Car rentals near the cruise terminal???

Does anyone know which companies have car rental offices near the cruise pier? We're thinking of renting a car in Aruba.

And when you answer...

Can you also direct me to one that is reliable? Most listed on Aruba's tourism site are not US companies and I don't want to be "had".

Thanks much.

Most listed on Aruba's tourism site are not US companies and I don't want to be "had".

 

Thanks much.

Just as a point of information, the "U.S. companies" are franchises they are not U.S. owned, or coporate owned companies.

We had issues with a Hertz rental a few years back and received no satisfaction while on the island. When we got in touch with Hertz U.S. they basically said there was noting they could do.

We had the same issue with Budget in Curacao. Budget told us the same thing. They do not have anything to do with the individual office, the island agency is renting ("leasing") their name.

We had a pricing issue with Avis Aruba and Avis U.S. gave us an entirely different story than Avis Aruba. The problem was eventually straightened out, but is was fixed through Avis Aruba not U.S. corporate. Corporate U.S. had no control over Avis Aruba.

Does anyone know which companies have car rental offices near the cruise pier? We're thinking of renting a car in Aruba.

We rented a car a few years ago and there was not an agency @ the port. DH took a public bus to the rental pickup location. We were told to leave the car in a parking lot behind Carlos & Charlie's at the end of the day. Carlos & Charlie's is very near the dock. I was not very comfortable with that scenario, but it all worked out okay.

Since Aruba is such a popular cruiseship stop, this might have changed by now.

Renting a car is a great option. Aruba is a small island, and you can see everything of interest in a day with your own car.

In 1993 when I was there on the Rotterdam V, the Hertz rental at the airport sent a van to get us at the cruiseport. At that time there was a two day rental requirement (to discourage rentals to cruisers), but since the cars were so cheap, I didn't care if I paid for 2 days and only used it one. When I got to the airport and they realized I had been born in Aruba, they waived the two day requirement but gave me a car I suppose they would rent to a local rather than a tourist. It was a small Toyota Corona, no air, and 4 speed manual transmission. That was fine by me, I drive a 5 speed anyway, and you really don't need air conditioning in Aruba either. I am going to try to do the same arrangement this time, even if I have to get a cab to the airport to get the car. I may have been born there, but I had only lived there 8 months before my American parents returned to the states after working at the refinery there.

We were a group of 3 moms, when we did our Aruba off-roading. After doing much research, we decided to wing it in regards to the rental, with the idea that if we didn't like what was there, we had time to do something else.

We docked around 8am, off onto the dock at 9am and asked the first official we saw where the car rentals were. There were several to choose from, none we had ever heard of before, and we picked one called "Top Ride." Business was conducted out of a shack by the side of the road, but it was fine. They took an imprint of my credit card, to avoid the 7% extra cc fee, but gave the whole sheet back to me later when I had returned the jeep and paid in cash. We paid $80 US for 8 hours (return time was 5 pm).

Not your luxury car by any stretch - soft top jeep, no windows (but door locks - go figure :rolleyes:), and strictly stick shift, but 4-wheel drive, which we wanted for off roading. You could taxi out to the airport for a rental, but I was told to reserve quite a bit ahead if you do that.

Hope this helps!

Hi, Do you know the name of the renatl agency?

Kind Regards,

Karen