To Get A Car Or Not?

[mghayward]

Struggling to decide whether or not to hire a car for this trip.
We have transport booked from Sanford to our resort, thinking of hiring for the last week for Universal and shopping, but then I think is it worth it (About £200) I reckon. Or should we just use Lyft/Uber? But heard some bad experiences with been charged extra for cleaning mess in the car which was not yours! Decisions decisions.

[grommitt]

Last year was the first time in 15 trips that i did not hire a car...and i loved it.
I used uber every where.never waited more then 10 mins even when coming out of the parks at closing and HHN.
considering i used them everyday, sometimes making 4 trips aday, i spent less then £300.
When you take in the cost of parking etc i think it is a no brainer.

I am back out there in Oct again with no car. I think going forward i would only hire a car if i was staying in a villa.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. Can you clarify please about a cleaning charge? Do you mean a hire car or an Uber/Lyft?

I have heard of cab drivers charging if somebody is sick in their car and rightly so.

But in 43 years of renting in America I have never heard of a cleaning charge albeit I do shake the mats out.

[pinkstarburst]

We are just back from our first trip. I say first as we will most definately be going back!
Originally we had a car booked, however I ended up cancelling as decided that it would be lovely to not drive for a couple of weeks and was hoping lyft / uber option would be as convenient and reasonable as what it seemes through research and it definately was.
We stayed on site at Disney, however made the following jounrneys maybe more. My only tip would be to have both lyft and uber downloaded as we had a slight issue with Lyft at Legoland where the driver could not find the pickup point. We ended up cancelling and getting an uber. Generally uber is slightly more expensive which is why lyft was our preference, however no difference in service. We made the following journeys and prices are roughly what we paid from memory:

BC to Universal - $15 each way Lyft
BC to Vineland - $10 each way Lyft
BC to Legoland - $33 on way and then $42 on the return journey. Return was through Uber
BC to Discovery Cove - $20 each way
AKL to Premium Outlets - $15
AKL to Wallmart - $12
AKL to Disney Springs (Virgin check in) - $10

You pay a tip on top of the above depending on what you think is reasonable. For us this was much better than having the hassle of the car. The furthest we wanted to go was Legoland so may be different if you had more journeys etc.

[mghayward]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

OP. Can you clarify please about a cleaning charge? Do you mean a hire car or an Uber/Lyft?

I have heard of cab drivers charging if somebody is sick in their car and rightly so.

But in 43 years of renting in America I have never heard of a cleaning charge albeit I do shake the mats out.

See more...

I have read stories of people been charged/scammed for things like stains on seats in Uber’s which was not their doing.

[Nicksgirl]

I wouldn't really like to do Florida without a car, even though we use the Disney Transport at times... a car is freedom. x

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by mghayward

I have read stories of people been charged/scammed for things like stains on seats in Uber’s which was not their doing.

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Ahh I see. Never heard of that but there again I have never used one. Mind you if I hadn't stained it they would have more chance of getting blood out of a stone than me!

But to the point. If I couldn't have a hire car I wouldn't go. One word - flexibility.

[chmurf]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

If I couldn't have a hire car I wouldn't go. One word - flexibility.

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THIS!

Couldn't have said it better.

the day I'm no longer able to have or drive my own car in the US is the day I will bury my passport in my garden and never use it again.

[duchy]

I used to think a car was essential and was part of the never camp but Lyft and Uber for some have made it a game changer.

A lot depends on where you are staying and what you want to do .
I had used Uber in other US cities especially Chicago and found it worked well for me. We then had a three generations villa holiday in Orlando in one of the communities close to Disney ... and only one person who enjoys US driving so a seven seater. Sometimes we didn't want to all leave at the same time from a park or some wanted a later start, using Lyft allowed us that freedom instead of everyone having to stick together . It was cheaper than hiring a second car and ultra convenient ... and MK apart drop is at the gates.
We've continued to use it since.
On site and off it can work .
On site I honestly don't see the point in paying resort parking plus the hire of a car when in most cases Disney transportation is quick and easy and when it isn't Lyft or Uber is a cheap fall back and they literally arrive in a couple of minutes.

Off site location and what you want to visit makes it a sometimes better option but with a car costing conservatively $30 day day to hire plus fuel and any tolls plus $25 parking then $55 is a lot of trips per day .
Plus no designated driver scenario.

We did the I Drive parks in April so Lyft from the airport , then we used Lyft every day to a from , sometimes a second time to go out to dinner. It was still cheaper than hiring a car. We could have saved even more if we'd been bothered walking to the corner and using I Trolley though we then picked up a hire car on I Drive for visiting Mount Dora, Tampa and Vero for the rest of the holiday before dropping the car at Miami. We never once said in Orlando we wished we'd hired a car , there just wasn't any disadvantage (except the cost of a few extra drinks as no one needed to abstain.

That said some people are "poppers out" pop out for breakfast, pop back to the hotel or villa , pop back for a swim from the parks, pop out for dinner , for them a car is probably a better deal . We are more "gone for the day" style .

There's no right answer .
With regards to the cleaning charge issue , it's not anything we've ever experienced however we did find coming back from water parks drivers wanted to make sure we were dry and didn't have damp swimmers under our clothes to avoid wet seats (which I understand completely , damp seat means they can't take another job) so I do wonder if that's part of the issue , wet or sandy passengers can mean the car has to be dried or cleaned before taking another job.

Whilst some people can't imagine not having a car on holiday , for others it's a good (sometimes better) option.

[amarooney]

With Lyft being announced as the official rideshare partner I wonder if this will get exetended to discourage others ie Uber and taxis from coming onto site or charging a fee if they go past the booths at the entrance of the car parks.
I have never considerd not hiring a car but with the never ending increase in car parking charges uber/lyft may be the way forward. That may stop DW's quick on the hoof trips to whatever mall she suddenly fancies going to. I can dream.