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What Car Rental Agency Has Ford Freestyles?

Filed under: Lowest Price Rental Car - 29 Mar 2010  | Spread the word !

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Currently, the answer is none.

Ford produced the Freestyle for the 2005 to 2007 model years, more than enough time for the name-brand rental car companies to have swapped those model years from their fleets.

The original Ford Freestyle had problems with power loss – that is, the engine would race, with no power going to the drive train, causing the car to come to a complete stop. This symptom became known as the throttle body problem.

One person reported the throttle body problem happened three times within 15 minutes. Each time, he had to pull over to the side of the road, turn off the engine and restart it to reset a computer.

After being told many times by the dealership that a throttle body problem didn’t exist, he was finally told it was a bad Megatronix unit that would cost $1,500 to replace. When that didn’t fix it, he was told his car would require a new $4,500 transmission.

Ford reintroduced the Freestyle FX for the 2010 model year, probably too soon for Avis, Budget, Hertz, Enterprise, National Car Rental and Thrifty to include them in their fleets.

MotorTrend says the changes to the Freestyle for the 2010 model year are minimal, including front-seat side airbags and standard side-curtain airbags for all three rows starting midyear, as well as new option packages: Convenience, Interior Power, Limited Convenience, and Safety and Security.

One would hope Ford also fixed the throttle body problem.

If you’re thinking of buying a Ford Freestyle FX, try renting one from your local Ford dealership. Not all dealerships rent all Ford models, but it’s worth a try.

It’s also worth remembering that requesting a specific model almost certainly guarantees that you won’t be getting the lowest priced rental car.

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Can You Take a Rental Car to Another State?

Filed under: Lowest Price Rental Car - 18 Mar 2010  | Spread the word !

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People usually rent cars for one of two reasons. They may be flying into a city for business or for vacation and need a way to get around. Or they may be at home, but the car they usually drive is not available to them for some reason (e.g., in the shop). Either way, most people who rent cars will not need to take the cars out of the state where they are rented.

There are exceptions, of course. A person who rents a car at the airport in Kansas City, Missouri may be staying at a hotel in Kansas City, Kansas. Or a person who works in New Jersey may live in New York City. When cases like these arise, the smart thing to do is simply ask the car rental company for permission to take the car out of state. Some companies will have no problem with it as long as the driver doesn’t go over the mileage limit in the contract; others may charge a small fee. If a car rental company refuses outright or charges an exorbitant fee, it’s probably time to move on to another provider.

A driver may also want to use a rental car for a cross-country trip, picking it up in one state and dropping it off in another. Most car rental companies will allow drivers to do this, but they charge significant drop off fees, especially if the place of return is several states away from the place of pick up.

The bottom line is that any driver who plans to go out of state with a rental car should clear it with the rental car company first and get a firm idea of any additional fees that will be charged.

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