Rental agencies with Prius in LAX area?

I'm hoping someone who reads alt.autos.toyota can supply a useful answer to this. Is there a car rental agency based on L.A. Int'l Airport (LAX) which handles the Prius? This would be for July: a period of 3 or 4 weeks. My travel agents have asked the UK-based car rental agencies they deal with, without luck. A big problem is arranging for reliable insurance for people visiting the US -- purely US-oriented rental agencies don't expect to have to cope with that. Ideally the agency would be big enough to have coverage of the US from Denver westwards, to handle breakdowns. (On a Prius? Nah.) TIA. -- Andrew Stephenson

Andrew Stephenson, 2/1/2006,2:41:06 PM, wrote: > I'm hoping someone who reads alt.autos.toyota can supply a useful > answer to this. Is there a car rental agency based on L.A. Int'l > Airport (LAX) which handles the Prius? This would be for July: a > period of 3 or 4 weeks. > > My travel agents have asked the UK-based car rental agencies they > deal with, without luck. A big problem is arranging for reliable > insurance for people visiting the US -- purely US-oriented rental > agencies don't expect to have to cope with that. > > Ideally the agency would be big enough to have coverage of the US > from Denver westwards, to handle breakdowns. (On a Prius? Nah.) > > TIA. My first hit on Google. http://www.midwayreservations.com/luxury/one_vehicle.php?vid=44100 My second hit on Google. http://www.bhrentacar.com/vehicle_info.php?vid=148&h=0 Do a search for lax car rental

In article REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com "badgolferman" writes: > Andrew Stephenson, 2/1/2006,2:41:06 PM, wrote: > > > I'm hoping someone who reads alt.autos.toyota can supply a useful > > answer to this. Is there a car rental agency based on L.A. Int'l > > Airport (LAX) which handles the Prius? This would be for July: a > > period of 3 or 4 weeks. > > > > My travel agents have asked the UK-based car rental agencies they > > deal with, without luck. A big problem is arranging for reliable > > insurance for people visiting the US -- purely US-oriented rental > > agencies don't expect to have to cope with that. > > > > Ideally the agency would be big enough to have coverage of the US > > from Denver westwards, to handle breakdowns. (On a Prius? Nah.) > > > > TIA. > > My first hit on Google. > http://www.midwayreservations.com/luxury/one_vehicle.php?vid=44100 > > My second hit on Google. > http://www.bhrentacar.com/vehicle_info.php?vid=148&h=0 > > Do a search for lax car rental And they provide proper car insurance for UK renters? Excellent! Thanks for your trouble. I did try the Google route (twice, some months ago) and got unsatisfactory results. For example, I tried phoning one of those I found and could never get past a very dozy answerphone message, which did not encourage me. I was hoping to hear of someone with personal experience of a LAX Prius-renting agency with an international attitude. But I shall explore your discoveries later -- I have to read NGs offline. -- Andrew Stephenson

On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:41:06 GMT, ames@deltrak.demon.co.uk (Andrew Stephenson) wrote: >I'm hoping someone who reads alt.autos.toyota can supply a useful >answer to this. Is there a car rental agency based on L.A. Int'l >Airport (LAX) which handles the Prius? This would be for July: a >period of 3 or 4 weeks. > >My travel agents have asked the UK-based car rental agencies they >deal with, without luck. A big problem is arranging for reliable >insurance for people visiting the US -- purely US-oriented rental >agencies don't expect to have to cope with that. > >Ideally the agency would be big enough to have coverage of the US >from Denver westwards, to handle breakdowns. (On a Prius? Nah.) > >TIA. If you want to check what other rental companies have Priuses (Priii?) you could write to Toyota Motor Sales USA, they should know. The rental organization I'd try first for the best luck at getting one would be (of course) Toyota Rent-A-Car - operated through participating dealers. If you go to www.toyota.com you'll get the TMS-USA site. Hover over the "About Toyota" button on the top of the page, and when the box drops down click on "Toyota Rent-a-Car." For the address, enter LAX's street address, which is 1 World Way, Los Angeles, CA 90045 You'll get four dealers, the closest two are about 7 miles Northeast (Miller Toyota, Culver City) and 4 miles South (Manhattan Beach Toyota). They aren't based "at the airport", but they are close enough I'll bet either one would be glad to send a porter to pick you up and run you back to the dealer /IF/ you arrive during their business hours. They're both close enough that a cab ride won't break you, or there's SuperShuttle or Prime Time Shuttle van services licensed to operate from LAX - see links at http://www.lawa.org/lax/srVans.cfm Go click on the "Ground Transportation" tab for more ideas - they also have a list there of the car rental agencies that have on-airport locations. There are also the City buses - L. A. Metro http://www.metro.net/ for Manhattan Beach and for Miller Toyota there's Culver CityBus (Route 6 to Route 4) http://www.culvercity.org/depts_bus.asp and the maps at http://www.culvercity.org/bus/system_map.pdf But the city transit buses aren't recommended unless you're traveling light (carry-on bags only - FedEx your luggage ahead to the hotel). And some of the other clientele you may encounter on the city buses can be a bit rough around the edges, a bit uncouth... I think the term you'd use would be 'nutters'. ;-P For insurance, are you a member of an Auto Club like for instance http://www.rac.co.uk/ Their breakdown coverage may link you to www.aaa.com, and specifically Automobile Club of Southern California http://www.aaa-calif.com/index.asp - I couldn't find anything about it, so I have an E-mailed enquiry in to see if a membership over there helps any here. (Or vice versa.) --<< Bruce >>-- -- Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700 5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545 Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

