Car Rental on St Martin?

[thatbloominplace]

just returned from our cruise. when in st. martin we used arthur's. we rented an automatic toyota corolla for $50. with the taxes and insurance it was $66. his office was right across from the exit to the pier. he was prompt, the car was clean, and he was very appreciative of the business. he had maps and was informative of the best route to take. would definitely use him again. prefer to use local companies when in the caribbean.

[Inshape]

Avis on line does not need credit card to hold reservation. They gave me a compact car, toyotta Yaris for 31$ including tax for the day. This is for low season on Nov 27. They are open strange times, which are different from the others. The others close at 5 pm, while Avis is closed after 11 am and then reopens from 4;45 -5;45. Anyone have any trouble with this. Although it is open later we do not want to run into a jam up of people bringing back cars and thus making us late for the ship. And I do know there is a time difference. It would be 5 pm our time while it is 6 pm there time. I believe they do not change the times . So that would mean we would have to bring the car back by 4;45 our time no later to make the close of business for them. Is that correct???

[Lachase]

These posts seem to be dated but I'm putting my opinion in that I do NOT recommend renting from Arthur's. We had a BAD experience last month renting here. We were driven to another location where he told us we would "pick out a car", but instead he drove us downtown and then he pointed to an old piece of crap junker car parked on the street and told us that is what we were to drive. At first he wanted us to bring it back and leave it on the streets downtown where it was parked when we were through with it because he wouldn't be in his office when we got back. I asked him how we were to get back to the port and then he said we could return it to the office. It was so bizarre. It was like driving a car headed for the junkyard. The passenger seat didn't even seem correctly bolted in. It clunked back and forth, bouncing you every time the breaks were applied. The ac vent was missing. It was like NO rental car I've ever been in. You couldn't even lock it up. Even if this business seems convenient, close to the pier, I would suggest if you want a decent car to drive, go elsewhere. I have read bad reviews about other rental businesses in St. Maarten, also, but surely there are a couple that are on the level and good businesses. This guy drove a very nice car himself, but for his customers, at least for us, we didn't get that pleasure. Our day was a misery after renting here. You can and deserve to do better. Good luck!