Whether you need to move something across town or you want to take a cross-country trip in style, rental minivans and SUVs can help. Most rental companies have options for minivans and SUVs. The problem is largely one of finding the vehicle you like at the best price. Shop around with different rental companies before making a firm choice.
Rental Minivans and SUVs
Every major rental company has SUVs and minivans available:
- Enterprise: Enterprise boasts Chrysler Town and Country and Dodge Grand Caravans for rental. Those looking for smaller sport utility vehicles will find Jeep Grand Cherokees at Enterprise. The company also offers larger-sized SUVs, such as GMC Yukons, Chevy Tahoes, and Ford Expeditions. All vehicles come with air conditioning, automatic transmission, and CD players. Minivans and smaller SUVs have six-cylinder engines, while larger SUVs come with eight cylinders.
- Budget: Budget is known not only for rental minivans and SUVs, but also moving trucks. Budget Minivans can seat up to seven passengers, allowing you to bring the whole family along on your trip. SUVs come in a variety of sizes, such as Ford Escapes, Excursions, and Expeditions. Your rental vehicle will also be able to tow anything you can hitch to it.
- Avis: Avis is a popular auto rental company that offers larger vehicles for people looking for more room than a sedan provides. You can reserve your SUV or minivan online with Avis.
- Car Rental Express: Car Rental Express, also known as CRX, is an online car rental service established in 1999. When you deal with an individual company's website you only get to search for the vehicles that they have on hand. However, CRX broadens your range of choices by allowing you to search a variety of car rental places based on your location. In this way, CRX is similar to a website like Travelocity or Expedia. You won't have to spend lots of time comparing prices and options because CRX will do all the legwork for you.
- AirportRentalCars: AirportRentalCars.com is another place that will refer you to various companies that rent sport utility vehicles and minivans. Rather than searching various company's websites, BNM lists a number of rental agencies by region. While this means that you may have to poke around a bit more before you find what you want, BNM may also have references to local rental agencies and other agencies not covered by CRX.
- Thrifty: Thrifty offers minivans and a very large selection of SUVs. The company's minivan is the Dodge Caravan. Sport utility vehicles are separated by size, including mid-sized (Ford Escape), mid-sized open air all-terrain (Jeep Wrangler), standard (Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo), full-sized (Ford Expedition), premium (Chevrolet Tahoe), or luxury (Chevrolet Suburban).
If you are planning a trip somewhere by air, you can also get a deal on a rental from certain companies that book travel, such as Expedia and Travelocity. Otherwise, poke around and see what the best price is and which vehicle tickles your fancy. Since certain companies only have certain cars, you may wish to look into reviews of the vehicles in a specific company's fleet before renting.
