TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Rental Cars

We have been renting cars from Unity for years but have been noticing a big difference in prices with other agencies. Any recommendations on others? One in particular that we are checking into is Ace. We'll be visiting the island in November.[color:"purple"][/color]

I have been dealing with Empress for years. I get 5 cars for me and friends and I'm always pleased with their prices and service.

I'm not familiar with Empress. Are they located at the airport or do they have a shuttle?

We have been using SXM Hertz for the last 15+ years. Competitive prices that includes the free liability insurance. Very short free shuttle ride to their lot next to airport runway. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Virtually all have a shuttle. A couple will get you the car at the airport. But for the most part, a shuttle means a 2-5 minute ride is all. With that being said, get the deal that you are comfortable with.

I have used TripleAAA,one of our sponsors for my past three rentals.Great service,excellent prices and cars almost too good (lol).

What is the average cost for a compact car rental for a week?
Low?
High?

I am paying $123 for a week (next week) with Ace.

Empress has a kiosk at the airport and a shuttle to their lot on Airport Road. Just booked a weekly rental for a Hyundai Accent (which they call intermediate) from them for next week at $119.28 including all taxes and fees. We have used them for years and years - good prices and great service.

Just as a heads up - different times of year and different sizes of cars will all have different pricing.

That said, We've used Lesley Bruce of Kennys Car Rental for airport delivery of our car (no going elsewhere to do paperwork and/or get the car......) and we've also used Best Deal who picked us up at our resort as we prearranged with them but would have shuttled us to their office on Airport Road and have no complaints with either agency. The pricing depends on so many things but my best suggestion is decide on your dates and based upon the season you are visiting (high, low shoulder?), the kind/size car you want and the kind of service - ie airport or shuttle to agency, and email a few different agencies for pricing. That's about the best way to get accurate information.

We always use ACE as we are price driven and consider a car rental to be a commodity item. I have no issues with them. Our upcoming trip is next week, and renting an I10 for 23 days will run us $246 fully loaded, excluding insurance. The base rate is $60 a week, $15 airport charge and 18% tax.

I've yet to find a cheaper place, and rebooked our reservation today as the total price dropped $27 since the last rebooking.

Price depends on a lot of things, not the least of which is when you're renting. Between that, and how long you've been a customer of the particular agency, my price and yours will likely be different. If you find a company you like, stick with them, and your loyalty will be rewarded.

That's not always true....we rented from a sponsor on this board twice a year for 2 to 3 weeks per trip for 5 years and also sent 5 other clients to them. We thought we were being rewarded but then noticed his posted prices were the same that he quoted us. I brought this to his attention and he said things change. So we did too. Went to Travel Rent a Car and have never looked back.

Who did you rent from before?

Cruzer, do you book via generic site or theirs? Tracking price drops usually generic site...? Good 4 u!

This is awesome....love u ttol'ers...one day I hope 2 meet some of u....(did meet Pat approx. 3 years ago at rib place on Mullet!)

Singbeach, I track the price on the ACE website. I've yet to find a site that compares most all the local providers, but I do check other vendors on their sites on occasion, just to make sure I'm not getting too complacent. There's plenty of time for complacency once I get on the island.

Perhaps it's not always true; but I'm just relating our experience. We've paid the same extremely low price for at least the past five years. This year our rate went up....$5.

Another point to consider is that the person that responds to your request for a quote may not know that you are a long time customer. Since I have dealt with Unity a long time I asked that Michael get involved in a recent quote for our next SXM vacation. He revised the original quote when he recognized our name.

I have used Ace/Safari for the past five years. They have consistently had the lowest price in July and service has been good with no problems.

We've rented from Unity for the past 5 or 6 years and this year Michael quoted us $27/day. We'll be staying 10 days and even with the free day he gives for renting a week that's $243. The price we got from Ace was around $130 for the 10 days so we're thinking about giving them a try. We haven't really seen any bad reviews.

If we are comparing "apples to apples" it seems that Unity will not get your business this time. And I can appreciate and understand your decision.
I can only state that my 3 weeks in January 2017 total (base rental, liability coverage, 10% tax, any # of drivers, Collision on CC.) was lower than other quotes I received.

If I may add, for our February trip we are arriving at 11 pm on American. I tried using a sponsor but when I tried to reserve our car, the site said he closes at 10 pm. So, I emailed the vendor, asked him if they could service us. His suggestion was he opens the next day at 7. I asked him if his company had a drop off service, but never received a reply.

I wrote to Michael at Unity and they will meet us at 11 pm when we arrive.

Michael always goes above and beyond! That's why we have used him for almost 30 visits. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

Unity has always provided us with excellent service - flat tires, dented fender in a parking lot, not to mention pickup and drive back to the airport. Nice to know they will be there at 11pm as we may need that arrival time for one of our trips.

We've used AAA in the past but choose to use Lesley @ Kenny's for our trip last week. He was a few dollars higher in price but we loved picking up and dropping off at the airport. We had a Nissan Versa as opposed to a Picanto. Nice car. Keyless ignition took a little getting used to. I almost left the keys in the console once or twice.