Conrad is on St John not St Thomas 🙂

Pia

Do your research. There is plenty on the boards to answer your question. Rather than answer it for the 100th time.

johnathon,

who makes you the expert?

Posting questions here IS RESEARCH 🙂

Probably 95% of anyone's questions could be found by looking at past questions - and doing a search - but what's the fun in that?

Go ahead - ask ANY QUESTION!!!

Let's not scare people away by being nasty - don't we want to be known as the friendly & helpful message board?

JLYNN - I have had heard WONDERFUL things about Dependable Car Rental on St. Thomas several years ago - check them out 😉

ENJOY!

Lisa

I've done my share of looking in to rental cars for our trip in May. Originally, we rented 2 small 4 doors since there are 8 of us and wanted to try to save some money by not renting a 4x4...well......the more I thought about it, the more I remembered some of those hills on St. Thomas and St. John.

Just rented 2 jeep wranglers from Budget on St. Thomas BUT rather then pick them up at the airport, I opted to pick them up at Sapphire Beach. This way you save on airport taxes. Instead of being 397.00 for the week, they ended up to be around 350.00. I went for it.

We will have a greeter from our villa pick us up, then we'll pick the cars up on the way, then onto the villa.

Made sense to me.

Dear jlynn,
I find most car rental agencies are pretty decent, tho I don't like working with Thrifty as they seem to take alot of extra time. Hertz does not allow their vehicles over to STJ should you want to plan a day trip with your vehicle.
You do not need a jeep to access Villa Jamie- things to think about with a jeep are carrying luggage when you need to go to and from the airport. There is a $35 charge for your escort to carry luggage. Space is very limited! BUT on the other hand, you may need a jeep if you want to go places off the beat and path!
I truly apologize for the neg. response you got above, yes, the question has been asked many times and will continue to be asked. It is quite ok! We will continue to answer as this is a forum for just that reason! 🙂

Just rented from Thrifty & had a great experience. You must call from the airport- pay phone or cell & they will be there in 5 minutes, so do not call until you have your bags! We rented a economy car for $199 & after chatting with Daniel he lowered it to $180 & then asked if we wanted a jeep! Of course we took the jeep. They right outside the entrance to the airport & very nice! Also you can take the car to STJ. Hertz does not let you.

Dear Connie,
Does the villa agency know of your plan? I had a p/u like that recently and it was very difficult! I cannot carry passengers in my vehicle so the guests that had to p/u their vehicle from another place far from the airport had to pay for a private taxi to get to their cars -$90 for 4 people! I was not aware that the the guests would not be getting their car from the airport! This idea also takes a LOT of extra time!
Please talk with your villa rental agency to make sure this plan is viable! It may be easier for your escort to meet you at the car rental agency of choice- not the airport! I am simply trying to be helpful Connie, you are thinkin' and I can relate to that, but this idea will be difficult for your escort if they are greeting you at the airport!
I do not know what villa you are renting or what agency you went thru, but again please make sure these details are well known on the STT end of things! 🙂

cocosmom,
Am glad all went well! I am not saying that Thrifty is bad by any means, just that as an escort, it usually takes more time when dealing with them!
I will add that getting a vehicle from an agency either AT the airport OR VERY close by is the best choice to go with!
Those AT: Hertz, Budget, and Avis
Those close by: Thrifty, First, Dependable, and even the main Budget office! You could save the airport taxes on all of these! I do not recommend getting a car from the East End unless your escort meets you there!!!!!! You should also take into consideration of the location of your villa if you are doing as Connie is!

Thank you everyone for the info on the rental cars - I really helps a lot. Of course, I was disappointed with Johnathon's response - too bad - he must be having a bad day or isn't a very happy person! Some people enjoy helping others out! Thanks again! Looking forward to a great trip to St. Thomas!

We are going to STT in April - so the rental car information was great!

Thanks.

We are also going in April, and we went thru Hotwire.com to get a mid-size car for $200/wk. It turned out that the rental co. is Avis. I thought that it was a decent rate.

We used Dependable and they were great. Talk to Kathleen. We were staying at the Wyndham Sugar Bay and they picked us up (and dropped us off) so we didn't have to pay for a cab. We rented a jeep and it was about $45 a day I think. We knew we were going to St. John and Dependable does allow their cars to go there. Four wheel drive vehicles are best to get on and off of the car ferry and especially useful in St. John in general since it's so hilly.
Erinn

I just booked with Hotwire for a Feb 07 visit and the rate is $16 / day for a Compact. I think I saw that they had a Mid-sized car for $19/day.

Invariably, in my exeprience, Hotwire has booked me with Avis at the STT airport.

Is anybody aware of Budget allows their cars to go over to St. John on the car barge? I didn't even want to ask when I booked because the agents probably wouldn't know....or will they tell me at the airport.

What if we do take the cars over and we get into trouble of some sort..flat tire, etc.

HI Connie,
Yes, you are allowed to take your car to STJ, can't remember their policy if you have trouble tho! I DO remember there being a post recently on this tho! The local Budget phone number is: 340-776-5774 This number also gets you to the Budget Service Center which you do not want, you want the airport desk!
Thanx for the PM!

Thanks Sherri for all the information.

Originally I thought I was being smart by picking up at car at Sapphire Beach and avoiding the airport tax. Being that we've rented 2 jeep wranglers, it would of saved us about 80.00. I wasn't aware that our greeter for our villa is not allowed to carry passengers, just luggage, so he wouldn't be able to stop at Sapphire with us in his van.

We went back to renting them at the airport. It was worth it because we were offered by the villa agency a van that would pick us up, stop at Sapphire and get our cars. That cost was $150.00. So in the end, renting at the airport is still worth it.

Our 2 jeeps rented from budget comes to 395.00 per jeep for the week. Lowest price I've found, but I will continue checking up until the time we leave. Sometimes you can get better deals and I'll be looking for them.

It sounds like most people rent jeeps. Are you able to fit all of your luggage? We have a family of four. Also, I assume you can lock things up. Right now I'm waiting for pricing from Dependable. I've only seen one reference to this car rental. Has anyone else used them? Are they okay?

Thanks for the info!

Dependable prices for jeeps are higher then budget.

We use to own a jeep and if you pack light, you can do it, but it's not easy. Jeeps don't have alot of luggage spaces especially if the luggage is not soft sided.

Locking things up in jeeps isn't that easy either. They're usually soft sided and if somebody really wanted to get something inside, all they have to do is either unzip or take a knife. It's as easy as that.

The convenience and fun of having a jeep in the islands is great. Great for the roads, fun to keep the top down, but a pain in the butt if it rains you have to zipper that thing back up. I know, been there done that.

We rented a jeep libery before and that seemed to be the perfect car, but they are more expensive.