[quote=thangrong]
I am going there during the Labor Day weekend. But I thought that I could rely on public transportation and/or taxi. However, after reading many reviews recommending getting your own jeep. I started doing research on it...Since I landed in Saint Thomas airport before getting to St John, I think that renting a compact SUV in St Thomas and drive to St John, but I can't find any recommendation/review about such idea. Is it better off renting a compact SUV (couldn't find any equivalent vehicle description) or should I go to St John via public transportation first before renting a Jeep in St John? If I rent a SUV in St Thomas, how do I cross to St John?

I greatly appreciate all input.

Thang[/quote

Hi...If you rent your vehicle at the STT airport you will drive across the island to the to the Red Hook Ferry 30-45 minutes away, where you will be able to drive your vehicle onto the barge. Make sure you rent from Hertz as they were the only car rental agency at the airpor that will allow their cars to be taken to St. John. There is a little booth on the other side of the Red Hook Ferry parking lot. You will drive up to it, pay I think 4 dollars and then drive forward where you will see where the cars line up for the barge. Once you drive onto the barge an attendant will come to your vehicle where you will pay them $50.00 cash for a round trip ticket. Do not lose your ticket as you will use it as proof of payment on your return back to St. Thomas. We have done this many times and it is as smooth as sik. The barges schedule is on this website so print it out. Also, if for some reason you arrive at the airport and they do not have any jeeps (the suggested mode of travel on St John, due to the hilly terrain) don't panic if all you can get is a car. This happened to us Feb. 2010 and all we could get was a Nissan Sentra. Since we were staying on the Eastern side of St, John (the hillest) we were really concerned.....but the little car did just fine. Also, make sure you fill up your gas every chance you get. Only 3 stations on St,. John that I have seen. 2 in Cruz Bay and 1 in Coral Bay. Try to keep it full....sometimes St, John does not have gas...especially the East side/Coral Bay area! Have fun.....you will be "hooked" the minute you drive off the barge.

Another alternative would be to taxi from the airport to the Red Hook passanger ferry....only a few dollars to ride. You could then rent your car on St. John. Having never done this, I have zero info. Hey, if you do this post how it went. We will be going back the 3rd week in September...and have not finalized car decisions yet.

"Make sure you rent from Hertz as they were the only car rental agency at the airpor that will allow their cars to be taken to St. John".

Actually Hertz is the only company that I know of that will not let you take their cars to St John and it is a $1,000 fine for doing so (I actually called them 2 weeks ago to confirm this because of a question on another forum re: the same topic)

Pia

We always rent our Jeep on St. John at St. John Car Rental. Renting on St. Thomas doesn't appeal to us because if you have any problems such as a flat tire you're SOL. Also there is only one gas station on St. John now. Keep your tank topped up as you never know when the one and only station may run out of gas.

Pia is right, of course. :S Hertz is the one agency which does NOT allow their vehicles to go on the car barge to St John.

Dependable and Amalie on St Thomas always come up with a major heads up followed by the others. In high season the STJ rental companies sometimes can't guarantee you a rental and many visitors renting villas like to rent a vehicle on STT, stop to pick up groceries on STT (particularly where a group is involved) and otherwise avoid the taxi routine which charges per person plus baggage and (unless a private hire is involved) won't stop for you to pick up supplies.

The occurrence of a problem on STJ with a rental car from STT is minimal at best and countless posts on countless forums attest to that. There have been several posts on more than one visitor's forum over several years when a STT rental for whatever reason has had a problem on STJ. Even though the STT rental company's contract says they're not responsible for what happens on STJ, they've made every accommodation to make things right where something mechanical goes wrong and even with a flat tire problem. There are stories about renters losing the keys while swimming (DUH) and the STT rental agency sending someone over on the ferry to deliver a replacement.

Of course they cover their arses in their general contract. If you prang up the car by driving right instead of left and get into a head-on which results in major damage or you stupidly back up and hit an inanimate object like a tree or a rock and cause major damage to the vehicle then they're not going to come running over to St John on the ferry to fix that sort of a problem. Common sense prevails.

Your responsibility is to have the car towed to the car barge and, once it's back on STT and back in the hands of the rental agency, rely on your insurance to take care of the damages. It's that simple.

I have seen the flat tire example used quite often -- just because it is a rental car does that mean you wouldn't just put on the spare but would actually call up the rental company and wait for some one to come and do it for you??

Except Hertz, all other rental companies allow to bring vehicles from St Thomas to St John? I found about $20/day cheaper to rent a compact SUV in St. Thomas, which is probably equivalent to a jeep in St. John but all rental companies charge about the same rate of $70/day. Is there any benefit to rent in St. Thomas or St. John, (beside the common sense is faster repair minor issues like flat tire or mechanical issue)?

Our family of 6 just got back from a similar trip last month. It is much more convenient and economical to rent on STT, stay a few days then take the car barge from Red Hook to STJ, then car barge back to STT, drop off car at car rentals and they will drive you to the airport for free. Stay away from Hertz as they will not let you take their car to STJ. When renting, insist on getting a 4WD with good tires traction, you will need it on STJ. We had a little problem with our 2 worn out front tires.
I highly recommend that you buy travel insurance as you are travelling in hurricane season. It is also cheaper to buy collision ins. with them ($9) than with the car rentals ($32).

thangrong wrote:
Is there any benefit to rent in St. Thomas or St. John, (beside the common sense is faster repair minor issues like flat tire or mechanical issue)?

There are two main advantages. First you put your luggage into the vehicle on STT and only unload it once you get to your STJ destination. This avoids the loading of the luggage into a taxi, unloading it at the ferry terminal, schlepping it across on the ferry and then reloading it into a STJ taxi, etc. Secondly, many visitors like to make a stop on STT to pick up basic food supplies if staying in a villa. Hope that helps!

Thang,

I do understand the comments in regards to renting on STT, however I still of the mind that you should give your business to the rental spots on STJ. They need the business and it seems only to make sense to rent on the island where you will be staying.

I realize some are motivated by the cost only, but as I have stated before, I wonder how the rental spots on STT would like it if vehicles from STJ were brought over and driven there?

I know many have a different opinion but I still like the idea of renting from the STJ locals.

Good Luck, and enjoy your time there.

RM

I have been to St. John twice and gotten my rental car once in St. John both times. It may be a little bit more hassle but to me it's worth keeping your business on the island that you stay on. The first time we rented from Courtesy Rentals and I would not rent from them again because their vehicles were VERY questionable. Vehicles were very beat up, tires were not the greatest and we had a rough check out experience to say the least. The second time we rented from Conrad Sutton and had a very good experience with them. Their vehicles were very good quality, they had parking for when we came in town and were very courteous to us. Check out was a breeze. They pretty much had the same rates as St. John Car Rental and they are just around the corner from them too. I would definitely recommend renting a jeep though for your traveling because there are some hills that are steep to climb. Hope this helps!! You will LOVE St. John. A piece of me now belongs in St. John!