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Green Travel / Hertz / Rental Cars / Connect by Hertz / Hertz on Demand / Car Sharing / Cars / Driving / → All Tags

Thanks to Hertz, Electric Car Sharing Arrives in San Francisco

We’ve got a soft spot for rental cars, and we’re especially fond of those that can do their thing without a drop of gas. That’s why we were excited to hear about Hertz and their latest plans to invade San Francisco with green types of rental transportation.

They’re using that new Hertz On Demand thing to offer up electric car rentals through a partnership with the San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront. So if you need to take a quick spin to watch some airplanes or head into the city for business, the people at Hertz and Marriott have you covered.

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Hertz / Rental Cars / Connect by Hertz / Hertz on Demand / Car Sharing / Cars / Driving / → All Tags

Hertz Reboots Its Car Sharing with 'Hertz on Demand'

Connect by Hertz has been kicking around for a few years now, as it’s the rental car giant’s answer to the ubiquitous Zipcar. Entering the car sharing business a little behind the curve must have been a little difficult—even for a company like Hertz—so it’s time to reboot things in order to move forward. On the way out is Connect by Hertz, as from now on if you’re thinking car sharing and Hertz you should be thinking about Hertz on Demand.

They mean business now, as the born again service is looking to reduce costs, improve member benefits, and fire up all kinds of technology both in and out of the car. Of course they’re also boosting their amount of vehicles—including plenty of hybrids, electric vehicles, and cuties like the Fiat 500—along with locations, as you really can’t do too well if you don’t have plenty of cars and plenty of spots to grab them.

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Road Trips / Lists / Toll Bridges / Driving / Cars / Architecture Travel / Awesome Stuff / Bridges / Landmarks / → All Tags

The Top Ten US Toll Bridges Worth the Money

Uncle Jesse and Danny Tanner are just a toll away...

It’s the middle of July and the season for summer road trips has certainly arrived. There of course some obstacles to the perfect automobile expedition like gross bathrooms, highways rest stops, and way too many chips and candy serving as your lunch. Usually we’d add tolls to the list of annoying distractions out on the highway, but once in awhile there are a few that we really don’t mind paying.

Here’s our picks—in no particular order—for 10 Toll Bridges in the US where paying the fee is worth it:

· Golden Gate Bridge – San Francisco, California:
This is an obvious addition to the list and when you drive yourself from San Francisco over into Marin County—or the other way depending on where you’re headed—it’s easy to see why it’s so iconic. Traveling over the bridge will cost you $6 per car when you’re headed south into the city, so at least one of your crossings is on the house. If you need a closer look you can always pull off and head out on foot, as there is plenty of room for bicycles and pedestrians to cross the bridge as well.

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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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Valet Parking / Cars / Driving / HotelChatter / → All Tags

It's True: Parking Valets Will Beat the Hell Out of Your Car

When I was a college student at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, I worked as a bellman and parking valet at the Omni International Hotel, which is now a Sheraton. It was a fun job, because not only did I enjoy interacting with guests (and getting good tips), I also got a chance to drive some pretty fancy cars. I was kind of a shy kid, so I didn't put the cars through too much abuse, but a video that I discovered today reminds me of just how brazen some of my valet parking colleagues could be with other people's rides.

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Driving / Cars / Samoa Travel / → All Tags

Samoa Switches Sides Of The Road For Drivers

As of Monday morning local time, the country of Samoa made quite the change to the way the country moves around. Instead of driving on the right side of the road, they decided to switch things up and drive on the left side. Not since the 1970s has a country shook things up like this, and we’re just glad we didn’t have a visit planned there this week.

To help things go as smoothly as possible, the country is taking a couple days off, as government officials felt that a two-day holiday would ease people into the traffic train wreck. There’s also a three-day ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, because you know knocking a few back would not help things out at all. So far so good it seems, but that might only be because everyone is still on vacation.

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National Rental Car / Car Rental / Cars / Driving / One-Way Road Trip / Passenger complaints / → All Tags

Brits On An American Road Trip: A Dud Car Nightmare

Planning a road trip? HotelChatter contributor London Town is on one from LA to New York at the moment. Some top tips from a week on the road…

If there’s one thing we Europeans know about Americans, it’s that you love your cars. We also know that your customer service is second to none (tell us to have a nice day when we’re over here, and our cold little British hearts will melt all over you).

So we were pretty confident about hiring a car for our road trip in the land of the free. We’ve done it before—we drove from Chicago to Nashville earlier in the year with Avis, and that worked out just fine. This time we were going further, though—LA to New York, to be precise. National came through with the least extortionate one-way fees, so we went with them.

