TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin NextCar of SXM

Nextcar site for SXM in Feb shows a total price of $147.38 for an Accent or similar. Other sites are in the $240-285 range.

$90.90Base rate
$15.00Airport Fee
$12.00Roadside Assistance
$5.90Local Tax @ 5.00%
$23.58Surcharge
$147.38Total
Unlimited Free Miles Included



Sometimes the interweb is like that IranContragate dude Ollie North and is simply "economical with the truth".

Any experiences with NextCar?

(and yes I asked TTOL sponsor Kenny and was told to get back to them in the fall)\

Never used them. Using ACE for $110 in August and $125 in November for a week each time.

Sounds pretty cheap. The lowest price is not always the best but perhaps it will work out for you. Good luck. I have only used Kenny's or Unity if renting with another couple.

Thanks Zeus....Ace is $204 to $223 for our time on island. Will watch for reports on your experiences. Cheers

Liability Insurance?
Usually $5 to $12 per day.

Is that with a stick or an automatic? It may be more if you prefer an automatic transmission. But, it sounds promising.

Hopefully stick.

Doesn't everyone drive stick when they have the choice?

Even in Toronto's brutal traffic, where during the 5 pm rush hour it has taken us 1 hr 23 minutes to go the 10.3k from city hall to home, I prefer the control of a manual.

I was curious so I tried to get a quote from Nextcar. Dates I requested were 12/29/19 to 1/18/20. I got this message:
"Sorry we are closed on that pick up date and time."
Peak of High Season? What's up with that?

I would think most people prefer automatic. A lot of people don't even know how to drive a stick. I used to drive a stick, years ago. Triumph Spitfire. Cute little car, when it ran..

End of thread drift, to ME something seems amiss with that price, for February. Something about a deal too good to be true??

My feelings as well....Ollie North may be a silent partner.

Admit it Carol, you miss the windblown look! Triumphs and MG's WERE fun to drive but were certainly finicky. Something about that era of British built cars but they generally had crappy electronics. Even the Jags of the 60's and 70's. I see a Triumph or MG today and think "there is NOTHING protecting you 2 from other people's bumpers"

Oh yeah, my Spitfire used to cut OFF while I was going up I 95 at 60 mph.. (Looking UP at the bottom of the semi trucks..)

Not sure what Ollie North has to do with it, but I think I would stay away from that quote.

My fun car was my little Datson 2000 Roadster. What a sweet little Lady to drive. Had to give it up when we started a family. Wish I had her back now. Had her up to 137 once before I had to start downshifting to take an exit. Exciting in my stupid youth.

I knew a girl many years ago that owned an MG MGB GT. Not sure what year it was, but every time I rode in that car my entire body vibrated for about 10 minutes after we stopped. Fun never really entered in the experience. Years later my wife and I had a Honda Civic DX 5-speed hatchback and to this day that was one of the best cars we ever owned (before we bought our BMWs). Unfortunately, here in the states we do not require our young drivers to pass their driving tests on both manual and automatic transmissions. Plus, try shopping for a manual transmission car these days. Local Honda dealer had something like 100 Civics in inventory last week, and 99 were automatics. Not sure what automobile inventories look like in Ontario, but the days of the manual transmission are fading fast and have been for many years. In some ways that's too bad.

I would be careful. Could be a bait and switch quote and not honored at pick up.

When trying the Budget site I was prompted for our Amazon Prime account with the promise of lower rates.

NOT!

Once you log in one finds out that it only applies to N/A continental rentals....now Budget web gurus have our Amazon linkage.

Even the big names on the web are sneakily lurking just above the legal / non-legal threshold of misleading info that their lawyers crafted.

Price wise it was another almost too good to be true....Sonata for $175 plus taxes / airport fee whereas all of their mini / subcompacts / compacts were $220 plus taxes / airport fee

You will find that none of the big names on the island are the same as they are here in the US. We always go with one of the local guys. That offer does look too good to be true, but I have no experience with them.

Using KAYAK, “Next” comes up there with ACE and others at good prices. Looks legit. We have rented from ACE and SAFARI and others who pop up cheap and its always real. Sometimes, Kayak sends you to Priceline or something else to finish booking.

We never pay in advance always on arrival.

Sometimes we take all insurance other times we dont.

Everybody spends a very significant number of hundreds of dollars on airfare, as well as hundreds on dollars each night on lodging. Then after all of that worry about $20 to $50 a week on what car then rent regardless of the service and issues associated. Go local, go with a good reputation, don't go cheap here. With that said, I have rented from seven different companies and have not had one single issue with any of them, but they were all local named companies on the French or Dutch side. I personally avoid the corporate name places like Hertz, Sixt, or the others that pay franchise fee's to post that name.

Well said , thanks. We all have to live .

I have rented for the last 20 years from Hertz on St Maarten and even though it has an "Corporate" name it is owned and operated locally and has given me both a great competitive price and service. Other than your statement "worry about $20 to $50 a week on what car then rent regardless of the service and issues associated" I don't agree with avoiding " the corporate name places like Hertz, Sixt, or the others" because of this.

Most of the rental cars on the island are automatic. If you want manual, you will need to specify that when you reserve your car.