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angelsou
10-21-2004, 11:23 AM
hey- i already posted for a little help on the LVA board, but you guys are quite a lot more friendly (at least to me, as a newcomer) and I thought you might have some tips or tricks for me.

My fiance and I are going to vegas from the 16th through the 21st- first vacation away without either of our families joining us. We both have Florida blood now, and I'm getting nervous about walking around in the cold, and waiting for shuttles in the cold, and worrying about cold in general (come on, to me, winter is when it hits 40 degrees at night.)

anyways, we wanted to rent a car, but the fees for people our age to rent are huge! It appears to cost more to pay for him being under 25 than it does to actually rent the car. We both have full insurance on our home cars, both have safe driving licenses, but the charge is arbitrary and can't really be taken off. We heard that corporate groups get rental deals where the fee is removed, but they need $5000 a year in car rentals - our company hasn't spent over $1000 for years.

I was just wondering if any locals knew of a 'rent-a-wreck' type of place (we've got them all over in our college towns) that allow underagers without huge cars. The cars are a little older (2-3 years) but still in good condition, and rates are comparable. Does anyone own a large business and would like to contract me for a week? =P Ah well, I'm probably just going to settle for shuttles and cabs, and keep my fingers crossed for the monorrail to be running. Thanks all!

Dougie
10-21-2004, 12:16 PM
Thrifty does offer rentals to underage folks for a fee. I do think you have to be at least 21, but take a look for yourself at www.thrifty.com (http://www.thrifty.com)

YoungGun
10-21-2004, 01:32 PM
I've rented from Enterprise a few times before with no fee. If you try to reserve over their website they automatically charge the fee, but if you show up and talk to them, they can waive it for you. Just say you're going somewhere else if they won't do it. They work on commission and are often willing to deal especially when they have a lot of extra cars.

angelsou
10-22-2004, 03:57 AM
Ok, we might give enterprise a try. I found a deal for 13.99/day with thrifty, and was gonna go for it - but their underage charge is $15/day, and all the taxes are charged on top of the $28.99 a day. If we can't get the whole rental for under $150 or so, we might just rent a car for one day - go down to the grand canyon (I'm a geology student and I've never seen the Grand Canyon!) and come back for dinner at GVR, and drop it off on the way back. If I read the addresses right, it looks like there is a car rental place right next to the Orleans. We'd rather have it for the whole trip, but i guess that will depend on Enterprise. If I get there, and they insist on charging the fee, can I cancel the reservation without another fee? Thanks for all the help

RamBill
10-22-2004, 04:14 AM
Welcome to the board, Angelsou! Yes we are friendlier than some of the pompous loudmouths over at the LVA Board! You actually get good info here!

YoungGun
10-22-2004, 06:01 AM
You could try not making a reservation and just walking in. You're arriving on a Tuesday and the only major convention during the time of your stay was Comdex, but that has been cancelled so there is a chance that there will be plenty of cars available. I'm not sure about Enterprise's cancellation policy so I can't help you there. Just keep in mind that renting a car is almost like buying a car. The clerks are on commission and will do a lot for you when business is slow. Don't be afraid to negotiate with them and if they won't deal just walk. Tell them that another company was willing to waive the under 25 fee, but you wanted to rent from Enterprise because your a member of their ExpressLane program or something like that. Last time I told them that I usually rent from Hertz, but they only had compacts and I wanted a full size. They ended up giving me a full size for compact price to "steal" my business away from Hertz.

crvtt771
10-22-2004, 08:38 AM
Can rental counter clerks be bribed with a $20? I have a Neon reserved but would love to get into something nicer. I'm also under 25 and I'm looking at $286 for 8 days.

sin
10-22-2004, 12:01 PM
angelsou try fox rentals. Their min age is 21 and here's a coupon for students!

fox rental coupon (http://www.foxrentacar.com/student_rentals.html)

SH0CK
10-25-2004, 12:57 PM
Fox Car Rental in Vegas is handled thru US Rent a Car. You may want to do some searching for them before hand.

Jimbo338
10-25-2004, 02:35 PM
The good news is that you will get old fast and you won't be troubled long by being under 25! Then all the pesty IDing will cease,then people will call you sir and m'amm. Then you will talk about the old days when you had to sneak into places and talk about the "kids nowadays!" lol

Jimbo

angelsou
10-28-2004, 06:03 PM
wait a minute, thats the good news?!? LOL Pahan (the other half) has been in vegas for a couple weeks for work, and is up about $1500 - so he's going to cover the rental car fees with that. we decided to book it without mentioning he was underage, but we'll be willing to pay it if they ask. hopefully them being very slow should help us out. thanks everyone for your insight - and thanks to some of you for your depressing warnings! =P