Hurlabrick

Planning ahead a bit. We fancy a trip to Vancouver and environs once things settle down a bit more and would like to hire a car. So far, so normal.

BUT, If / when the US border is open again, we may want to combine this trip with a drive and a couple of days to see a relative who lives 2 hours south of the border in Washington State. Are Canadian car rental companies OK with taking a rental car to the US and back for a few days?

scrubbedexpat091

Many are, it wont be an issue finding one that is. Bigger companies at least.

Do a mock booking and read the terms, they are clear in the terms if a US crossing is permitted or not.

I have taken an Alamo rental car across a couple of times without issue, sometimes US Customs will ask to see the rental agreement, sometimes they don't but its never been an issue, CBSA never seemed to care as they never mentioned it being a rental car.

Alamo cross border policy is simple, US and Canada is ok, going into Mexico is not ok.

The below is copy & paste from Alamo website.


"Vehicles rented in Canada can be driven throughout Canada and the US."

Vehicles cannot be driven into Mexico.

Pulaski

Same in the US - we drove a Hertz car into Canada last year.

Obviously we made sure to disclose our plans to Hertz at the time of the rental, but it was a total non-issue. With any of the large vehicle leasing firms in Canada, I am certain it is going to be the same for you.

sharkus

Enterprise is ok with it, we went from Thunder Bay to Ely, MN for a long weekend.

Here's a snippet from the Enterprise Canada website (taken from this page: https://www.enterprise.ca/en/help/fa...nd-canada.html )

Rentals Originating in Canada:

• Vehicles rented in Canada can be driven throughout Canada and the US.
• Vehicles cannot be driven into Mexico.

Hurlabrick

Terrific thanks guys.

abner

I'd check again, with your preferred rental provider, to make sure.

As the previous responders have highlighted, it's typically OK to take a car rented in Canada over the US border.

But these are not normal times: the border is currently "closed". "Closed" by friendly agreement, to be sure, and with numerous exceptions allowed for, but nominally closed.

And while it's still highly likely that in such circumstances, the rental car company remains OK with the car being driven across the border (assuming that you as the driver are entitled to one of the exceptions), nonetheless, it's worth confirming that that's the case.

Hurlabrick

Thank you. This is for a future trip we will make once the borders are open and back to normal (certainly not before).

btar

It's also worth noting that - in my experience - it is very difficult i.e. expensive to rent a car in Canada and drop it off in the US - or vice versa.

Hurlabrick

This would be for a round trip.

dbd33

When I was young and innocent I was working in Cincinnati and the job ran late into the night. We got it done but had missed our flights back here. That wasn't so uncommon, we drove to the airport expecting a bill for changing the flights, shit that happens.

We had underestimated the impact of Thanksgiving, and it was Thanksgiving, the airport was closed. No matter, we decided to drive the hire car to Toronto, accepting that there would be a fee. When we got to the border a new problem presented itself; the auto pact. Cars built in Canada and sold in the US cannot be driven into Canada, at least not rented ones. Hertz knew all about this; we had to drive to the nearest office and swap the car for a rice burner.

So, while I would expect no bother at all with the proposed arrangement, I'd tell the rental company in case they have you slated for a Yugo or Polski-Fiat or some other Canada-only device.

Engineer_abroad

big companies are and I have done it many times. However, make sure you mention it when booking as some rental companies have a preference for which cars they allow to cross border.