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There's Only One Place to Rent the New Chevy Camaro Convertible

We’ve had our eyes on some of the better looking rental cars that are available, but there’s a new option that really gets our motor running—ha.

The Camaro Convertible is now available for your summer road trip, and there’s only one spot to find it. Avis is adding the new convertible to its “Cool Car” collection, and there are even two flavors from which to choose. There’s the Camaro LT which features a 312-horspower V6 engine, or if you really need to get there in a hurry there’s also the Camaro SS with a V8 engine capable of around 400-horsepower.

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More Road Trip Deals! Drive Outta Arizona For Just $5 Per Day

Not too long ago we were all excited about rental car deals out of Florida to pretty much everywhere, thanks to the migration of old people and college kids south. Now the rental car party is moving the way of Lewis and Clark, as Arizona has some cheapo one-way deals.

Now through the end of May you can grab a car from Hertz for as little as $5 per day. There’s no mileage caps, no drop-off fees, and all kinds of places to pick up the car and drop it off. California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington are just a few of the states where you can end your road trip. Just be sure to use the code DRV5 to get the deal or just click right here.

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Road Trip! $5 Hertz Rentals with Unlimited Miles Out of Florida

It’s that time of year again, as rental car companies need your help to get their cars anywhere but Florida. We’ve seen this before, so expect the deals to start flowing now that the spring weather is just around the corner.

Avis has a deal where you can take a car from the Sunshine State for $20 a day, but your return is somewhat limited as it needs to be dropped off somewhere in the Southeast portion of the country. Both Carolinas, as well as Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi are all options between April and June. Budget has a pretty similar deal for $20 per day, and you’re free to pick your choice of car including an SUV.

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The Next Wave of Travel Fees Will Come from Rental Cars

When you finally get off the plane, you would think that the fee-for-all is over, but there’s another group of businesses looking to hit you up for more of your hard-earned cash. Once you make your way to the rental car garage, companies from Avis to Hertz will hit you with new fees they've already begun to include to help out their bottom line—consider yourself warned!

Hertz recently stated that their revenue is up almost 10%, and they freely admit that some of the money came from those newfangled ancillary revenues. Avis is reporting the same thing, so it’s clear that consumers are falling for stuff like GPS add-ons and pay-per-day EZ Pass units. We’ll admit that we’ve paid the extra bucks so we didn’t have to wait in line at NYC area bridges with the suckers in the cash-only lanes, so at least the drivers are getting something out of it.

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Forget Florida; Rent a Car Out of Portland for $1 Per Day

Last week we were busy planning an out-of-Florida road trip, but if you’re allergic to the Sunshine State, there’s other options as well. Apparently people enjoy spending their winters in Arizona just as much, and the Grand Canyon State also has too many rental cars clogging their lots.

There’s a few rental car companies practically begging for a little assistance with relocating their fleet in time for the spring and summer seasons. Avis is offering one-way midsize vehicles rentals for as low as $18 per day with unlimited mileage and no drop off fees. The cars do have to be returned to another Arizona location or somewhere in California or Nevada. There isn’t as much flexibility when compared to the Florida deals, but we’d rather go on a coastal California road trip anyway. The deals are good through the end of the month, but after that they jump to around $80 per day.

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Toyota Recall Means You Might Not Have A Rental Car

In case you haven’t been paying attention, Toyota is having a little bit of trouble with many of their cars. Sticky accelerator pedals are the main problem, and the car maker is busy issuing a recall whilst figuring out how to fix this big issue. Most rental car companies have at least some Toyota vehicles in their fleets, and now companies are pulling them from the lots as they try to ensure that travelers stay safe.

Last week Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis announced that they’d be pulling affected Toyota models from their fleets. The Pontiac Vibe shares many similarities to certain Toyota models, and this car will be taken out of the mix as well. Hertz is chatting with Toyota to work things out, and they’re looking to get things fixed as soon as possible. Avis is pulling about 20,000 vehicles, and Enterprise admits that this recall might cause some limited availability.

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Only A Few Days Left To Light Up In Your Rental Car

Anytime we have rented a car in recent memory, we were reminded early and often not to smoke in the car—even if it was just a PT Cruiser. We’re pretty sure that we had to sign something, and there was always that no smoking sticker right by the lighter where we plugged in our iPod. Apparently, smoking in your rental car is a vacation luxury that we missed out on, and now our time is severely limited.