In article blPYTHONbergman@earthlink.invalid "Bruce L. Bergman" writes: > On Wed, 01 Feb 2006 19:41:06 GMT, ames@deltrak.demon.co.uk (Andrew > Stephenson) wrote: > > >I'm hoping someone who reads alt.autos.toyota can supply a useful > >answer to this. Is there a car rental agency based on L.A. Int'l > >Airport (LAX) which handles the Prius? [...] > > The rental organization I'd try first for the best luck at > getting one would be (of course) Toyota Rent-A-Car - operated > through participating dealers. I didn't know they ran such a service. Good idea. > [details] You've put a lot of work into your answer and I thank you. I'm on the point of arranging ticketing for the trip as a whole; but car rental can probably be delayed a few days while I investigate your suggestions. Bus cautions: ye-e-es, I've heard of those colourful characters one is apt to meet on them. But enough about the drivers... ;-) Harking back to earlier posts: I followed up the idea of Midway @ LAX and the other rental agency which Google readily produced and found out the following, in case it guides anyone else. The Prius still seems to be a premium rental item. Time may take care of that, as it becomes a common commodity. Now, Midway are asking $1400 for four (4) weeks, plus insurance ($23 per day for CA-minimum with _very_ feeble medical coverage). The other place are asking even more. Both see the Rich Elite as their natural prey; but Midway were polite and helpful, even at 7pm local time (I didn't phone the other one). Regarding insurance, Midway's suggestions was that someone on a four-week visit to the US could probably cut a better and cheaper deal with an insurer at home. It happens the UK is a hotbed of insurance companies, so this could work for me (which, when one thinks about it, it usually does -- I arrange insurance and car rental through one UK-based agent). With those numbers, it looks like I'll be better off financially by sticking to conventional engines for now. :-( But the idea of asking at Toyota rentals may improve the numbers. Will see. My general thanks to those who had a go at this question. -- Andrew Stephenson

In article <1138892528snz@deltrak.demon.co.uk> ames@deltrak.demon.co.uk "Andrew Stephenson" writes: > With those numbers, it looks like I'll be better off financially > by sticking to conventional engines for now. :-( But the idea > of asking at Toyota rentals may improve the numbers. Will see. Okay, I tried Toyota rentals. First problem: whichever numbskull programmed the website ensured that nobody can access it without Flash. If you don't have it, you get a screen saying you need it and showing a link to where to get it. Not interested. I doubt they have the OS/2 version anyhow. Then Googled for Miller Toyota in Culver City, to cut out middle- men (as it were). Much more sensible website. Unlike the morons at Toyota.US, these chaps allow you to run a normal browser. But no mention of rentals... Okay, I could have phoned them and so forth; but at this point, I regret to say, the awkwardnesses finally accumulated to the point where I decided it's best (+ simpler, cheaper and maybe safer ) to stick with conventional rental technology -- for now. Oh hum... [* : Imagine me in central Montana or Nevada or some such place, trying to interest a local mechanic in fixing a rental Pruis. I can see long delays while one is shipped in, from halfway across the US. One day the backwoods infra-structure will be there.] -- Andrew Stephenson