car rental

[ripnero]

does anyone have a recomendation as to who to use?

[arenee]

We used Conrad Sutton and were very pleased.

[DELETED]

DELETED

[Lulu76]

I have used various rental agencies in the past and found them to all be pretty comparable. I try not to use companies that make it inconvenient for me to get my car after hours or companies that have super-strict "no sand in the vehicle" policies. It's St. John, and I don't want to spend time on vacation vacuuming out an old Jeep.

[mindehankins]

We used Conrad Sutton on our first trip, a couple of weeks ago, and were very displeased. Will rent anywhere else, next time.

[loria]

We used Conrad Sutton on our first trip, a couple of weeks ago, and were very displeased. Will rent anywhere else, next time.

can i ask why you were displeased?

[sea-nile]

St.John Car Rental. But be careful of their back parking lot!

[Wanda Creech]

sea-nile,

Have you had problems parking behind St John
car rental ?

[pipanale]

sea-nile,

Have you had problems parking behind St John
car rental ?

I think the note MAY be because the lot can be a bit of a challenge to negotiate. Steep hills and tight spots.
HOWEVER...
After 2 trips renting from them (2004 and 2006), last summer, they were, in my opinion, rude. We were NOT permitted to park in their lot, nor were we allowed to park at the Fish Trap (something they had allowed in 2006). I was chased down the street one evening by the staff because I parked up behind the building and told to move my car.

We had rented from them in the past because of the location, the parking and the nice service (from Bobby in particular). We're moving on to a new place for our next trip. I don't need to be yelled at on vacation.

[sea-nile]

Yes I had a parking challenge and if you ask other SOTB II members they can tell you that was my only driving challenge of the week. Well and getting lost a little bit.
I have found every car rental place to have at least one rude person. You just have to be extra friendly yourself - kill them with kindness. (I always wonder, how can you be so crabby living on a beautiful island?) Hmm, mystery to me.
Anyway, I found their service reliable and their cars in good condition. The last time the staff was very nice.

[dtenel]

We always use Amalie Car Company. Great local place. They are located off the airport, so no extra airport fee's. They will bring the car to you at the airport as well. Very nice people. Here is their website:

www.amaliecar.com

They dropped our car to us at the aiport and picked it up from us at the ferry dock. They made it very easy and relaxing!

[pipanale]

You just have to be extra friendly yourself - kill them with kindness. (I always wonder, how can you be so crabby living on a beautiful island?) Hmm, mystery to me.
Anyway, I found their service reliable and their cars in good condition. The last time the staff was very nice.

I smother StJ Car Rental with happiness and niceness.

It worked in 2004 and 2006...not in 2008. I just don't feel I need the hassle anymore.

[Lulu76]

Some of the people at STJ Car Rental were less than friendly with us, but there were some really nice folks too. I think it might've had something to do with the fact that the same could've been said for our group.

The free parking was nice, but it's very limited and that lot is something else to manuever. And Rob is right, it did seem to be at their fancy. And they also wouldn't let us pick our jeep up late when we missed our ferry because our cab driver was a lunatic, which ended up being a giant mess. Yet, everyone here seems to love them and says they will make arrangements for later pick-ups. But, I do wonder if it had to do with some of the "more assertive" people in our group.

Our last trip we used Paris. They have no parking, but the people were very nice and their prices were excellent. But they do have that pesky "We will charge you if there is one grain of sand in this car" policy. I don't like that policy. No matter what I do, I get sandy. My friend used to be the person who vacuumed rental returns at an Enterprise. Just saying, that's all.

[mindehankins]

We used Conrad Sutton on our first trip, a couple of weeks ago, and were very displeased. Will rent anywhere else, next time.

can i ask why you were displeased?

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)

[flip-flop]

That's really strange about Conrad and proof of insurance as insurance is covered as part of the rental. I've rented from him 4 times now and never had to show any proof of insurance, just my drivers license. That is one of the reasons I went with him originally, that and he takes AMEX.

The man you describe is so different than the man I've met. I don't do overly friendly, am pretty matter of fact, but polite and have never had the slightest issue. Gladys scares me a little but Carmen and Conrad have always been perfectly pleasant. He's a little stiff at first but he softens so easily. I even make him park my car if the lot is crowded because I am a big chicken and he is more than happy to do it for me. He's always found me a spot even when it looks a little tight to me. The reason he wants you to leave your key is so he can move it around to fit more people in - so its to be of better service to the rest of his renters. Some people park 1/2 a car from the car next to them and by squeezing them closer he gets more people in the lot.

I do think he is completely anal about his cars, maybe a little over the top, but that's not a bad thing considering the perils of a bad car on some of those roads.