Car rental drop charges??? (Tampa: rentals, prices, airports)

[spinergirl]

Does anyone know a car rental company that doesn't charge a huge "drop charge" when you pick up a car in one location and drop it off in another? We are flying into Ft. Lauderdale and leaving from Tampa - car rental per day is so cheap, however the "drop charge" is 2x the price of the car rental! Any suggestions?

[Florida2014]

Try the Personal Finance forum, folks over there seem to know about this sort of thing.

[snuffybear]

Most don't within Florida...but it can vary...just go on the rental companies' websites and price it out with different pickup and dropoff locations.

Also can try Priceline (or another company, will get name) -- but you have to prepay with those.
Great deals per day though.

[projectmaximus]

Just a few things (and I do this often as part of my job):

You often have to just search a bunch of different combinations. Picking up and dropping off at various locations within a city can yield vastly different rates. Usually city locations are cheaper than airports, but for one ways that's not necessarily the case.
Priceline is a nice tool which lets you search for locations within a certain radius. And to correct snuffybear, you do not always prepay on priceline. If you name your own price, you do, but if not then it's a pay at pickup situation. Hotwire I think is the same way...their hot rates are pay up front but their regular prices are not.

And just be persistent. I have seen one-way rentals suddenly drop to regular prices after being 4 or 5 times more expensive for weeks. And I've seen some that dropped for just a day or two and then went back up. So check often. Good luck!