Big mistake. We arrived at LAX late on a Wednesday night, jetlagged and extra cranky as United had managed to mislay our bag for a whole two hours, and at first we were pleasantly surprised at the ease of the pick up service. We literally signed the contract, and were told to choose a car and drive off. We chose a nice red Chevy and headed off. It wasn’t until we reached the interstate that we noticed it kept pulling to the right, trying to drive us off the road.

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Brits On An American Road Trip: Five Top Tips

Planning a road trip? HotelChatter contributor London Town is on one from LA to New York at the moment. Some top tips from a week on the road…

Don’t plan ahead too far
On our last road trip, we planned our stops by the day, which made for guilt aplenty when we made unscheduled stops, and crazy-fast driving to make up the time. This time, we’ve sussed out accommodation options for where we want to be, and where we’ll likely be, and called from the road in the afternoon. As a result, we’ve had plenty detours and we’re all the better for it (if a week behind schedule).

Don’t rely on GPS
Yesterday, we asked our GPS to take us through Texas from Abilene to Austin, via Crawford, to stalk George Bush. It swore that the fastest route would go on the interstate through Fort Worth and take nine hours. Luckily, we looked at a map that showed that that would be like doing two sides of a triangle, ditched the GPS and went cross country. It took five hours.

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'Stay Left!' And Other Tips For Driving in Ireland

All this week, Jaunted contributor CMB will be giving us notes on her Dublin Field Trip. Any questions or suggestions? Let us know.

Returning from our trip to Ireland last week, everyone wanted to know, “what’s the biggest difference between Ireland and the U.S.?” Here it is, drum roll please… they drive on the left. Disappointed? Yeah, we were too but it is a major difference and a tricky one for Americans in tiny rental cars. Luckily for you, we made plenty of mistakes driving on the wrong side of the road so that now you can learn from them.

First, even in if you rent a GPS with your rental car (they run around €5 a day), buy a map; better yet, buy two maps, one for the whole country and a separate one of Dublin. For whatever reason, the GPS always seems to go rogue at the worst possible time so it’s a good idea to have a backup plan.

Most rentals in Ireland are manual transmission. You will pay more for standard transmission but if that is what you drive at home, buck up and pay the extra money. It is difficult enough pulling out of the airport trying to remember what lane to be in, let alone trying not to stall, this is no time to be cheap. Outside of Dublin, there are roundabouts everywhere, remember traffic coming from the right-hand side has the right of way.

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What Is With Rental Car Prices These Days? The NYT Investigates

Just when we finally thought it safe to book an affordable flight, hotel, and rental car, a New York Times story gets us all disappointed over rates. Apparently, despite the deals elsewhere, rental car costs are going up. One consulting group notes that in May, the average weekly rate for a car booked seven days in advance went up almost 75% from the previous year.

Although the demand for rental cars is down, the car companies are responding by not ordering new cars and selling off the really old ones. In the past, drivers were greeted with a low-mile cream puff, often with a new car scent, but now they are usually stuck in something with many more miles on the odometer. Unfortunately, it’s just simple supply and demand, and less rental cars mean we’re stuck paying more for the dogs that are left.

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Rental Cars / Florida Travel / National Rental Car / Cars / Driving / → All Tags

Escape Florida With One-Way Rental Car Deals

If you’re dreaming of your own One-Way Road Trip after ours got you all hot and bothered for beignets and alligators, now is your chance. National Car Rental is offering one-way rental car deals out of Florida to cities across the country. There’s no drop fees or mileage charges, so get booking and start driving.

With the National Drive Out program, you’ll be able to leave from many cities in Florida for as little as $10 a day for economy cars and only $12 per day for full-size cars. Feel free to drop your car in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, or Tennessee, among other states.

For those looking to head elsewhere, $17 per day rates are available for trips as far away as North Dakota and Colorado. These rates are also available for much of the Northeast, just in time for those that need a ride back to their summer homes. The deal is available though July 18, and you can keep your car for a maximum of 21 days. Just hit up their website or give them a call at 800-CAR-RENT.

Related Stories:
·National Car Rental Offering Special Low One-Way Discounts, No Drop Charges and Unlimited Mileage [BusinessWire]
·Thanks To TerraPass Even The Worst Rental Car Can Be Green [Jaunted]
·Rental Cars coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: René Ehrhardt]

Rental Cars / Zipcar / Drinking / Driving / → All Tags

The Cult of Car Sharing Grows at Zipcar Open Bar

There is only way to go about drinking and driving in New York City, and that is apparently the Zipcar Open Bar way. Kicking off a series of monthly Zipcar member parties last night on the Lower East Side, Zipcar invited its NYC-area posse to get together over the goodwill of car sharing and trade some road trip stories.

We, however, were most attracted by the promise of free drinks upon flashing your Zipcard at the bar and the offer of $75 in driving credit for you and a friend if they sign up then and there.

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