[toronto] car rental & pig roast query

[inulro]

It looks like the easiest & most cost effective way to get to and from North Bay is car rental at the airport.

Any recommendations? Brief internet search indicates that Dollar would be cheapest, but don't seem to have any compact 2-doors. I'm not comfortable driving larger cars, nor do I want to pay for the gas. The others seem to be much of a much-ness.

Do I still need to get an international driving licence or will they take my UK licence? I can't remember from the car rental in Nova Scotia experience.

PS - does the pig roast still have an all-tropical dress code?

Comments

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

Tropical dress code is not mandatory, but is strongly encouraged. Leis and Hawaian shirts are popular.

All the answers you could possibly ask for

[the_axel]

Drivers Licence
Those lovely people [1] at the MTO say you only need an IDL if you're here for 3+ months. Car rental websites aren't so clear cut, but they seem to say 'if it's legal for you to drive, we'll rent to you'.

Car Rental
I'm surprised that you found Dollar to be cheapest, especially from the airport.

Now that I'm renting a car for one road trip or another once every month or two I've got a pretty good handle on prices. At the airport I would expect Advantage or Payless to show up tops. Since you're not leaving Ontario, Discount or Enterprise should also be right up there.

I usually use Travelocity for comparing prices.
Most of the cheapest have a 200km per day limit - going over that is usually really expensive (12 - 20c per km).
When you identify the cheapest
1) Go to their website,
2) Join their frequent renters program - this lets you jump the line at most counters [2], and sometimes gets an extra discount.
3) Book on their website.

North Bay is 400km away, so km limits may be a concern.

Looking for renting from June 29 - July 6th:
2) Advantage[3] will do you a Yaris or Civic for $250 for the week.
Travelocity claim a limit of 200km/day so if you have the car for less than 5 days you'll likely have to pay a premium.
OTOH, their website claims unlimited kilometreage.
3) Discount offer $276.37 with 3000km, plenty.
4) Dollar show up at $400.

Pig Roast
Tropical themed clothing is optional but preferred.

Footnotes
[1] Long term lovability TBD by my final driving test on Thursday...
[2] Saved us a good 45 minutes when we went to LA in Feb.
[3] I found the site didn't play well with Firefox, but likes IE.

Re: All the answers you could possibly ask for

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I will only be renting the car from the 26th of June to the 29th or 30th as TTC and walking are less expensive and stressful than driving (and especially parking) in the city.

I think Dollar had the best weekend deal.

I now have a pig-roast compliant dress.

Re: All the answers you could possibly ask for

[the_axel]

You're welcome.

I now have a pig-roast compliant dress.

Excellent.