Wanna use Rental Car for POE - Pickup in Toronto and drop off in the US.

[Ash&Dave 2]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to figure out the best option to enter the US once I have my visa in hand. There are some pretty good suggestions on VJ but it sounds like most folks either flew in (and shipped their stuff using FedEx, UPS or ABF) or they rented out U Haul trucks and drove them into the country.

My situation is a little bit different, I'm only going to be taking my personal belongings (cloths, books, laptops, photo albums, xbox consoles, some video games and DVDs, shoes (about 12 pairs, yeah I know I have shoe problem lol). Anyway, I looked into shipping all this stuff in boxes using UPS, it'll cost me about $500-$600. Which is fine, but now I'm leaning towards driving through the Niagara/Buffalo region Quite a few people here have said that they prefer POE through a land border crossing as oppose to an actual airport, specially if you have a connecting flight. There might be a delay depending on how busy they are at the airport which could potentially mean you'll miss the connecting flight.

Anyway, I live right downtown Toronto and don't have a car, so I would like to just pick up a car in Toronto and drop it off in Texas when I get there. Is that possible legally? In other words they won't give me hard time at the border If it's a rental? Also, most of the US rental companies such as Enterprise, Avis, Budget and Dollar don't seem to allow this, does anyone know of any local company that might let you do that?

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this!

Thanks,

Dave

[Adriene H 89]

Do you have a Triple A membership? I would totally ask them, they might know

of an international car rental ...

[Ash&Dave 2]

Do you have a Triple A membership? I would totally ask them, they might know

of an international car rental ...

Thanks for the speedy response! No I don't, I haven't had a car in almost a year. When I moved right downtown, I got rid of it last year. Any other thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated

[Adriene H 89]

Taking your personal fx with you would be a lot better.

UPS can take forever, or your stuff could sit in a customs warehouse

for weeks before you see it again. Also, it was years ago but UPS

didn't handle a computer very gently that I had shipped. It did finally

arrive but the RAM was missing and the monitor was cracked in the

corner. When I tried to file a claim, they said it wasn't valid since

my father had packed it instead of letting an agent pack it. (USA to Canada)

[Adriene H 89]

Thanks for the speedy response! No I don't, I haven't had a car in almost a year. When I moved right downtown, I got rid of it last year. Any other thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated

What about Greyhound bus?

Or buying a cheap car and selling it when you get to the US?

Just pulling ideas off the top of my head

[SapphireDreams 71]

I would call each individual car rental company and ask. I have a feeling though that by the time you pay for the car, insurance and gas, you might as well just ship your stuff and fly or get some large luggage and pay extra for extra checked baggage.

I priced it out a few years ago from Toronto-New York City and it wasn't worth it, it was cheaper for me to fly and buy a couple of giant duffel bags in Chinatown in TO and just pay extra to check them on my flight.

The POE by airport is fine, just need to give yourself enough time, which isn't that hard to do.

[sheeshkabelle 153]

Renting a car from Toronto to Texas is going to be outrageously expensive. Even IF the rental company lets you cross the border with the car, some don't.

Renting a car you pay insurance, gas, the rental fee, plus mileage and the extra charge of dropping off in a different location.

Just out of curiosity I did a quote from Hertz. You're looking at 765.36 CAD for a one week rental NOT including kilometers/mileage.

[sheeshkabelle 153]

Edited from above...

Renting a car from Toronto to Texas is going to be outrageously expensive. Even IF the rental company lets you cross the border with the car, some don't.

Renting a car you pay insurance, gas, the rental fee, plus mileage and the extra charge of dropping off in a different location.

Just out of curiosity I did a quote from Hertz. You're looking at 765.36 CAD for a one week rental with unlimited mileage. It's for a Kia Rio, so it will be decent on gas, but your still probably looking at another $600 for gas, hotels and food.

Hubby and I are hooking up an 8'x4' cargo trailer to our SUV and moving him. What doesn't fit in the truck or the trailer doesn't go! We bought the trailer for a little under $2,000.00 We figured it would be an investment since we need 'storage' space anyway and we won't have to pay a storage company $70 a month. (Our US house doesn't have a garage to store his tools and motorcycle)

Edited November 6, 2011 by sheeshkabelle

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I originally did not want to rent a UHAUL, however I couldn't find a car company that would let me take their vehicle over the border and return it to a US location. If you do find one, it's insanely expensive.

Edited November 7, 2011 by Coconuts

[Saylin 1,605]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to figure out the best option to enter the US once I have my visa in hand. There are some pretty good suggestions on VJ but it sounds like most folks either flew in (and shipped their stuff using FedEx, UPS or ABF) or they rented out U Haul trucks and drove them into the country.

