looking for a specific company, go to their page and look under “specials”. Good luck!
this is fake news
There is no such deal at budget or avis
Hi D.,
Check the myriad of other car rental companies that are still offering this deal. By using Expedia you’ll see who still needs help managing their inventory.
thanks for the tip
Dia: We have never done the “driveaway” rental but really want to give it a try. Unfortunately our dates are not very flexible. We want to drive from Central Florida to south-central Texas during the last week of this coming March. Do you have any words of advice? How much lead time will we have before we can lock in a car rental? Does the Expedia website have a special area that handles this type of car rental? Any help you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Hi Michelle,
March is probably too early and Texas too far south for a one way rental. They tend to run from April to June and up and down the East Coast.
Other than the $5 rental, I’m a fan of Autoslash. Here’s a post about how to use it: https://saverocity.com/thedealmommy/2015/01/25/autoslash/
Good luck!
Hi Michelle, Based on other readers’ feedback- you might not be entirely out of luck. I’d just keep checking and you might get lucky.
Have done this a few times, driven down to Florida from NY and flew back.
Will be doing it again this spring from Florida to NY…Can you advise when I should start looking for the deals for spring 2018
Hi Donna, I’d start around the beginning of Feb.
I used this deal with AVIS April 2015.$9.99 a day fora nice Altima. Picked Up in Tampa returned in ST/ Louis. The Airport fees brought it to about$20 a day. Put 1600 miles on car and liked the ride so much I bought a new Altima. Iam looking for a similar deal right now.So far have not found any.
I had a similar experience with the Ford Fusion. I’ll definitely consider one on my next car buy- and we’ve bought Hondas for over 20 years.
We did a drive off last Memorial Day from Fort Myers to Los Angeles with Enterprise. 13 days in a Nissan Altima (40 mpg), 3,400 miles and total bill when we dropped it off…$98.47. That is the total including all fees. In fact the fees cost more than the actual rental. Hilarious. The car was spacious and ran well. We had so much fun we are already planning the next trip.
That is AMAZING. TBH, I hadn’t though of going to the West Coast. I’m adding that to my list for a future trip!
I’m a new subscriber and I just wanted to tell you how much I’m enjoying your content and how much I’m learning from you! Thank you so much for sharing all your great ideas. You are giving me hope that my family can learn how to squeeze in as many travel opportunities as we dream about doing (on a “real life” budget).
I can’t find info and did this 3 years ago…
Did the $5 deal in October last year. We flew from Tampa to Providence, RI on Frontier for $18 a person deal.. then rented the car for 14 days and drove North from Providence to see the Fall Colors of New Hampshire> Maine Coast> New Jersey( to visit family) with Day Trip to NYC>Lunch stop in Philly>CHarleston>Tampa FL. Great Trip and looking for a spring one way North now 🙂
I’ve driven from Brandon, FL, picking up at an Enterprise non-airport location, and drove to Sierra Vista, AZ, dropping off at a non-airport location, three of the last five years. I always departed FL in May, opting for a minivan at $25/day. Driving straight through, it cost less than $100 for the rental.
I saw some online articles from several years ago advertising “Drive out of Arizona” and would love to do that but am not having any luck finding that program this year. I’ll check Expedia and keep my fingers crossed. Thanks for the info
Hi, im first time here, and cant belive in my eyes what i read..this is sooo cool, if its working!
Im thinking to do a road trip from south fl to all the way too the nigara fall. Im looking to get a car from south fl and drive all the way on the east side to niagara falls, stop at a few places, i have a 13 and an 11 years old daughter….
where can i get the car, and im returning back to the same place.
Thank you
Would like more instructions on how to find flight north from orlando, fl and car rental back to orlando. I have looked on line and not found deal yet for this Sept. or Oct. 2018.
Any suggestions?
Hi Jan,
Car companies tend to announce the program about 60 days before it starts. It is entirely dependent on their inventory needs. Just keep an eye out and you’ll see the deals.
Trying to drive from Ohio to Florida for Thanksgiving week. Please help!
We stumbled across this deal by accident a few years ago. We had planned to fly one way from Maine to the Sarasota area and rent a car for the ride home, expecting it to cost a virtual arm and a leg, but we wanted the half-road trip experience. When we walked into the rental place, the guy told us the compact car we wanted was $5/day for up to 10 days. When we inquired a little further about upgrading the car, he offered us a deal too sweet to pass up. My wife, our 12 year old son, and I drove from Florida to Maine in a sweet Mustang convertible for $6/day!
We’re planning a similar trip for this April and trying to figure out if what we experienced was a fluke, I stumbled across your blog. Thanks for confirming this for us!
Last year I rented a car from Enterprise in The Villages, Fl for $10.00 a day for 11 days that I returned to Buffalo, N.Y. Called them a week ago, and they are currently not offering the cheaper rate. Is it too early, and is there other rental companies I could call needing cars to go up north? I am looking to do the same trip as last year, picking up a car in either The Villages, or Orlando Florida on May 3, 2019, and turning it in Buffalo, N.Y.D