Rent a Car in New Orleans or Not When Traveling With a Baby
After a dozen years of traveling with kids, I've rented a lot of cars in my family'south travels. My husband and I accept tried almost every major machine rental company from Alamo to Hertz to Enterprise. We've experimented with bringing our own car seats and boosters as well as with renting them from the car rental companies directly. Nosotros've struggled with kids and luggage and strollers on motorcar rental shuttles and airport trains.
To exist certain, the logistics of motorcar rentals with kids – especially with babies and toddlers – can be daunting. Each drome has different procedures and layouts. Each location does things simply a bit differently.
How tin you set yourself up for rental machine success when traveling with kids? Hither are all the things you lot demand to call up well-nigh as you book a car rental as well equally what to do while traveling to have the fewest automobile rental hassles on your family vacation.
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Practice Y'all Need a Rental Car at All?
Start things beginning – are y'all sure you lot demand a rental car on the trip you are about to take? A lot of families but automatically assume they'll rent a car at their destination airport. But exist sure y'all really need to each time. Information technology's essential to do the research and crunch the numbers first!
If you plan to vacation in a resort property and rarely leave, you lot might not need a rental car. If y'all are headed to an urban destination with adequate public transit, you might non demand one either. If you are going to a large urban center with expensive parking charges, you lot might not need i enough to justify paying to park it every day.
Instead, all that you lot might need in these kinds of destinations is practiced ground transportation to and from the airport. Investigate and compare the costs of shuttles or car services instead.
The appearance of Uber and Lyft means that it's easier than e'er to get around (see my guide to taking Uber and Lyft with kids). And the explosion of grocery commitment services similar Instacart ways yous might not even need that rental auto anymore to head to the supermarket to stock your vacation rental or hotel room refrigerator with food. (Related: Grocery shopping list for vacation rentals.)
Need a car for only role of your trip? Instead of renting at the airport and having the hassle and cost of it the whole time, consider whether y'all can rent a car for just a single solar day near your hotel to become where you need to get. Nosotros've done this at Disney'south Aulani before to explore O'ahu'south North Shore on a mean solar day trip (there is an Alamo on-site rental desk at Aulani). A lot of big cities like San Francisco too have rental car locations galore in the major tourist centers near many hotels.
What Kind of Rental Machine Do Families Need?
So assuming you've thought through the threshold question and actually exercise demand a rental motorcar on your trip, how do you decide what to rent?
Family travel – especially with little ones – often comes with a lot more luggage. That meaty automobile you lot used to rent to save money before having kids may not work anymore to fit suitcases and a stroller in the trunk. Merely y'all also don't want to pay for more than y'all demand.
The motorcar rental companies classify their cars a little differently, but the bones car classifications of interest to families, from smallest to largest are:
- Economy/Compact
- Intermediate/Midsize
- Standard (often non meaningfully bigger than intermediate)
- Compact/Mid-size SUV
- Total-size
- Standard SUV
- Total-size SUV
- Minivan
Since calculation our 2d child to the family, our family of 4 rents at least an intermediate or standard machine no matter what. This is the absolute smallest size that gives enough legroom for kids in booster and motorcar seats and usually can fit at to the lowest degree two larger suitcases with room for a basic umbrella stroller.
For trips where we will be driving for a longer period of time, we unremarkably opt for a full-size vehicle to have a more comfortable ride. If you lot're planning to bring more luggage or a large jog-fashion stroller or if you take more than 2 kids, yous'll likely need more that. I'd recommend at to the lowest degree a standard or full size SUV or minivan rental.
Navigating Between the Airport & Motorcar Rental Eye with Kids
When my kids were younger, ane of the bigger logistical things I had to think through was simply getting out of the airdrome and into a rental car. If you lot have never flown with a baby or toddler before, you might not call back nearly all of these steps. Getting a lilliputian one and a stroller and all your luggage onto a train or rental car shuttle to a afar car rental center is Difficult!
What strategy makes sense for you depends on what the layout is of the airport you are arriving into. Then admittedly do your research! Some airports – especially smaller regional ones – have rental car counters well-nigh baggage claim, and you tin walk out to your car. Those are fantastic. Sometimes, if I take a choice of several airports to get to a destination, I'll seek out the smaller ones for just these kinds of improved logistics.
Most larger airports, however, will require you to take a train or a shuttle to become to your rental car. Some have a central rental car centers where all the major companies are located together. These airports employ joint shared transportation to get you in that location. Other airports will take a multitude of shuttles for each car rental visitor to carve up company locations.
