Truck/Van/Pickup rental for High Springs (from Tampa)

[cmalinowski]

I searched on truck, vans, vehicle and a couple other things and couldn't find anything that met my needs.

Three of us will be flying into Tampa and heading up to High Springs for cave training in October. We will actually be there for 10 days. Will will need to carry all our gear, provisions (food/coolers), and 21 tanks (2 sets of twins, two Al80 stages, one AL40 02 bottle each) between us per day.

We'd prefer to take one vehicle if possible. I don't see all of us plus that gear fitting into a mini-van. I've done that with only two divers and it wasn't pretty. Of course, I do pack heavy.

Looking at rental car places, we could do two mini vans or "SUV's" (by SUV, we're not talking a Suburban here) for about $550 each for the 10 days we will be there. I looked at the multi-person vans available and they are extremely expensive.

At this point, I have found a decent price on a Ryder City Van (http://reservations.ryder.com/StartContent/VehicleInformation.aspx). They don't have the panel or parcel vans, nor do they have pick-ups. It would end up being about $1100 for the 10 days for everything (taxes, mandatory insurance, other crap fees). The pros as I see it are that it would provide all the space we could possibly need and it seats three (not sure about how comfortably, but...). The cons are that it eats diesel (10mpg) and is large. Plus the hydraulic lift on the back may be a good or bad thing.

I checked with Enterprise truck rental and they have a super-crew cabbed pickup, but it would be about $1400 so that didn't seem like a viable alternative.

Any thoughts on other options? I haven't put in all possible codes/coupons for all possible rental places, but I haven't seen renting something(s) large enough to handle all our gear and tanks for much cheaper and think that this may be a good option.

Thanks,
Chris

[caverkevin]

Check these guys http://westcoastvanrentals.com/about.html

Just found this one too, know some guys that got one out of JAX for a cave class

http://www.carlsvanrentals.com/sports-teams.html

[cmalinowski]

Check these guys http://westcoastvanrentals.com/about.html

Just found this one too, know some guys that got one out of JAX for a cave class

http://www.carlsvanrentals.com/sports-teams.html

Thanks for the info and for looking.

West Coast only has offices in St Pete, Jacksonville, and FtMeyers (not Tampa). I will double check with Carls, but I thought I checked their prices and it was a bit steep as well.

But keep 'em coming. Any ideas are good ones... usually :)

Chris

[Randy Thornton]

Chris,

This isn't for your truck renting dilemma, but I just thought I would mention - if you haven't arranged for a place to stay in the High Springs area, I have a nice home in Ft. White that I rent out to cave divers. It is 5 mins. away from Amigos Dive Center and close to most of the major caves in the area. You can check it out here www.cavecountrylodging.com

Good luck with the truck. I ended up buying one for that exact reason!

Regards,
Randy

[cmalinowski]

... I will double check with Carls, but I thought I checked their prices and it was a bit steep as well.
Actually talked to the guy at Carl's and the price for unlimited miles for a super8 van (will take out seat and will have 8' cargo plus seating for 5) is less than Ryder, but without any LDW/CDW insurance which is not mandatory. They also pick up at the airport which is nice.

Hmmmm... might be a better option.

Although the roominess of that city van at the dive sites and having a changing room in the event of rain and stuff is kinda nice on the ryder side of things.

Chris

[RN]

Why so many tanks? High Springs isn't like Mexico. You should be able to get fills in between dives quite easily. There are plenty of fill stations located throughout High Springs and around it to make this doable. This would cut your tank load down to 12. Most of the dive sites also have changing areas, so that shouldn't be a big issue either.

[Burke]

When I went to Alaska, I just rented an SUV from Avis for like $800 for two weeks. It will be tight for three divers, but as someone already suggested you can cut down on the extra tanks.

[cmalinowski]

Why so many tanks? High Springs isn't like Mexico. You should be able to get fills in between dives quite easily. There are plenty of fill stations located throughout High Springs and around it to make this doable. This would cut your tank load down to 12. Most of the dive sites also have changing areas, so that shouldn't be a big issue either.

Not really worried about the changing area.

Since the instructor suggested that number of tanks to take each day, I'm not really going to question it. Plus, I'm just as happy not to have to hump tanks and run around in between dives unless I have to. Of course, some would argue that this situation creates one possible "have to" scenario.

But, Carls Vans is looking pretty good at present. If I could find a full-size SUV for $800 for two weeks I'd snatch it in a second.

Chris

[huxley]

you can try this one, I would recommend to get a cargo van, much cheaper and you do not need to remove the seats
http://www.rentvans.com/

[cmalinowski]

you can try this one, I would recommend to get a cargo van, much cheaper and you do not need to remove the seats
http://www.rentvans.com/
Cargo vans only seat two... unless you want that precarious lawn chair seat in the back :)

But thanks for the link. I will check them out today.

Chris

[ajimmythekid]

Rent a avr size suv with a reese receiever & buy a 60.00 cargo basket from tractor supply. or buy my Suburban (full size) that can carry 4 divers + 14 tanks & equipment "inside" for $2500.00 firm then you will never have to rent again!!! Not desp. to sell i just replaced it with a Hummer that now pulls the dive trailer.

[Slüdge]

What year Suburban? How many miles?

[huxley]

other option is to rent 1 SUV/pickup/van and a u-haul trailer. Believe the cargo-trailer are about 20-30 $ a day.

[jimbob]

1994 suburban

[JerseyJersey]

Look into flying into Orlando instead of Tampa....I have found the car rentals are significantly cheaper there this past year.

Also, consider the auto train out of Lorton VA...... drops you just outside of Orlando...... With advance planning I have gotten rates under $400....just recently on 4 days notice I went down with a Ford Escape filled with dive gear and tanks for $479 round trip including my fare, the car, dinner and breakfast....

Have seen vehicles pulling trailers onboard and they take oversized trucks and SUV's for and additional fee.

I used the time to review my course materials and relax

[cmalinowski]

Look into flying into Orlando instead of Tampa....I have found the car rentals are significantly cheaper there this past year.

Also, consider the auto train out of Lorton VA...... drops you just outside of Orlando...... With advance planning I have gotten rates under $400....just recently on 4 days notice I went down with a Ford Escape filled with dive gear and tanks for $479 round trip including my fare, the car, dinner and breakfast....

Have seen vehicles pulling trailers onboard and they take oversized trucks and SUV's for and additional fee.

I used the time to review my course materials and relaxOne guy may be working in Tampa. That is why we chose there. My pref would be JAX, but that was before checking van rentals.

Interesting thought on the auto train. I took it back from FL once while moving an SUV for my mother. Might look into it.

I went to rent a mini-van since we all agreed to cram into one. It was more than the ryder truck now. I hate renting vehicles. Wonder what I did to deserve this bad rental car karma?

Chris

[30below]

Can anyone recommend a good truck rental company? I've been looking online, and there's so many of them. Are they all pretty much the same? I've heard of companies comparing rates for you, but there seem to be a few sites like that..

http://www.zmoving.com
http://www.movers-moving-companies.com (http://www.movers-moving-companies.com/truck-rental/)
http://www.freemovingquote.com
etc

They all kind of look the same and seem to be offering the same thing but I don't want to let just anyone move my stuff.. things like my diving tanks and gear..(but I also don't want to pay a lot!!) Been reading about my legal rights at protectyourmove.gov but I fell asleep two sentences into it...can anyone just tell me a good mover they've used?? Thanks!


-jake