On October 1, Budget and Avis will become the first two rental car companies to ban smoking in their rental fleet in North America. If you’re caught puffing away, you’ll get nailed with a cleaning fee of up to $250. Too bad they won’t ban fast food in their cars, as we are sick of soda stains in the seats and fries in every nook and cranny of the center console.

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Bye Bye, PT Cruiser: Imports Take The Rental Car Crown

Anytime we have to rent a car, we’re pretty certain that our keys will be used to unlock and operate a domestic vehicle, but for the first time ever, car rental companies are actually filling their fleets with more import autos. That means you’ve got a better chance of scoring something from outside the nifty fifty—for better or for worse.

According to numbers released by the trade rag Automotive Fleet, only 48.8 percent of new cars heading to the rental lot came from General Motors, Chrysler, or Ford. We didn’t take too many math classes in college, but we know that means more than 50 percent of rental cars now come from overseas. Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and Nissan are just some of the new kids on the block—guess that means no more Pontiac G6s for us.

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WiFi Wednesday: Rubber to the Road Edition

Maybe Avis does try harder--even if their blog is weak. The car rental giant has just announced that its on-board WiFi service has started rolling out of San Francisco International Airport, with locations around the country set to follow suit. (We actually got pretty fired up about this back in January, if you'll recall.

The WiFi enabled cars sound pretty awesome, at least to bloggers like us:

Avis Connect enables travelers to enjoy broadband wireless Internet connectivity at all times and places during their travel, from airports to meetings to hotels, and everything in between.

Obviously, Avis doesn't want you online while you're driving. (Or maybe they do, and this is a big insurance scam?!) Either way, it's clearly aimed at biz travelers, spending on their corporate card: you'll pay $11 a day to log on. Just think, if you're staying at the wrong hotel and renting from Avis, you could end up paying $25 a day for 'net access!

[Photo: palmasco]

Related Stories:
· Avis Blog Doesn't Try Hard Enough [Jaunted]
· Avis Bringing High Speed to the Highway [Jaunted]
· Jaunted's car rentals coverage [Jaunted]

Avis / Car Rentals / Blogs / → All Tags

Avis Blog Doesn't Try Hard Enough

If everyone else is doing it, why shouldn't we? That's the attitude from the British branch of Avis car rentals who claim they've started up the first ever car rental company blog with We Try Harder. Since the start of the year, Avis employees have been blogging about how wonderful Avis is, how responsive they are to customers and, well, how wonderful Avis is.

Having said that, it does actually give a few good tips like how and where you can hire snowchains in the Alps, or info on renting sat nav equipment with your rental car. But since the blog authors introduce themselves with tales of football, mountain biking or playing golf, we think there could be a bit more of a personal touch, and a few more interesting posts. Avis, you have to Try Even Harder.

[Photo: X-travalueMeal#2]

Related Stories:
· Avis Bringing High-Speed to the Highway [Jaunted]
· We Try Harder Blog [Official Site]

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Avis Bringing High-Speed to the Highway

Jaunted may be banned from Hertz, but we're free to drive with Avis, and could soon be blogging straight from the road, not that we'd recommend it. Avis will soon offer integrated WiFi access in its vehicles. Just what we all need, another added fee on our rentals.

The service, provided by Autonet Mobile, offers up a gadget you plug into the car's power supply--it then turns the car into a WiFi hotspot. Not only does this open up the possibility for all sorts of fun accidents, but it could provide serious business travelers with some peace of mind. If all else fails and those who need it can't find a hotel with WiFi, they can always sit in their car...in a scary parking lot...typing away...waiting to get carjacked.

The hookup will cost $10.95 extra per day. Interested customers will also have to sign over their soul to Avis and agree to not sue them into oblivion for related accidents.

[Photo: Mike Knell]

Related Stories:
· Wi-Fi Is Hitting the Road in Cars From Avis, but Technical and Legal Bumps Lie Ahead [NYT]
· Autonet Mobile To Launch WiFi Hotspot For The Car [SlipperyBrick]