Car rental surcharge for Brooklynites

Sorry, perhaps not the appropriate place for this, but I need to vent...

Booked a car weeks ago and got a decent rate from Alamo in Manhattan...went to pick it up for a canoeing trip this weekend and was reminded about their $77/day surcharge for Brooklyn residents! ABSURD! Obviously I wouldn't pay, but luckily managed to get a decent last minute deal with Avis. I think Hertz is the only other company with the charge, at $35/day. Anyone managed to argue their way out of these charges? Is it really even legal? I'm pissed and have just emailed Marty about it. Who wants to organize a mass protest?

how are they justifying this surcharge????

they blame their insurance companies, who say there is a higher risk of theft in brooklyn. obviously its dumb.

That's rotten. I don't know how any of this is legal.

A friend of mine just tried to rent a car upstate. When they saw her driver's license with city address, the rate DOUBLED. She ended up not renting the car.

I have another friend that's taken the Chinatown bus to Philly to get an affordable rental for a longer trip -- she didn't get turned away and the rate didn't double, but I guess it's far enough away from NYC.

Man, I gotta get that Zipcar thing going.

I'm not surprised, though. I had some family heirloom-type items that I was interested in having at home in Brooklyn, but they were excluded from our homeowner's policy (standard policy). I was shocked to discover how much it would cost to insure them separately in Brooklyn. I decided that we could not afford to enjoy these items, so they still live at my mother's house.

WHAT? How can they do that? What if you are not even planning to bring the car TO Brooklyn, for one thing?? :evil:

As for insurance, I was told when I insured my engagement ring that Brooklyn has the highest insurance rate in the COUNTRY for that kind of thing. It's considered "all risk". *sigh*

Insurance is so high in Brooklyn because there are so man uninsured people driving around Brooklyn. Probably the highest in the country.

ooh i was really peeved about the brooklyn surcharge when i had to rent a car to go to an interview on longuyland. then i got the job, and now i'm even more peeved about the insurance rate that i'll have to pay each month on the car i'm getting!

call homeland security, there has been a major thread hijacking!!

anyone out there with some relevant comments?

The offtopic comments got moved here: http://dailyheights.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=519
--EmilyM

I experienced the Brooklyn sur-charge when I tried to rent a car from Alamo in Newark. They wanted an extra $170 for a three day rental! Bronx residents would be expected to pay an extra $180. (Note: Bronx is more ghetto than Brooklyn).

Anyway, I doubt this procedure is legal under the equal protection clause. Thanks for posting on this, I'll look into it.

In the meantime, zipcar is pretty awesome.

This just happened to us! We rented from Dollar in the West Village. Showed up early in the morning and got hit with the $77 PER DAY surcharge policy.
Luckily, my driver's license has an old Manhattan address, but even to add my husband as an extra driver would automatically create the surcharge.
Not to mention that the front, passenger's door wouldn't open from the inside (not a child lock). No more DOLLAR.
So not everyone adds the crazy surcharge? We have to rent a car for a wedding in MD in August. Any recs?

Does Enterprise in Brooklyn surcharge? It's been a few years since I rented from them, but I love that they'll pick you up.

Does anyone know when this surcharging started? This summer is the first I've heard of it.

a little off-topic, but beware Uhaul vans - you cannot unlock them from within the rear of the van! It is VERY EASY to lock yourself in (which i've managed to do), and would be just as easy to lock yourself AND the keys in. Its not just that you can't unlock them, you can't open them from inside even if they are unlocked. And i know it wasn't a freak thing because i rented another van a few weeks later and it was the same way (we tested it).

I meant to ask if anybody recommended a decent place to rent a car in Bklyn. The Enterprise is sold out of every location for the weekend I need the car. Even in Manhattan for that matter. We're going to Anapolis for a wedding. Only 2-day rental.
I never thought I would experience borough discrimination in a place with such expensive housing! Especially when the point of renting a car is usually to get away from where you live.

Sorry - the logic eludes me here - they can charge this so-called "Brooklyn surcharge" even if their rental car never enters the borough of Brooklyn? (i.e. if you pick the car up in Manhattan or Jersey, take it on your trip, and bring straight back to Manhattan or Jersey?). Good lord.

And yes - does anyone have a good car rental recommendation in Brooklyn?