1 way trip San Diego-> San Francisco?

[LattNJ]

My husband, girls and I are planning a trip to California this July. This will be our first trip to California. I am just beginning to plan this trip. I first planned on flying into San Francisco, renting a car, continuing on to Yosemite, Hollywood/LA, Disney and then San Diego and flying home from San Diego. Looking at car rental prices, I have discovered renting a car in San Diego and then returning it to San Francisco is a fraction of the cost of San Francisco to San Diego. Is there any reason I would not want to start in San Diego and end in San Francisco?

Second question is, I see 1 way airline tickets to/from JFK from both San Diego and San Francisco is in the $199 range right now. Seems like a reasonable price, but I have never looked at these fares before. I was trying to find this site I had used in the past that tells you whether you should buy now or wait but can't find it.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[ncc1701]

Unless you have something you needed to do (i.e. wedding, reunion) in San Francisco I don't know of reason why reversing the order of the trip would be a problem. The flight price seem reasonable to me , but we don't play around much with checking for price. Book a reasonable fare then I start planning the rest.

 

[KSL]

I have no useful advice or info (lol), but had to respond because I am planning nearly the same trip!

Our plan (thus far):
Arrive San Francisco July 28
Yosemite July 31
Sequoia Aug 3
Disneyland Aug 5
Day trip to San Diego Aug 8
Depart Aug 11

We were originally going to depart from San Diego but flights from Los Angeles were substantially less so we decided to just make a (long) day trip to San Diego for a day at the zoo.

I am looking at flights and rental cars now. It seems like it will cost a TON to rent a car for two weeks. We are planning to fly into Oakland because it saves us about $80pp ($400) but now I'm looking to see if that would be offset by cheaper car rentals from San Francisco. I haven't rented a car in ages and had no idea how expensive it is!

I have seen Fox Rent a Car rates at a fraction of the other companies. This makes me worried. I have also read a number of scathing reviews. So I am trying to not even consider them but they are SOOO much cheaper and the miser in me is drawn in. Anyone have first-hand reports of experiences with them? Anyone know codes or coupons?

I'll try to check back in on this thread and see how your planning is coming!

 

[LattNJ]

That is why I decided to do the trip in reverse. It is far less to rent a car in San Diego and return it to San Francisco.

 

[gatorfreud]

My husband, girls and I are planning a trip to California this July. This will be our first trip to California. I am just beginning to plan this trip. I first planned on flying into San Francisco, renting a car, continuing on to Yosemite, Hollywood/LA, Disney and then San Diego and flying home from San Diego. Looking at car rental prices, I have discovered renting a car in San Diego and then returning it to San Francisco is a fraction of the cost of San Francisco to San Diego. Is there any reason I would not want to start in San Diego and end in San Francisco?

Second question is, I see 1 way airline tickets to/from JFK from both San Diego and San Francisco is in the $199 range right now. Seems like a reasonable price, but I have never looked at these fares before. I was trying to find this site I had used in the past that tells you whether you should buy now or wait but can't find it.

Thanks for the advice.

A $400 RT to east coast from here is not bad... you may get it a touch cheaper but I doubt it.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

A $400 RT to east coast from here is not bad... you may get it a touch cheaper but I doubt it.

Good price; I would book now. The price is unikely to drop for a July trip.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

......
I have seen Fox Rent a Car rates at a fraction of the other companies. This makes me worried. I have also read a number of scathing reviews. So I am trying to not even consider them but they are SOOO much cheaper and the miser in me is drawn in. Anyone have first-hand reports of experiences with them? Anyone know codes or coupons?

I'll try to check back in on this thread and see how your planning is coming!

I rented from Fox in Las Vegas 2 years ago; never again. All rental agencies at the airport are off site, so you have to take a bus to the rental center. Then you have to take a bus from there to Fox's site. There was a huge line at the rental desk, going out the door of the building. It was roastingly hot. A number of people waiting lost it and got very verbally abusive to the counter personnel. The lines were so long because Fox appears to save money by not staffing rental counters with adequate numbers of personnel, thus the long lines. They also offer older cars; our rental car had over 30,000 miles on it. I realize that you are renting at another location, but others have reported similar experiences at other Fox rental locations.

I'd rather pay more from my usual rental car company, Avis, or one of the bigger rental agencies.

You can check the Transportation board; there have been a number of threads about Fox there.

Do note that car rental prices may drop the closer to your actual rental date. You can reserve now and rebook if they drop with no penalty. I have also had success renting cars at SFO using Priceline Name Your Own Price. If you use this, keep in mind that you will repay and cannot cancel.

 

[Figmentfan626]

I am from SF area.
There is no reason why you can't reverse your trip. Everything in SF is going to be more money. It just is that way.
I have never flown out of Oakland but Oakland scares me. So I avoid it.
Did you check San Jose?
Renting cars is expensive out here but everything is more money in Ca.
Have a great trip! It is beautiful out here.