Most major car hire companies offer one way car rental options, allowing you to pick up your rental car at one location, such as the airport and drop it off in another location or even another city entirely. However, with many companies there are specific limitations so its important that you communicate your plans when you make your reservation, ask questions when you pick up your vehicle and take the time to read the fine print.
Some car rental companies don't offer one way car rentals at all while others only offer them in certain areas. Some locations are more one-way friendly than others, such as Florida, New York, New Jersey and California (check out our travel guides on Popular Road Trips in California, most of which would work best with a one way car rental). In these states the majority of car rental companies have very reasonable rules and rates for reserving a car hire for a one way trip. Many Canadian car rental locations only allow one way rentals within the Maritime provinces or within British Colombia.
It may be most important to read the fine print when you plan to cross state lines or travel from one country to another. Through GPS tracking of their cars and fine print some car rental companies are liable to charge you per mile if you drive outside of the agreed upon limits, be it state lines or a regional territory, and these can quickly rack up the triple-digit dollar signs.
However, don't be detoured from planning a trip and booking a car hire to cross from one country to another or to cross state lines. Its very common for holiday makers to Rent a car from the UK and drive to France, for example.
Lastly, you might want to make sure your next holiday destination drives on the side of the road you think they do before you plan to reserve a rental car there and drive it into another country. There are a whopping 76 countries that drive on the left side of the road.
