Recommend Your Favorite Car Rental

Robbin · Post by **Robbin** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:24 pm

We rented from the airport hertz company. $382.00 for all terrain ,one week rental. is that a good deal or do you suggest some other agency?

crasherino · Post by **crasherino** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:02 pm

We've used O'Connor twice with no major issues mostly on account of their outpost at the Westin which makes it convenient when staying there.

They no longer have parking in town though (or very limited anyway) so we may be hitting up slimman's in February.

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:41 pm

Robbin wrote:We rented from the airport hertz company. $382.00 for all terrain ,one week rental. is that a good deal or do you suggest some other agency?

Robbin,

Are you staying on St. John? Last I heard, Hertz does NOT allow you to bring their vehicles from STT to STJ. It's a pretty steep fine if you do it, and I've been told some ferry operators won't even let you take the car on the ferry.

That is a good price, but if you want to rent on STT, I'd bet that Discount or Dependable could offer you similar prices, probably Budget too.

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:52 am

Another vote for the Suttons. Their cars are in tip top condition, Conrad and Carmen are sweet hearts and I enjoy Gladys too. We've never not been able to get a spot in their lot when we needed one. Not always the case with others who allow parking in their lots (we've had a couple of occasions when our traveling companions rented elsewhere and couldn't fit in the lot when we came into town for dinner or to go shopping over on STT).

Ksea · Post by **Ksea** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:55 pm

I vote for Conrad Sutton's. His price was a tad lower than the rest and it's so nice to be able to park in his lot. The car was in tip top condition.

JC · Post by JC » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:16 pm

Another Conrad vote! Cannot say enough good things...

Can't wait to see Conrad's grin...

22 & Out...

DELETED · Post by **DELETED** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:20 pm

DELETED

krislbi · Post by **krislbi** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:15 am

Conrad Sutton fan here as well. Their cars are great and after renting from another outfit in town due to late booking, I can FIRMLY attest to the fact that others do not take as good of care of their cars (i.e. brakes). The Suttons are great people and take pride in their business. Manners are a must though!

Good luck.

ScottB · Post by **ScottB** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:38 am

Ksea wrote:I vote for Conrad Sutton's. His price was a tad lower than the rest

After checking with just about every rental company down there, they all seem to be the exact same rate for Jeep Wranglers per week. Am I missing something?

I used St John car rental with no problems. How is Conrad's intown parking compared to St John car rental?

tjwgrr · Post by **tjwgrr** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:23 am

ScottB wrote:I used St John car rental with no problems. How is Conrad's intown parking compared to St John car rental?

Our first time with STJ Car Rental this coming April- always used Penn's in the past, but their prices have skyrocketed.

Does STJ Car Rental have sufficient parking for customers while visiting Cruz Bay? Penn's was always good for that.

nothintolose · Post by **nothintolose** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:53 pm

We have used Courtesy on all of our visits except our first (used Conrad Sutton and didn't have any problems).

We switched to Courtesy because we wanted an Escape (was thinking of getting one at the time) and Courtesy had them. We really liked dealing with Greg at Courtesy so we stuck with him. If he didn't have cars when we needed them, we would have used Conrad again.

Others from our groups have used other places and have had problems, needless to say the next time they went they all ended up using Courtesy.

I was wondering though if anyone has used Courtesy since they moved and if so, any opinions?

mcdomzal · Post by **mcdomzal** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:42 am

ScottB - Guess the lower prices are only on the bigger cars (vitara). I've never parked at St John car rental, but have never had any problems parking at Sutton. The driveway is a little steep, but no different from others you experience on island. They ask you to leave the keys in case they need to move the cars around. I've never been blocked in and have always found space there. We have never been during high season, though.

chicagoans · Post by **chicagoans** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:20 am

RickG wrote:Fair warning with Conrad Sutton, say "Good Morning/Good Afternoon" when you arrive. Wait for a response. Then ask How are you today?" Wait for a response. Then proceed. Less than that is rude and not tolerated by the Suttons. I've been learned by them.

OK I know I'm probably in the minority here and I will risk getting flamed. But I do find this "I won't be pleasant with you unless you say the words I want you to" a bit prickly. I did remember to say 'good morning' etc. when I went to STJ, because it is their way. But I was raised to be polite to people regardless of how they greet me. If someone says "howdy doo" and another says "hello ma'am" I will be friendly to both of them. And certainly if they are one of my customers I'm going to be nice! And I don't consider a friendly "hello" to be rude.

I guess I just find the insistence upon a certain type of greeting to be curious, compared to the easy-going, laid back feel of STJ.

Wolfhound · Post by **Wolfhound** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:59 pm

We like St John Car Rental. When we arrived later in the evening last fall, they allowed our villa rep to get the car so she was there with it on the ferry dock when we arrived. We just had to go do the paperwork the next day. We've never had any issues or drama and we've been ale to park in the lot in the evenings.

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 3:10 pm

chicagoans wrote:
RickG wrote:Fair warning with Conrad Sutton, say "Good Morning/Good Afternoon" when you arrive. Wait for a response. Then ask How are you today?" Wait for a response. Then proceed. Less than that is rude and not tolerated by the Suttons. I've been learned by them.
OK I know I'm probably in the minority here and I will risk getting flamed. But I do find this "I won't be pleasant with you unless you say the words I want you to" a bit prickly. I did remember to say 'good morning' etc. when I went to STJ, because it is their way. But I was raised to be polite to people regardless of how they greet me. If someone says "howdy doo" and another says "hello ma'am" I will be friendly to both of them. And certainly if they are one of my customers I'm going to be nice! And I don't consider a friendly "hello" to be rude.

I guess I just find the insistence upon a certain type of greeting to be curious, compared to the easy-going, laid back feel of STJ.

I think the difference is intent. If you are polite it doesn't matter what specific words you say. More is conveyed in tone and facial expressions. I have seen even Gladys completely disarmed in 2 seconds by my 6 year old and she wasn't following any script, just being polite and inquisitive.

IMHO the pricklyness is more likely to occur when someone barges in and saying, "I have a reservation" with no genuine nicety at the start. Even an empty, rote "good morning. I HAVE A RESERVATION!" is not any better. A genuine greeting back n forth, then business. I often say something like How are you today? and actually WAIT for an answer. I think that is rarer than you think. This is hard for me because I tend to be a straight to business kind of person in real life. I have to check myself on STJ, I am much ruder in real life unfortunately but it is expected and accepted in DC.

I have seen many extremely RUDE people dealing with everyone from the Suttons to the Ferry Ticket lady to waitstaff. You just have to slow it down, look them in the eye and be sincere. If you are polite that will come across. One of my best stj moments was a long conversation with Mr. Sutton. He is a very interesting man, with a very interesting life. It pays to slow down and really engage.

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