Paris Car Rental - too good to be true?

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 12:57 pm

I notice that Paris Car Rental has lower per-day rental rates than the other car rentals on STJ, and ALSO always seems to be running special offers (at least in the off-season) with as much as 20% discount. This is a pretty considerable saving over 7-10 days. Is there a catch?

Feel free to PM me if you have info you would rather relay privately.

17th Hole · Post by **17th Hole** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:03 pm

We have used Paris in the past and had no problems. They weren't as conveniently located as the other rental agencies and the jeep we had was pretty well used, but everything else was OK.

lovest.john · Post by **lovest.john** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:26 pm

We used them last August and had no problems. When I called for the reservation they quoted the regular rate, until I mentioned the discount advertised on their website. So be sure to mention it if they don't. The jeep had a lot of miles on it, but it worked fine.

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Wed Feb 06, 2013 2:47 pm

17th Hole wrote:We have used Paris in the past and had no problems. They weren't as conveniently located as the other rental agencies and the jeep we had was pretty well used, but everything else was OK.

Same here. Will likely try them again in June because I would rather not pay $85-90/day off season. Plus we don't mind walking if we cant find parking in the heart of town - gotta move a little bit after sitting on the beach all day etc. right?

Can you still park over by the tennis courts? If not, where else is it OK to park that might involve a bit of a walk back to the center of town?

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 1:36 pm

Thanks to folks that responded to my query. I went through my notes from my previous trips to STJ and discovered that we actually rented from Paris in 2009. According to my notes they did the same thing that lovestj reported - did not mention the 20% discount until I brought it up - but I didn't note any other issues. Also, they have a $5/day charge for a 2nd driver, which not all of them do. But with the discount and the initially lower price it still comes to $61/day for a 2-door Jeep - way less than the other places I looked at.

So... I booked my jeep! I talked to Janice on the phone, and she was great to work with. I have one more minor form to fax back to Great Caribbean Getaways, and then I think I am fully booked.

Now if I could just figure out how to make a ticker...

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:21 pm

I compare them to my favorite rental company and they have the same pricing. Mine meets me at the dock upon arrival and departure. We always get new(er) vehicles too. I've never had one with more than 30K miles on it.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 4:48 pm

jmq wrote:
17th Hole wrote:Can you still park over by the tennis courts? If not, where else is it OK to park that might involve a bit of a walk back to the center of town?

You can still park at the courts, and there is also a new-ish big parking lot across the street from the courts that I am pretty sure was completed after your last visit. It has parking for a LOT of cars and doesn't seem to be well used for whatever reason. That's where we usually park our jeep now, it only takes a couple of minutes to walk in to town.

On St. John took a "flip flop cam" of the walk into town from the new lot a while back. You can watch it here:

http://www.on-stjohn.com/2011/06/03/fli ... to-woodys/

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:47 pm

liamsaunt wrote: You can still park at the courts, and there is also a new-ish big parking lot across the street from the courts that I am pretty sure was completed after your last visit. It has parking for a LOT of cars and doesn't seem to be well used for whatever reason. That's where we usually park our jeep now, it only takes a couple of minutes to walk in to town.

Thanks! It has been awhile...

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 5:48 pm

toes in the sand wrote:I compare them to my favorite rental company and they have the same pricing. Mine meets me at the dock upon arrival and departure. We always get new(er) vehicles too. I've never had one with more than 30K miles on it.

Including the 20% summer discount? I just booked a 2-door jeep at $56/day. $61 if you count the $5/day charge for a 2nd driver.

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Thu Feb 07, 2013 6:58 pm

Ours does offer off season discounts sometimes. After reading your post I checked out the Paris website and saw no mention of a discount. Perhaps I did not search deep enough. I do like getting newer vehicles. I have used another company once and got a less than stellar vehicle causing me to loose at least half a day to visits to the rental office and having to have them come to our villa to replace a bad battery.

lovest.john · Post by **lovest.john** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:00 am

toes in the sand wrote:After reading your post I checked out the Paris website and saw no mention of a discount.

The discount is in red near the top of their home page. 20% off May-November 2013.
http://rentalcarstjohn.com/

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 9:37 am

Thanks lovest.john. My link took me directly to the vehicle and rates page. No mention there.

dreamshark · Post by **dreamshark** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 12:07 pm

toes in the sand wrote:Ours does offer off season discounts sometimes. After reading your post I checked out the Paris website and saw no mention of a discount. Perhaps I did not search deep enough. I do like getting newer vehicles. I have used another company once and got a less than stellar vehicle causing me to loose at least half a day to visits to the rental office and having to have them come to our villa to replace a bad battery.

Toes, I'd love to have the name of your favorite rental company. Since I've already booked with Paris, I'll probably stay with them for this trip, but I'm looking for information not trying to promote an opinion. It sounds like you have nothing but good things to say about this company, so why not give their name?

As for Paris website, I think there was one page that didn't display the discount, but I went there looking for it. I was pretty sure it would be there somewhere because every time I have looked at this company for a summer rental there has been a big discount posted online. Others may offer discounts too, but I've never seen that on their web pages. I freely admit that I am more comfortable gathering info online than calling on the phone.

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 1:34 pm

You can park in the new lot but there are so many cars and trucks that didn't move the whole week we were there in Jan there aren't many spots left

toes in the sand · Post by **toes in the sand** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:10 pm

dreamshark wrote: Toes, I'd love to have the name of your favorite rental company. Since I've already booked with Paris, I'll probably stay with them for this trip, but I'm looking for information not trying to promote an opinion. It sounds like you have nothing but good things to say about this company, so why not give their name? .

No problem ds. I didn't want to hijack your thread with an endorsement of my own. We use L&L. They are one of the few jeep rental companies on StJ that I have found that are responsive to their website.

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