My situation is a little bit different, I'm only going to be taking my personal belongings (cloths, books, laptops, photo albums, xbox consoles, some video games and DVDs, shoes (about 12 pairs, yeah I know I have shoe problem lol). Anyway, I looked into shipping all this stuff in boxes using UPS, it'll cost me about $500-$600. Which is fine, but now I'm leaning towards driving through the Niagara/Buffalo region Quite a few people here have said that they prefer POE through a land border crossing as oppose to an actual airport, specially if you have a connecting flight. There might be a delay depending on how busy they are at the airport which could potentially mean you'll miss the connecting flight.

Anyway, I live right downtown Toronto and don't have a car, so I would like to just pick up a car in Toronto and drop it off in Texas when I get there. Is that possible legally? In other words they won't give me hard time at the border If it's a rental? Also, most of the US rental companies such as Enterprise, Avis, Budget and Dollar don't seem to allow this, does anyone know of any local company that might let you do that?

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this!

Thanks,

Dave

I'm not sure if this is possible for you, but if you can, I'd suggest you do what I did. I only had about 10 boxes of belongings (just clothes, books, and such), no furniture. Everything able to fit in a medium-sized car. I was looking at rental companies and most didn't have an option for crossing the border, and if they did, it was outrageously expensive. So, I had all my things packed in my dad's car. He drove across the border with me and I had a rental car waiting in Burlington, Vermont. I was coming from Montreal, so it was only about a 4 hour drive.

If you have a friend or family member that can drive you and your stuff across the border to like Buffalo or something, I'm sure you can rent a car there to your destination for much cheaper than any other option.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

The idea of buying a few duffel bag and taking them with you on a flight sounds like it would be more enjoyable and cheaper (or equal) then driving for gawd knows how long from TO to TX (it's 10+hr to Virginia ) I cannot imagine driving all the way to TX!

Good luck

PS - went to Expedia - 1 way from YYZ to Dallas-Fort Worth on Dec 3rd is currently $354 US with 1 stop....$370 direct.....FLYING with extra baggage FTW!!!!

Edited November 7, 2011 by Udella&Wiz

[Saylin 1,605]

The idea of buying a few duffel bag and taking them with you on a flight sounds like it would be more enjoyable and cheaper (or equal) then driving for gawd knows how long from TO to TX (it's 10+hr to Virginia ) I cannot imagine driving all the way to TX!

Good luck

I drove by myself from Burlington, Vermont to South Dakota. About 27 hours. I had an absolute BLAST. Wish I could do it again.

[Krikit 1,164]

If you only have a few extra items it's cheaper just to pay the extra baggage cost and take them with you on your flight. If the flights out of YYZ or YTZ are too expensive for your planned date, take a look at flights out of Buffalo. You'll just need someone to drive you across and you'll do your POE there.

[Ash&Dave 2]

WOW, so many wonderful responses, ideas and suggestions, you guys are the most amazing support group I've ever had I thank each and everyone of you for brainstorming with me Thank you all again!

As most of you guys suggested, flying would be the cheapest as well as the most hassle free way to move...but I really am leaning more and more toward driving as I researched some of the other options. The thing is, I hate packing and I really don't want to spend any more time or effort in making sure things are packed properly for a shipping company to ship them safely, so if I were to drive I can just dump my stuff in the car (of course in boxes and duffel bags as some of you guys suggested) and all of that stuff will fit into a Mid sized SUV that I'm renting.

Speaking of renting, as some of you guys suggested, instead of having someone drive me across the border, I was able to find a local rental company that would let me drop the car in Buffalo! Then I'll be picking up a car from Enterprise near Buffalo international airport, move all the stuff into the Enterprise SUV, and I'm on my way

For those who might be interested, it costing me $320.00 to get to Buffalo (it's high coz of the drop off fee) and then $780.00 to get to Texas (2 days rental as I'm planning on getting there in record time (FINGERS CROSSED

QUESTION: I'm almost positive that the folks at the US side of the border won't have any issues with my rental going into the US as long as I carry the right papers from the rental company? Those of you who have done the POE from a neighboring border using a rental car/Truck can perhaps shed some light on this?

Once again thank you all.

Dave

[Ash&Dave 2]

I drove by myself from Burlington, Vermont to South Dakota. About 27 hours. I had an absolute BLAST. Wish I could do it again.

Gotta give you props for that . I actually went to school in TX and when I moved back home to Toronto couple of years, I drove as well. It took me about 30 hours and it was a blast too