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We’re off to Vancouver for three weeks next summer. While we’re there we’d like to head down to Portland to visit some friends. I can imagine driving a hire car from Canada to the USA is problematic / expensive / requires a realm of ’merican paperwork to be waded through. So should we plan to dich the Canadian car, fly down and re-hire, or is it not as bad as I imagine?
Pretty common I think. The car I hired in Montreal and dropped in Toronto had Florida plates on it.
Well it's a 5-6hr drive or a 1hr flight, only problem is you will need to do US Immigration in Vancouver probably which adds a stupid amount of time on if it's busy so it's probably comparable time wise to driving.
Probably a bit more in the FAQ's of the others but so long as your not going to Mexico it's all fine with Alamo
So I'd expect the others to be similar but worth a quick ask on the online chat for most of them.
Can't help on the car hire front but if you do decide to drive into the USA from Canada beware that it will take some and care on the way there / back. Canadians are basically waved through but for you.
1) They might ask you for an ETSA even though it's supposed to be for air travel.
2) You will be pulled over and have to go in to stand in line behind all the randoms importing shot guns etc
3) You will pay $16? And get given a green entry card stapled into the passport.
4) When you leave make sure Canadian customs takes the green entry slip for them to give to the USA border security. Last time I had to ask. Otherwise he<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> next time you head to the USA there could be trouble.</span>
It'll take a bit longer than you expect as most land border crossing agents mostly deal with CDN / USA and so dealing with something different takes time. Small crossings might not deal with you at all.
I'm a UK passport living in Calgary so driven across a few times.
Thanks, sounds simpler than I'd envisioned, We'll have ESTAs anyway as we're flying in with a transfer in JFK. The only problem to sort now is the astronomical cost of car hire on the west coast.
Where you picking up from? Quick look shows £2-250 for a 7 days next week from Vancouver airport with Hertz which is about what I'd expect for something normal.
pickup and return from YVR. The expensive bit comes from needing a 7 seater, or at least something that can fit three child seats in as well as me & the wife and all our crap for three weeks.
That was based on next week for 7 days, unless your booking in super peak - thanksgiving/christmas?
19/07-09/08. Herz are actually reporting as being full booked for vans. Thankfully the flights were fantastically cheap.
ah that is fairly peak with people for vans and bikes!!
Worth checking downtown as an alternative or splitting it up into 1 week slots if you can
you might find its cheaper to both fly and rent cars from seattle rather than van - I did this years trip to whistler that way - car rental (for a week, for a large MPV) was £150 cheaper in Seattle than vancouver, and its approx a 2 hour drive. bit of queuing at the border (~20 mins each way) - no hassle at all - not asked to step out of the vehicle, nor go to a separate queue. No additional charges on the car for driving to canada, I just needed a little form thing to show the insurance was valid (FOC from avis when i picked the car up)..
I’ve done this a few times to visit Mt Baker for snowboarding. Only tip I’d give is to avoid the smaller border crossings at quiet times.
Went across at Sumas with my Missus about 10 years ago, got pulled out of the car, put in separate interview rooms and grilled for about an hour.
A local told us they often have trouble at the smaller border points.
I think we went via Blaine / Whiterock on the way back.
+1 happy with Hertz at Vancouver. Paid £170/7 days in July last year. You do the usual car hire pantomime at the beginning with insurance and the special upgrades of course but the check in was extremely efficient. I got a new DSG golf with 40m on the clock and returned it with ~1500m smelling of BO and chicken*.
I can recommend the HUSKY petrol station near the airport on the way back. Wasn't super cheap but they let me use a combination of loose change, cash, prepaid moneycorp mastercard and credit card to fill up all in good humour while there was a queue 😀
I looked into driving to visit a friend in Seattle and it looked hassle free provided you avoided peak times. There's a website you can check the border crossing waiting time. I crossed by road in 2008 (in rental car) and don't remember it being a hassle.
* the smell wasn't too bad and I'm sure they rectified it quickly with air freshner 🙂
You do the usual car hire pantomime at the beginning with insurance and the special upgrades of course but the check in was extremely efficient.
If you are going to do hertz a couple of times try and get gold, everything is a lot more streamlined, you want? Nah, OK
Take the train? It's a nice scenic cruise down and you handle the border formalities from your seat. Takes about 7-8hrs to Portland versus 5hrs driving, and much more relaxing.
amtrak.com/cascades-train
They'll take big luggage (like bikes) too.
so long as your not going to Mexico it’s all fine with Alamo
Am I alone in having found this very funny?