Southern Style Cooking: I Rented a Car in NYC and It Did Not Go As Planned

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

I Rented a Car in NYC and It Did Not Go As Planned — Here’s What I Learned

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Car Rentals

I Rented a Car to Go Camping and It Did Not Go As Planned — Here's What I Learned

A few weeks ago, my husband and I rented a car to go camping for the weekend on the North Fork of Long Island. Like many people, we were itching to escape our apartment, hit the road, and spend a few days outdoors. Our destination: The North Fork of Long Island. Sometimes overshadowed by the South Fork—where many New Yorkers spend their summers in the Hamptons or Montauk—the North Fork offers gorgeous beaches and more than 50 wineries. Plus, our home for the weekend was going to be Wildwood State Park, which has 12 miles of trails for leisurely walks through the woods. All we needed was our getaway car, and we'd be on the road in no time.

As our Uber pulled up to the rental car place, though, we saw the line stretched around the building. We headed for the back, with about 15 groups ahead of us in line. Time passed, and more and more people arrived with the same surprised and disappointed faces we had earlier. By the time we drove out of the lot in our rental, it had been almost two hours.

We had reserved our car for a midweek pickup at an airport location, which seemed fairly safe, given that there's been a sharp decline in air travel. I knew that road tripping had become the go-to getaway for most people lately, but the two-hour wait still seemed excessive. So when I returned from our trip to the North Fork (which was just as lovely as I had anticipated, by the way), I dug into some data and spoke with industry experts to gain some insight before my next rental.

Here's what I learned. First, due to the travel slump in spring and early summer, many rental car companies sold off large portions of their fleets, and are now scrambling to accommodate the recent return in demand. Second, even though we chose a typically off-peak time and location, the odds were against us—data from Kayak, Priceline, and AutoSlash all showed that New York City was a hot spot for demand. (Most New Yorkers, like us, don't own cars.)

Beyond the data, I also asked experts for tips on how to secure a more convenient pickup in the future, which they shared with me for this article; in short, look for contactless booking options, check all locations, and read terms carefully. Even though certain aspects of travel will likely remain unpredictable for some time, I'll heed these helpful tips for my next rental, which is for another camping getaway, this time in New York's beautiful Catskills.