Hi All.

We're getting closer to flying out and will be in Oakvile, ON the first week of September. I'm keen to gauge some feedback on Car Rental and the best place to secure a vehicle at a competitive price. I think we'll need a car initially for a couple of weeks whilst we sort our some of the fundamentals and then hopefully get one for ourselves. I've looked at a variety of rental companies and broadly speaking they appear to be in the same ball park in respect of price but nonetheless thought I would ask you decent folks for any top tips or advice particularly if anyone has had to do similar when arriving.

Thanks as always for any feedback

Enterprise deliver the car to you. Saves paying for a taxi to some dreadful industrial estate north of the QEW. (I assume you already know not to rent a car at the airport).

Be aware though that Enterprise are staffed by some sort of weird religious fundamentalists, they wear suits and ties!

We arrived in early March not far from Oakville and we used Enterprise too, there appear to be a lot of locations in the larger towns etc. Like the previous poster said they can collect you or drop it off to you, if you're not too far away you could consider an Uber. I found their customer service lacking, a little bit condescending and ignorant but that's just my experience, good luck!

Check out Canadian Affair I find them unbeatable and their rates include zero excess insurance cover /CDW which is often extra when hiring locally.

Isn't that something that's covered by your credit card anyway? I've never read any of the terms and conditions but I have had incidents resulting in two rental cars being written off (separate incidents in different States) and never had any sort of bother or bill resulting from it. I assumed the credit card company sorted it out.

Thanks for all the replies! I'm looking into a few choice options and it sounds like Enterprise will spare us the ballache of having to go back to YYZ for return.

You really don't want to hire a vehicle from the airport if you can find an alternative - you will pay mega bucks more. Perhaps get an uber / cab down the road / to the place you are staying - or even a local hotel or coffee shop.. then get Enterprise to collect you there... they won't collect you from the airport.

Keep in mind you don't have to return the vehicle to the same place, no matter who you use Do you have far to get to the place you are staying?

https://www.enterprise.ca/en/help/faqs/pick-up.html
Hertz may also offer a pick you up service: https://www.hertz.ca/rentacar/produc...kupservice.jsp

This taxi calculator might be of use (official pearson airport) https://www.torontopearson.com/en/tr...limos/estimate
You can double check: https://www.taxifarefinder.com/main....port+%28YYZ%29

There are other forms of transport - if you are going to a hotel, there should be shuttles.. there's also trains / coaches..
https://www.gotransit.com/en/trip-pl...to-the-airport

Siouxie Thanks for the above, we will be living in Oakville and I will see what Enterprise can do mind you when I looked a while back they were pricier than from within YYZ. I have to say developing a dependency on a vehicle is going to be a big adjustment having lived in London but I am ready for it;-)

Most welcome!
I don't drive and find many 'day to day' things can be achieved using public transit / cabs / uber - although having a vehicle would be handy for trips out and about sometimes, (it would take well over 3 hours for me to get from the Hammer to Port Dover, for instance, via Burlington and Brantford by bus), but you may find you can get away with just renting one for the odd time you want to do something There are also car share services (even enterprise have this, apparently! ..and ride share, if yuo need to do something regularly).

Google has a few sites...
Public Transit is quite well covered in Oakville.. https://www.oakvilletransit.ca/
and there's GOtransit as well - trains / bus(coaches) https://www.gotransit.com/en/

From the airport : https://www.ridebooker.com/transfers/yyz/oakville might also be of use to you

Hi dogstar! We just made the very same trip from the UK to Oakville 3 weeks ago. We rented from the Airport (ouch) due to large amounts of luggage and super late arrival. We swapped (and extended) at the local office shortly thereafter at much reduced rates, so well worth going to the local offices. We use Avis due to status and upgrades etc.
Rental cars are super expensive everywhere because they sold off their cars when the pandemic started, and now they can't buy new cars because of the chip shortage (they say!), so we poor consumers get hit!
Anyway, hopefully our own car will be ready tomorrow and I can return the rental... although insurance is a nightmare! They want a 'Letter of Experience', but TheAA.com won't give us anything that will work. Sigh.
Weather is good, so yay! Enjoy!

Hi Richster64 , Thanks for your valuable insight and I will check out the local rental offices but fear we will have to do similar as you and get one from the Airport initially and then swap at a local office. We will need to do this as we have kids, luggage etc to transport to our new home. In respect of Insurance get a copy of your no claims discount from your last UK insurer and you should be good to go. You will also need a "certificate of entitlement" that you can get from DVLA to prove your driving history in the UK. These 2 things are needed for Insurance and I hope you can sort this remotely from CA. I am just about to request mine from DVLA (using their online chat facility) and get my no claims proof later today also. https://www.johnson.ca/ will consider your UK driving history (no claims) and I suggest you give them a bell and hopefully you will not be paying through the nose! Hope this helps, all the best!

Hi Dogstar,
Thanks for those comments. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as one might think. In the UK I am still insured through TheAA. After a long time on hold (The 'new normal') the only thing they can send as proof of no-claims is an eMail to me - which does include the pertinent info. I forwarded this to Johnson yesterday along with the policy details, but they say that it is not acceptable as it's just an eMail, not on headed paper. Another 30 minutes to TheAA yesterday and the operative said that's all they do these days. Johnsons want this 'Letter of Experience' and TheAA have never heard of it. Somewhat stuck as the car will be ready this afternoon! Eek!

Good luck finding a cheap-enough rental car, there is a big shortage over here at the moment!

Many bags. Unrested children. Tired, confused, a bit emotional. Hunt for the car rental place. Squash everything into a rental car of unknown format. Find the lights and wipers, in the wrong order, Venture out into heavy traffic on confusing highways on the wrong side of the road. Get trapped into taking the wrong lane, turn around in Brampton. Try again.

Not me, mate. I'd get a limo and have the car delivered to me the next day. The price difference overall might be ten bucks one way or the other and there's no need to arrange a car swap. Limos are fixed priced (+tip) so, if the cost is a worry, you can look it up now.

I agree with this. If you speak to guy at the limo place he can order a larger vehicle if you have a lot of bags. There were 4 of us and 12 bags when we arrived and the guy radioed for a mini van, which arrived within minutes. When you first move over you pretty much hemorrhage money so an extra $70 or so is totally worth it to arrive safe at your final destination. You can probably look up on line what services they offer from the airport and the cost.

dbd33 HGerchikov Thanks folks for your sage advice and I think dbd33 summed up all that I had not been thinking about despite my "can-do" spirit. I reckon the limo/van option may well be a goer all things considered. If anyone has any recommendations then happy to take on board and have a chat with them before we get on the plane and I do know that there will be a lot of emotions in play so perhaps a calm ride to our new home will to be a good thing. Thanks again for everyone's advice thus far and I really appreciate the good folk on this forum and hope I can share my learnings with others moving forwards.