It looks like flying into Montreal is going to be the cheapest flight (by about $200 each ticket), despite the fact that we're going to be in NY. We were planning on getting a rental car and need to find out if there is going to be a hassle driving it into the states.
Has anyone done this? Any car rental agency to avoid?
The individual rental companies have their own policies, so I would contact them directly or check their websites.
When you rent the car, you need to inform the agency that you'll be driving it over the border to be sure it's covered by the rental agreement. You also need to be sure that any insurance coverage applies to both countries. Also, they may need to issue you extra paperwork in case there are issues at the border (when we rented a car in South Africa and drove it over the border to Mozambique, we needed special paperwork for the customs officials since we didn't own the car).
I've only done it in a few African countries, so not sure if the same, but each rental car company has their own policies. We also had to pay a small fee for going over the border and they gave us special paperwork in case it was asked for at the border. Other than that, it was no big deal.
My parents did it from Seattle to Vancouver with no problems, but I would recommend just double checking with the rental car agency. I know there are a lot more issues and restrictions taking a rental car from the U.S. to Mexico. I think U.S. to Canada is much more liberal.
Post by Norticprincess on Oct 27, 2014 12:14:08 GMT -5
As a US citizen, Can/Us or US/can - I've never had an issue as long as the rental company didn't have a restriction on mileage or needing to stay in the same state/providence. Need to check reservation - even same agency - different cars can have different restrictions.
Going from Canada to the US was never an issue, the US to Canada with a US plated car if you were a Canadian used to be an issue. It has changed in recent years, but there used to be a line item about about Canadian citizens were not allowed to rent in the US and drive into Canada. It was something to do with their CBSA and import duty. The way the regulation was written made no distinction between buying and renting. I this changed in ~2012(I can't remember exactly when) and there is now no issue with short term rentals (under 30 days) as long as the rental car paperwork is in order.
Thanks...even though we take our own cars across the border into Canada regularly (from WA up to Vancouver), I wasn't sure if there was going to be an issue renting in Canada and taking it into the US. It looks like it's not going to be one, which is good to know.
Post by iammalcolmx on Oct 27, 2014 20:13:32 GMT -5
Not a US to Canada thing but since my fancy ass friend decided to get married at Lake Como we looked into driving from Germany. Seems that no one will let you take a luxury car into Italy and AMEX won't insurance rental cars in Italy. Needless to say we are going to take the train. Just an FYI to anything who thought they would do something similar.
Post by caddywompus on Oct 27, 2014 21:56:13 GMT -5
I've done it multiple times. Rented a car in the states, and traveled tino Canada for a few days, then back to the U.S.. I never even thought to tell the rental company where I was traveling to.... I never had any problems/questions when crossing the border.
Not a US to Canada thing but since my fancy ass friend decided to get married at Lake Como we looked into driving from Germany. Seems that no one will let you take a luxury car into Italy and AMEX won't insurance rental cars in Italy. Needless to say we are going to take the train. Just an FYI to anything who thought they would do something similar.
Haha! This doesn't surprise me at all! I've driven in a lot of places, and Italy was probably the most terrifying.
Even my little Hotwire rental automatically included full insurance coverage. Which was good, since I ended up scratching the side mirror up on a wall. Because the street was only a foot wider than the Ford Fiesta size thing I was driving! (There probably would have been more damage if I hadn't ignored the car's GPS directions to drive up a staircase!)
I've only gone between Ireland and Northern Ireland, which wasn't a big deal - I think they just asked us when we were renting it whether we'd be staying in Ireland or not. Check in advance, but I'm sure it's do-able.
Not a US to Canada thing but since my fancy ass friend decided to get married at Lake Como we looked into driving from Germany. Seems that no one will let you take a luxury car into Italy and AMEX won't insurance rental cars in Italy. Needless to say we are going to take the train. Just an FYI to anything who thought they would do something similar.
Haha! This doesn't surprise me at all! I've driven in a lot of places, and Italy was probably the most terrifying.
Even my little Hotwire rental automatically included full insurance coverage. Which was good, since I ended up scratching the side mirror up on a wall. Because the street was only a foot wider than the Ford Fiesta size thing I was driving! (There probably would have been more damage if I hadn't ignored the car's GPS directions to drive up a staircase!)
But I saw myself in a great big ass Mercedes, rolling up to Lake Como for my friends wedding . We were gonna stop in Switzerland for lunch DAMMIT!!! Looks like my Black ass will be taking the train and rolling up on the ferry, LOL!!
We've done it from the US into Canada and it was not an issue at all.
Same. I think maybe we were with Budget? We let them know in advance but they said they didn't care. I did wonder if it was a factor in why the border guards gave us what seemed to be a bit too thorough a questioning before letting us back in. Nothing out of a movie, but lots more questions that I had experienced in the past.