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Hi to everybody, i'm an italian planning a road trip in USA for next springtime.
I would like to rent a car in California and then drive up to Alaska or, at least, to Seattle.
Driving up to Seattle is no problem... but there WILL be extra fees.
Find some other way to get to Alaska.
I booked a rental car in San Jose and planned to drop it in LA. I knew there would be a drop off fee, but what I didn't realize that they were going to charge me mileage as well. I found that out the day I picked up the car and it was too late to change plans. It cost me $640 to drive that car from San Jose to LA. We could have purchased plane tickets for that price.
i would definitely call the rental companies before deciding anything.
Lay everything out on the line about your wants and needs with the rental companies, they will tell you what you can or cannot do.
It would be cheaper and probably easier to drive to Seattle and fly to an Alaskan port and rent there. Drop off fees and customs to and from Canada could be a hassle, and don't forget insurance fees too. Since you're from out of the US the rental companies may not let you drive through Canada. You just need to speak to several rental agencies and see what they say, then you can decide what to do.
With gas prices as high as they are you may want to fly to most places and then rent at a cheaper local rate.
Drop off fees fluctuate by season depending on how much rental cars are in demand and how many are available at both locations. I once rented a car in New Jersey and drove it to Wyoming and had no drop-off fee. Check all the major rental companies for rates, etc.
As already mentioned, if you're not 25 or older, renting can be difficult and expensive.
Thank you all very much, i can't thank individually (rep+ anyway), i'll try to answer to everyone at one time.
I will for sure contact some rental companies before i'll fly to US and i'll try to get an estimate for a customized solution. I will tell them about all possible problems, like border crossing etc. etc.
I will pay attention to extra fees for crossing states and for dropping ("drop"! That's the term i was looking for, thanks!) the car in another place but, as i plan to be only 1 month in the US, it will be unlikely for me to come back to the start of my trip.
About buying a used car, it could have been the best solution, then i read on another website that is pratically impossible, due to law that prescribes any car must have a "plate" related to a physical address in the US. As i don't have a US address i can't buy a car or, at least, i can't leave the state in wich the car is purchased. Is it true?
About crossing Canadian borders, i can also stop in Seattle, or take a ferry to Alaska... it will not be the same, but this is not, for the moment, my main concern.
Well, i'll try to get used to automatic transmission... anyway, i imagine probably you all think that drive an automatic car is much simplier than a stick one, but believe me, people who always used manual transmission don't use gears only to set the speed but also to get from the car a particular behavior that suits their driving styles. I like to keep the engine in particular rpm ranges, depending on the road i'm driving on... but this is another matter, and i don't want to go off-topic :-)
No problem about age: i'm actually 43 so i think there are no restrictions related to my age.
Well, i'll try to get used to automatic transmission... anyway, i imagine probably you all think that drive an automatic car is much simplier than a stick one, but believe me, people who always used manual transmission don't use gears only to set the speed but also to get from the car a particular behavior that suits their driving styles. I like to keep the engine in particular rpm ranges, depending on the road i'm driving on... but this is another matter, and i don't want to go off-topic :-)
I was going to mention that driving an automatic isn't simply letting your left foot rest, as some have written. You don't have the engine braking you get by down-shifting, exiting corners you find yourself a gear or two higher than you want, etc.
Some US cars, particularly those with "sporty" pretensions, will have floor shift automatics that allow clutchless down- and up-shifting. If size, budget, etc. meet your needs, something like a Mustang or Camaro might work for you.
You can't drive a US rental car deep into Canada. They won't let you take one from the lower 48 to Alaska. The single biggest reason is that they can't recover the car if you decide not to return it.
Most car contracts state that you can't go more than 400 miles away from the border.
Another thing to remember is that Canada and the US aren't like Europe. It's 900 miles from Blaine, WA (at the border between Canada and the US) to Stewart B.C. which is the lowest point on the Alaska Panhandle, with nothing really there.
To get to Skagway from Blaine is over 1500 miles, over 2400 km. That's like driving from Rome to Riga, Latvia on the Baltic. That doesn't even include getting to the Canadian border. It's over 900 miles from San Francisco to the border.
Having read your other post, you had mentioned Anchorage. That's 3500 km from the Canadian border at Blaine. Go from Rome, drive to Amsterdam, turn around, go home, then drive down to Napoli. That's one way.
If size, budget, etc. meet your needs, something like a Mustang or Camaro might work for you.
Mustang or Camaro would be GREAT, but i'm afraid they are too much expensive to rent for a so long time...
@ mikeyyc: thank you very much for your advices, i knew that the last part of the trip i'm thinking about could bring many issues, for this reason i'm studying it so well in advance, and i'm willing to change plans if needed (ferry? plane? ...stop in Seattle?). Anyway, these are exactly the kind of informations i was looking for, so thank you again!
Any advice about purchasing a car as suggested? Is it true thet i won't be able to cross states borders without a legal residence in the U.S.?
1) Make sure that you understand the drop-off fees which could be as much as $500.
2) Make sure that you don't get beat up on the rate.
Dropping off a car in Alaska maybe a problem. A lot of rental agencies DO NOT want you to drive to Alaska as the roads are much rougher there and you could damage the vehicle in-transit.
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