[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by timothyaw

Check out this site for auto rentals. Book a rental through their site, and they will watch for lower rates and automatically rebook at the lower rate. I've personally had great success with them.

Cheap Car Rentals - AutoSlash

Cool, thanks! That's why I like Orbitz. They watch for lower rates on my flights and whatnot and will refund me the difference. I can always use another place to search.

[mostlyinformative]

grandma used to drive us around. now she just stays home and watches tv

[tijlover]

Years ago, when I'd have a client come to my house from the Strip, he would have no problem getting to my house, and getting back to the Strip, calling a cab from a local address could be a long, long, long wait!

More often than not, I'd just drive them back to the Strip and have them pay me the cab fare!

I would never, ever trust the local cab companies to get me to the Airport on time for a flight, from my local address.

As far as renting cars, which I've been doing to get out of town for 15 years now, I always take the Loss Waiver Damage which adds $20 a day to your bill. Wouldn't do it otherwise! It's worth the peace of mind, just in case someone backs into you in a parking lot, drives away, and you're liable for the repair bill.

[macgeek]

I have been using DesertCab, with ZERO problems.
I book the car a hr or a few (if its a 6AM pickup) and the car is at my house EXACTLY when I asked
(I'm in Spring valley, 89103) I still get sticker shock, a 15 min cab ride is $30.00

My Local friend who lives here talks about a "discount" book for cab rides (1/2 for locals, its like $10) anyone know anything about that?

Jonathan

[LV2ndHome]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

You can rent a car for $8 a day. Is that really more expensive than a cab? I think using a cab for things like going to get groceries would be a real hassel.

I've been renting cars in LV for years. I always rent the smallest, cheapest available, decline everything that can be declined, and shop multiple rental companies through multiple search engines. There are specials/seasonal better rates at times (I'm signed up for all the free frequent customer accounts to get coupon codes, etc), but over the years I'd guess my avg quote has been ~$12/day, which always works out to about $20/day or more after all the mandatory fees/taxes. Most rental companies do offer a slightly better rate for weekly rentals compared to a daily rate.

There are a few grocery places that deliver and yet still very reasonably priced that should be used at least for the bulk of one's needs when in the OP's situation.

Originally Posted by tijlover

As far as renting cars, which I've been doing to get out of town for 15 years now, I always take the Loss Waiver Damage which adds $20 a day to your bill. Wouldn't do it otherwise! It's worth the peace of mind, just in case someone backs into you in a parking lot, drives away, and you're liable for the repair bill.

Often people already have insurance and don't realize it. Some credit cards provide insurance if you use them for payment. If you own a vehicle, sometimes the insurance on it will provide coverage on rentals. Many people carry separate general liability policies. If you rent on a regular basis and don't already have coverage, you can easily justify buying a liability policy instead of paying $20/day to the car rental company.

Also I would worry much more about injury liability than property damage liability. The cost of even replacing a totaled vehicle is nothing compared to the amount of liability if you severely injure someone.

Originally Posted by macgeek

I still get sticker shock, a 15 min cab ride is $30.00

This is a major reason why I rent. One cab ride can easily pay for rental for an entire day. And often if you take a cab somewhere, you have to take another to get back. I'll rent a car for say 2 weeks, and feel I'm better off even though I have been known to sometimes leave it parked for 2-3 days at a time. LV is a good town to rent compared to many other large cities because rental rates are pretty low, traffic is not as congestive, there is plenty of free parking around, and public transportation as a reasonably priced alternative is lacking in LV. LV had a chance to make a major improvement with the monorail system but blew it with poor design/location.

Contrarily in some other cities, overnight parking costs as much per day as the car rental, subway or light rail public transportation is cheap and efficient, or there are shuttles available. I generally avoid bus routes as too slow and inconvenient, though obviously there can be exceptions if one happens to be close to a stop, the bus runs regularly, you aren't going far, and the exit bus stop is close to where you want to go.

The OP needing transportation while out drinking is a valid reason to not rent a car if a designated driver is not available (if a DD is available, be sure s/he is listed as an authorized driver on the rental agreement). But if the OP also needs transportation for non-drinking purposes (going shopping, sightseeing, etc), it can easily make sense to rent a car but still use alternative travel during drinking times because saving even one cab fare will roughly pay for the daily rental.

[yellowsnow]

I wonder if there is a market for designated, local drivers? Or perhaps a service that drives and gets your place ready for your visit. Has your groceries at your place and put away before you arrive. Then picks you up at the airport.

I'm sure you would have to be bonded, licensed somehow, and insured. If you were cleaner than clean, would this be a business opportunity? Would all the expenses wipe out any reasonable profits?

Back to the subject of this thread, I have used the shuttle from Sam's Town to The California. Works but it's slow and has scheduled trips. I don't think it's 24X7. The concierge desk at The Cal has schedules/hours.

[LV2ndHome]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

I wonder if there is a market for designated, local drivers? Or perhaps a service that drives and gets your place ready for your visit. Has your groceries at your place and put away before you arrive. Then picks you up at the airport.

I recall seeing some listings for vacation rentals in the past (I think on vrbo.com, but I don't remember for sure) in which the property owner/manager offered to accept a shopping list in advance and have the groceries waiting on you in the rental property. I also recall seeing numerous highly appreciative praises for that service in the reviews section of the listings.

[oeccscclhjhn]

Originally Posted by binionrat

I like that idea and have been contacted by a fellow that's a part-time driver through this site. It's not so much the cost but the responsibility of renting that I really don't like....I would rather spend that money on a tip for a driver if they can get me and hubbie around and back to the airport on time to catch our flight home. If need be, in the daytime, we can walk to Sams Town or Boulder Station if it isn't too hot and try to get a cab to the Strip or downtown areas but it sure would be nice to have someone on call.

This is your best bet if you go with a cab. A personal, driver who gives you his cell, will yield the best service by far. You can schedule in advance, you get a driver you know, and you get the best chance for a fair shake. It all comes down to the driver, companies out here are a dime a dozen.

[tijlover]

LV2ndHome: I have an older 27YO car and you can't get comprehensive on such an older car, only liability, which steers me into getting the extra insurance when I rent a car.

If I'm not mistaken, with credit card insurance, if you have an accident, don't you have to pay the rental car compnay, and they will reimburse you later. That's what always scares me into buying the insurance, and subsequently, great peace of mind.

I hit a deer on my way to Salt Lake city, 10 years ago, in a brand new rental car, which did a lot of damage to the car, but I was able to drive it into the city with one headlight, and with no questions asked, I got another car immediately. No charges!

The taxi charges for locals are completely out of orbit in this city. I used to take a taxi from the airport to my house (DI & Pecos) for $20 (and God forbid you don't tip the taxi driver handsomely in this town!) but now I take the city bus from the Airport to DI, transfer to a DI bus, all for $5. How many people don't realize there's city bus service from the Airport?

[Danknee]

Originally Posted by tijlover

LV2ndHome: I have an older 27YO car and you can't get comprehensive on such an older car, only liability, which steers me into getting the extra insurance when I rent a car.

If I'm not mistaken, with credit card insurance, if you have an accident, don't you have to pay the rental car compnay, and they will reimburse you later. That's what always scares me into buying the insurance, and subsequently, great peace of mind.

Most credit card companies don't provide rental car insurance any longer. Don't always refuse rental car insurance coverage; credit card protections become iffy

My insurance company (Liberty Mutual) covers me on a rental car automatically with my current policy. I would just have to pay my deductible if I had an accident with a rental car. If I had liability only coverage, one cheaper alternative to buying insurance through the rental car company is to call my insurance company and have them extend full coverage for the rental car.