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Vacation Car Rental: Worth the Money, Or a Waste? 5 ways to Know the Difference

August 8, 2013 by Judy Antell Leave a Comment

The hotel's pool was reason enough not to rent a car

Resort pool: A good reason not to rent a car

Renting a car on vacation can be:

an opportunity to test out a different car model,

a necessary evil,

an overpriced indulgence

or

some combination of the above

On our last trip, it was just a waste of money.

But by doing your homework, you can make renting a car on vacation a pleasure.

Parking is helped by being able to read the street signs; here we learn this is a "Dead End Street," but can we park?

Being able to read the street signs helps with parking; we learn this is a “Dead End Street,” but can we park here?

Based on our last vacation, I calculated how much we would use the car vs what it cost.  What I had to consider:

-Getting from the airport to the hotel, and back, by cab: For us, cost was about the same as a two day rental (we were there for four days)

-Parking fees at the resort (which doubled the rental cost)

-Sightseeing plans (we’d already done this on a previous trip to Puerto Rico, so we were more focused on relaxing than seeing the sights)

-Traffic congestion and free parking in areas you’ll visit (we stayed in Condado, which had horrendous traffic and no free parking)

-Off property excursions only reachable by car (we didn’t make any)

As it turns out, with these considerations, renting a car would be silly. Add to it that every time we got the car from the garage (another time suck – it was a small garage, and you had to keep driving around and hunting for a spot) we got stuck in a huge jam, and that renting the car was time consuming; the cheapest rental was off-site, so we had to take a shuttle 15 minutes away from the hotel, wait on a long line, and wait 25 minutes in the heat when we returned the car.

When we went to Old San Juan, a huge demonstration against government pay cuts (I think) meant streets were blocked off and garages were full. We thought we had found a free parking spot, until someone pointed out a sign, all the way down the block, designating the area for taxis only (a $75 ticket had we left the car).

Another time, we were heading to a restaurant nearby. The Google map directions had us getting on the highway, which didn’t seem right. Good thing I checked; the restaurant was a mile away, with only one turn. Plus, we’re city folk, so we walked.

And we also walked into Old San Juan, a pleasant walk in the opposite direction. By walking, we found a place to rent kayaks on the lagoon, or go stand-up paddle boarding. My husband could have a few drinks and not worry about driving impaired. And we could grab an inexpensive taxi back to the hotel.

I did check with the concierge before our vacation, to see if he recommended renting a car. He answered, honestly, that some people found it useful. And it would have been, had we driven to the rain forest or the bioluminescent bay. But we didn’t.

Next time, I will do my homework more diligently.

 

 

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Judy Antell

Judy Antell

Judy Antell, who is TravelingMom.com's Free in 50 States editor, lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and three daughters. Between road trips to visit colleges, travel sports and seeing East Coast sights, she spends a lot of time on the road for a city girl.
Judy Antell

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Filed Under: She Drives, She Says, Travel Tips Tagged With: car rental, Caribbean car rental, Puerto Rico, vacation, value

About Judy Antell

Judy Antell, who is TravelingMom.com's Free in 50 States editor, lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and three daughters. Between road trips to visit colleges, travel sports and seeing East Coast sights, she spends a lot of time on the road for a city girl.

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