The strategy we used the most with younger kids (and frequently still apply fifty-fifty today) was what we call divide and conquer. In airports with more distant rental cars, my married man would run ahead and hop on a rental car shuttle or train. He would pick upwards the car while I stayed with the kids in the drome. Ofttimes, nosotros would have checked bags anyway, and then I'd pick those up until he returned with the automobile to pick us up curbside at baggage claim.
When you have to practice this process all in opposite, splitting upwards works also. I often volition have my husband drib the kids, the baggage, and me curbside at the aerodrome. We'll get the bags checked in at the ticket counter. He'll return the car and have the shuttle to the terminal to meet us. We then head to the security checkpoint together to have two sets of developed hands to help the kids.
Of course, this process doesn't work for solo parent travelers! Whenever I was traveling solo with both kids, I really thought carefully about the logistics that much more. I packed extra efficiently to accept less luggage to handle, I brought a baby carrier so I could be hands free with my youngest, or I made certain 1 of the bags was something smaller my older child could help me to handle on an off of a rental automobile shuttle.
The Dilemma of Rental Cars & Car Seats
The most confusing function of auto rentals for most family travelers with young kids is car seats. I've spilled a lot of ink near car seats and air travel on this web log over the years, and then I won't dive in too deeply here. To read all the nitty gritty, be sure to bank check out my three function guide to automobile seats on airplanes.
The big dilemma is whether to bring your own auto seat from home or to rent one from the machine rental company. My family has washed both on numerous occasions.
There are risks and struggles with each approach – if you bring your own car seat from home, do you check it or use it on the aeroplane? If you use information technology on the plane, will it fit and can you really carry information technology through airports and juggle young kids too? If yous bank check it, will the airline lose or damage it? If you rent from a rental car company, will it exist clean or the right size for your kid? How can you know it information technology's been in a machine accident? Whew. It'south enough to most make you want to stay habitation.
My all-time advice is to assess your own chance tolerances and and then look at the actual logistics of your specific trip – the airports you are departing from, connecting in, and arriving into. I usually brought my ain car seat at the baby stage and used it on the plane (nosotros mostly bought a extra seat for longer trips). We rented car seats more often in one case nosotros had toddlers ages two+ who could forward confront. But once were we given a auto seat we found unacceptable by an aerodrome motorcar rental company, and we were able to exchange it on the spot for a make new one.
If you choose to bring a auto seat, my tiptop most portable picks for various ages and stages that we accept used extensively with our kids are every bit follows:
- Ages 0-iv: Cosco Scenera Adjacent – lightweight & inexpensive convertible car seat with a 5 point harness that can rear or frontward face (encounter the full Cosco Scenera Side by side review)
- Ages ii-5: WAYB Pico – crazy compact forward-facing folding car seat with a 5 betoken harness, modest enough for airplane overhead bin! (see the full WAYB Pico review)
- Ages five+: BubbleBum – inflatable booster seat that can fit in a big purse or backpack (see the full BubbleBum review)
Check out even more production recommendations in my guide to the all-time car seats and boosters for air travel.
One quick tip for those of y'all who do choose to rent – car seat rentals tin can exist expensive and add up speedily for annihilation other than a weekend getaway. If y'all are a AAA fellow member, Hertz gives yous a single gratuitous car seat with each rental. That's saved us a parcel over the years.
How to Save Coin on Car Rentals
Speaking of saving money, car rentals can actually add upwardly in cost. How tin can you salvage money as a family needing larger cars in your travels? Here are the strategies I employ:
- Volume as early as possible: As soon as I book a flight for a trip (and sometimes even before), I book a rental car. This is substantially a placeholder reservation so I have at least one option at a price I can live with if no other deals pan out. Booking early usually helps y'all lock in a decently low price. Nearly car rentals do not crave a credit card number or take a deposit, so you tin can e'er cancel this easily when you lot observe something better – even last minute.
- Book with Costco Travel: Costco members can relieve a packet booking a rental automobile through the Costco Travel site. An extra commuter is included, so two adults in your traveling party tin can share driving duties without paying extra.
- Book with AAA/Hertz: Hertz is often ane of the pricier auto rental companies. Only as a AAA member, there are regular discount codes that can result in Hertz beingness a meliorate bargain, peculiarly when you combine those with the complimentary motorcar seat rental benefit.
- Use Aloha Rents (for Hawaii): We travel to Hawaii a lot, where rental cars can be very expensive and in short supply. Aloha Rents is able to access corporate rates (legitimately) and laissez passer the savings on. Several of their automobile rental partners also waive the extra driver fee.
- Use Autoslash: Autoslash is a game-irresolute site for machine rentals because it does a lot of the cost comparison legwork for yous. It takes your travel dates and asks for your memberships (like AAA, Costco, and several others) and then looks for the best rates that match what you can admission. You can also put in a booking you already have and it volition send you an email when it finds a lower rate for something similar.
