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Renting a Car for the First Time in Orlando!

Jan 10, 2013
7,306
12,092
No man's land: SoCal
I have a question for you fellow car renters! My upcoming Orlando trip will mark the first time in my entire life I will be renting a car! Pretty stoked to be driving around Florida for the first time! My plan will be to Uber around for the first half of the trip, and once I’m done with Orlando, Im going to rent a car from the MCO car rental and drive down to Tampa. Hoping to use the day to stop by Beefy King (HIGHLY recommend this place. Roast beef and pastrami sandwich with tots and a vanilla shake. Do it.) and see where they filmed parts of Edward Scissorhands at Lakeland on the way down there.

So I have two questions regarding the car rental: Do I need to show anything besides my license and card I paid with? Do I need to bring any insurance info?

Also, regarding the toll booths: I have noticed the toll booths around the Orlando highways are where they just scan your plate. I’m concerned about being fined if I don’t have the “toll box” on your car that I see Uber drivers have. Do I need to purchase one of those things or is there a way to stop and put. Indy in the toll booths? If so are they cash only?
 
I'd also say don't rent from MCO, if you're staying in Orlando then rent from one of the rental car locations around Universal or Disney. The prices tend to be more cost effective and there are fewer fees
 
After reading Enterprise's toll policy I would see if I can get a sun pass at the airport to have in the car. Its $5 once and you load it off a credit card.
 
Now that I have returned from my trip, I thought I would give an update on my first-ever rental car experience. I will post my experience here in hopes that anyone who happens to do so for the first time can learn from my experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I booked my car rental ahead of time. I heard some places required a copy of your car insurance statement so I brought it just in case. I rented for Enterprise and they didn't ask for it. Just my driver's license. But if you decide to rent a car, I would bring your insurance statement just in case. Booked it from MCO and returned it to Tampa Airport.

As for the toll road situation, I asked about the tollbox you can put in your car, and they said that if you drive through the tolls, the state of Florida will send you a bill a month later for the tolls you are to are to pay plus a $5 surcharge. They did direct me to another table to go to if I was interested in getting that toll box for the rental car, but I decided to eat the extra $5 if I had to deal with it. Turns out, in my drive from Orlando to Tampa, I didn't need to use any of the toll roads. While it probably would've been faster to use them, I saved some money as the toll roads were a non-issue for me.

But once you show them your driver's license, you they give you your documents for the car rental and they tell you where to go. Once you get there, an attendant will see your documents and tell you to pick any car in a certain section. You just pick your car and then go up to the exit booth. Now at the booth they asked me if I wanted to prepay for gas fill up. I decided then and there to do so but I don't think I would do that next time. They basically charge you as if you had nothing in the gas tank and you filled it up completely. Could've saved about $25 or $30 as I only used half a tank for the whole trip, but you live and you learn. Besides, I lucked out with that decision because they day before I returned my car rental, the state of emergency was declared for Hurricane Ian. Gas stations likely would've been jam-packed on my return day.

Finally, when I returned my rental car, I just drove to the lane at Tampa Airport that says rental car return. You park your car, leave your keys in there, the guy will scan the barcode on the car and give you the receipt for the rental. After that, you get your bags and leave. Pretty easy.

So yeah, that's my first-ever car rental experience. Hope anyone who may have their first car rental experience will find some value from this post. Thanks to all who gave helpful tips earlier!
 
So yeah, that's my first-ever car rental experience.
Glad it was so easy! And yeah-one tip may be DEFINITELY look into forecast-if tropical storm/hurricane forecast around when you may return car it may be well worth it to pay gas ahead of time. Will keep that in mind next time.
 
Now that I have returned from my trip, I thought I would give an update on my first-ever rental car experience. I will post my experience here in hopes that anyone who happens to do so for the first time can learn from my experience.

As I mentioned earlier, I booked my car rental ahead of time. I heard some places required a copy of your car insurance statement so I brought it just in case. I rented for Enterprise and they didn't ask for it. Just my driver's license. But if you decide to rent a car, I would bring your insurance statement just in case. Booked it from MCO and returned it to Tampa Airport.

As for the toll road situation, I asked about the tollbox you can put in your car, and they said that if you drive through the tolls, the state of Florida will send you a bill a month later for the tolls you are to are to pay plus a $5 surcharge. They did direct me to another table to go to if I was interested in getting that toll box for the rental car, but I decided to eat the extra $5 if I had to deal with it. Turns out, in my drive from Orlando to Tampa, I didn't need to use any of the toll roads. While it probably would've been faster to use them, I saved some money as the toll roads were a non-issue for me.

But once you show them your driver's license, you they give you your documents for the car rental and they tell you where to go. Once you get there, an attendant will see your documents and tell you to pick any car in a certain section. You just pick your car and then go up to the exit booth. Now at the booth they asked me if I wanted to prepay for gas fill up. I decided then and there to do so but I don't think I would do that next time. They basically charge you as if you had nothing in the gas tank and you filled it up completely. Could've saved about $25 or $30 as I only used half a tank for the whole trip, but you live and you learn. Besides, I lucked out with that decision because they day before I returned my car rental, the state of emergency was declared for Hurricane Ian. Gas stations likely would've been jam-packed on my return day.

Finally, when I returned my rental car, I just drove to the lane at Tampa Airport that says rental car return. You park your car, leave your keys in there, the guy will scan the barcode on the car and give you the receipt for the rental. After that, you get your bags and leave. Pretty easy.

So yeah, that's my first-ever car rental experience. Hope anyone who may have their first car rental experience will find some value from this post. Thanks to all who gave helpful tips earlier!
One word about the gas thing, most times the stations around the rental return are pricy, if you get gas a couple of miles away it still shows full at return and is usually the prevailing rate.
What did they charge for the different dropoff? $150?
 
One word about the gas thing, most times the stations around the rental return are pricy, if you get gas a couple of miles away it still shows full at return and is usually the prevailing rate.
What did they charge for the different dropoff? $150?
Good to know!

If my memory serves me correctly I think it was about $50 or $75 more. I’ve only rented a car for three days.
 
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