car rental suggestions

northerngal · Post by **northerngal** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 9:36 am

looking for a car rental suggestion...we have always used St John Car Rental but hearing some problems. Does anyone have any idea why Conrad's is showing cheaper rates?
Thanks!

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:15 pm

We use SJCR too. What kinds of problems are you hearing about. If I was Conrad, I would need to charge less to overcome the poor reputation he has earned over the years.

JIM

northerngal · Post by **northerngal** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 1:25 pm

someone posted about stj car rental that they didn't have their vehicle saved and blah, blah, blah but we have used them 5 times with no problems. what kind of problems did Conrads have? I have never even considered them until now.

pipergal · Post by **pipergal** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 2:52 pm

Since 2005 we have used Conrad Sutton at least 6 times ( only time we changed was when he didn't have the vehicle we needed) he and his staff are very nice to deal with as long as you know "island courtesy" and are not in a rush - which we never are because we are on island. Carmen is lovely and again, I would recommend them in a heartbeat .

crasherino · Post by **crasherino** » Wed Jan 20, 2016 4:48 pm

We have usually used O'Connor and have never had an issue. You can't count on using their office in town for parking (Not sure if that's even an option) but otherwise they've been very reliable. Once or twice the person there has been slightly brusque but more often they are friendly and helpful.

DonnaM · Post by **DonnaM** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 6:34 am

We have used Conrad Sutton, Varlack and Penn's with no problems. Varlack once had no car for us because it was still being repaired so they found another rental for us from someone else.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:26 am

What Conrad Sutton does with his Jeeps, business or customers are of no concern of ours. The issues for us with Conrad are old news, but since you asked...

We rented from them one time. When I came in to rent the Jeep I, having been forewarned, was very careful to use" island courtesy" with them. They told me the only Jeep they had did not have a rear window. "It is all that we have," she told me. We had problems all week with mosquitos. As soon as we parked they filled the cab. We had to drive with the windows open for a while to blow them out the back. Because there was no window, the A/C never really cooled us off. One day we parked in their lot and took a morning dive trip. When I came back at noon, he had the hood up and various parts striped off our rental. Conrad told me that he was testing our good parts on another Jeep to find its problem. I told him that we wanted to go, and he instructed me to come back in an hour or hour and a half and it would be ready. We couldn't take another Jeep because - remember -they didn't have anything else. That is not how I want to spend my day of vacation. When I returned the car she asked me how the rental was. So I told her. She then yelled at me because "we would have given you another if you said something." They didn't have anything else when we arrived, and they didn't have anything else when he stripped the car of parts to fix another.

We haven't been back. We don't need a substandard Jeep. We don't need to alter our vacation plans to help them fix another Jeep; and we don't need to hear their version of "Island Courtesy" when we answer their questions.

JIM

mfaughey · Post by **mfaughey** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 4:56 pm

After many rentals - way over a dozen, from St John Car Rental - never had an issue with them. And thats even when I lost the key and also locked the key in a few times! I would never consider anyone else.....

Mike

mindehankins · Post by **mindehankins** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 5:53 pm

Service like this is a possibility (from our first visit in 2009):
It'll be in our trip report, but we found Conrad to be generally contentious, like he's looking for a fight, and then he'd "let it fly...." so he could pat himself on the back and tell himself what a good guy he was.
We are very cheerful and friendly people. I studied for this trip and knew to always start conversations with "good day," blah blah blah. And we did.

First, Conrad informed me that I am an irresponsible person because I have a learner's permit not a driver's license. He knew I wasn't going to be driving, only my husband would be. He
asked why I wouldn't be, and when I told him why, he filled me in on the fact that I am an irresponsible person.

We asked if we could park in his lot if there was room, and he said yes. Our first morning on island, we parked in his lot around 7am and walked to check out town and go to the bank, etc. When we got back to the car, he hollered at us endlessly, because we hadn't left the key under the mat. He never told us to do that, and would YOU do that to a RENTAL car on vacation? I couldn't get hubby to go back into Cruz Bay after that.

While my husband was pulling out of the lot after being yelled at, I went back in one more time (just to be extra freakin nice!) and said "once more, Mr. Sutton, I wanted to apologize for inconveniencing you. We'll leave the key next time." and he had me go BACK out to get my husband, make him park the car and come back in for a second round. As proof of insurance, we'd given him our annual renewal that was marked paid in full and effective 6/15/09. He pulled that out of his book and tapped his finger on the 6/15 as he told us "I almost came to take the car back last night because of your fraud."

Huh? Fraud? "This is not effective until 6/15. This is fraud." "Mr. Sutton, that is an annual policy renewal and even says it's been paid in full a month and a 1/2 before it's due. Then he got a phone call and waved us off, saying "I'll let it slide."
If there was no other rental place than Conrad Sutton's, I can tell you that we would most certainly never return to St. John. Like someone else said, I don't go on vacation to be yelled at. We paid him good money and behaved in a friendly manner and will not be treated that way.
(As you can tell, I'm still pretty doggone upset about it all)

That was a one and done for us. We've used Courtesy many times and found them to be awesome folks...

silverheels · Post by **silverheels** » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:09 pm

We've used Sunshine on STJ and are very pleased with the cars and the service. Will rent from them again in August.

kklay · Post by **kklay** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 9:27 am

Amalie on St Thomas has been our choice for several years. Wonderful people to work with!

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