How to Salvage Time on Car Rentals
Sometimes the money isn't really the issue when it comes to car rentals – it's the time. If you've ever seen a car rental line stretching across an drome arrivals expanse with dozens of people in information technology, you know how much fourth dimension renting a car tin sometimes take. I know I've personally waited an hour or more at a car rental desk, and take heard horror stories of people standing in line for two, 3, or 4 hours as they kickoff their holiday. When y'all are traveling with kids, waiting that long for a motorcar rental is just a non-starter.
So how do you save time on car rentals? The cardinal is to look for ways to skip the line and go straight to your car. Ever, always sign upwards for rental machine frequent renter programs like Hertz Gold or Alamo Insiders. When you log in to your account and book the rental there, y'all volition be able to skip the line at most larger (and even many smaller) airports. Exist sure to check that your drivers license and credit card number are upwardly-to-date in your online account before your trip (and make sure y'all are using the right credit carte with main car rental coverage). Otherwise, you'll accept to become to a counter.
Some car rental companies have a board displayed with a stall number where you lot get directly to your car. Others allow you do to online check-in and/or give you access to a preferred line or kiosk to skip the battle with the masses.
Even if yous rent through a third political party discounter like Costco Travel, you can nearly e'er add your membership number or link your booking to access the aforementioned benefits.
Here are links to the programs of nigh of the majors, along with their usual offerings at major airports at least:
- Alamo Insiders: Online bank check-in ("Skip the Counter"), earn rental rewards
- Avis Preferred: Skip line and car assigned on board, earn rental rewards
- Budget FastBreak: Go straight to lot & choose ain car
- Dollar Express: Car assigned on lath where available, priority line in some locations, earn rental rewards
- Enterprise Plus: Online check-in, priority line in some locations
- Hertz Gold Plus Rewards: Skip line and car assigned on board (sometimes cull own auto), earn rental rewards
- National Emerald Gild: Skip line and choose own car, earn rental rewards
- Thrifty BlueChip: Car assigned on lath where available, priority line in some locations, earn rental rewards
If your arrival aerodrome doesn't have skip the line services for the automobile rental company you are using, at that place are still sometimes a few other ways to dodge the worst. Offset, if y'all have travel flexibility, come in at not-peak times if you can. Saturday arrivals at pop embankment airports in summertime, for example, are the worst! At smaller airports where the car rental counter is at baggage claim, we sometimes send ane adult "runner" ahead to shell the crowds deplaning our flying to the car rental lines. Sometimes if there is a long line for the car rental company you have booked no line for others nearby, inquire the ones with no lines if they volition match your charge per unit and rent with them on the spot.
Unique Rental Car Challenges in 2021
If yous've read the travel news lately, you might know that 2021 brings an extra curveball to the rental car procedure. Due to fiscal struggles when travel ground to a halt last twelvemonth, nearly rental car companies had to sell large portions of their fleet.
Now, there is a massive shortage of rental cars all over the country to run across the demand. There are horror stories of people but beingness charged $500 or $1000 a solar day for a compact car that used to rent for $twenty. And there are even more stories of people with machine rental reservations who show up at the airport only to discover an empty lot and no car for their trip.
Avoid being one of those horror stories with these tips:
- Bank check rental car prices before you book flights: Your rental car may well price more than this year than flights for your family unit of 4 or 5. Cheque prices before you commit to a destination or book flights to make sure information technology doesn't blow your budget.
- Call ahead: The solar day before or morning of your flight, call alee to the auto rental company's local number and confirm they will accept a auto for y'all. If there is a tardily breaking automobile shortage at their location, they may exist able to meet it coming at that point.
- Book more one reservation: Car reservations don't require credit card deposits, and so if you are concerned the aerodrome you volition arrive into will run out of cars, it never hurts to hedge your bets by booking with more than i company. Y'all tin can e'er cancel the extra reservation once you get a machine.
- Pay attention to news/social media: Follow the travel news and the travels of friends or travel bloggers headed to your destination to know if a rental automobile shortage is an consequence in a specific locale.
- Know your backup options: If the worst happens and you find yourselves without a rental car, know what your backup options are. You might exist able to take a shuttle, train, or Uber/Lyft instead. Sometimes you can notice auto rental companies in non-airport locations and take and Uber there to hire a car.
Terminal Thoughts
One time yous know the potential tripping points, automobile rentals with kids don't have to exist that stressful, disruptive, or expensive. Just think through and ready for the logistics in advance and you'll be on to the fun parts of your vacation in no time.
Rent a Car in New Orleans or Not When Traveling With a Baby
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