Alliance, Toledo or Cleveland: Car rental

[JackieTakestheTrain]

Hello everyone! Long time, no post.

Just got back on a trip on the Cardinal from Cincinnati. I am so happy that this train runs on time now *AND* has better food, although I am not crazy about the new turkey sausage, but that is a different conversation.

Now if I can just find a way to rent a car early in the a.m. in Ohio, so then I can drive to Cincinnati and not mess with the whole Cardinal's "every-other-day" madness.

It looks I can take the Capitol and get off in Alliance or Cleveland or Toledo to rent a car. Is there one city of these that might be better? Last fall, I rode the LSL and rented a car out of Cleveland. It was not awful, but it did mean I had to spend the night in Cleveland, which added to the cost of my trip. (I don't drive at night.)

I suspect I will have to do a similar overnight deal again, but maybe it might be easier/cheaper to do it in Alliance versus Toledo.

I am thinking of taking this trip around Labor Day so I wanted to book it soon so I can get a sleeper.

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you!

-- Jackie, who will be very happy when the light-rail comes to the Buckeye State!!!

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Alliance is worse than Cleveland for what you want to do... The only place I know that would rent yuh a car would be one of the CAK airport renters. You'd end up needing a ride to get there too, they only just put in a working pay phone at ALC. There is no bus, light rail, or cab service at ALC, ever. You could call one of the cab companies in Canton, but it would take awhile.

I have seen cabs at both CLE and TOL when the CL calls, not to mention the calling times at TOL are much more reasonable than at CLE or ALC. You're talking midnight and 5AM versus 2 and 3AM.

I'd go with CLE. Whatever you do, do not do ALC unless you know somebody in or around Stark County.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

PS CLE does have light rail, so technically we do have light rail here. We just want better Amtrak service.

 

[Railroad Bill]

I would think that Toledo would be a better bet since (as mentioned by ALC Rail Writer), you would arrive there around 5am on Amtrak and would be closer to Cincinnati and not as long a wait to pick up a rental in the morning. There seemed to be cabs out front at the TOL station and could take you to a nearby rental place when they opened up. Enterprise and sometimes Hertz will pick you up at some stations. You would also be driving in the light as opposed to waiting for several hours at Cleveland until something opened up.

Not sure but the only rental place that might be available in CLE at 2am would be at the airport which is a long way from downtown.

 

[JackieTakestheTrain]

Hi, forgive the update to an old thread or if someone else has posted this, but I wanted to pass this along as it might be important to those traveling on the LSL toward Chicago and getting off in Cleveland to rent a car in the wee hours of the morning.

I just learned that Hertz, the only 24 hour rental company at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport, will effective June 1, change its hours of operations from 0500-0200 (5 a.m. to 2 a.m.) and essentially be closed for 3 hours -- right when the LSL arrives.

I am super ticked about because I made an online reservation back in April for a trip over Labor Day. I was hoping to ride the LSL from Boston to Cleveland, take a cab from the Cleveland Amtrak station to the airport, rent a car and be in Cincinnati by 9 a.m.

What really honks me off is that the only way I learned about the change in hours was because I was looking on the Hertz website to see if their rates had gone down. I noticed the hours had changed! So, I phoned the airport location, the agent confirmed that they had just changed their hours a few weeks ago. When I asked when were they going to tell their customers who already had reservations in the system for a time between 2 a.m and 5 a.m., the agent said she was not sure. :blink:

She said that since I called attention to it they would make *sure* that someone was there to meet me at 4 a.m. to give me my car and she confirmed I would still be reimbursed for $20 cab ride from the airport....

We shall see. You can certainly bet I will call multiple times to make sure the agent noted it on my reservation!

I just thought I would pass along this info. since I know a few times Hertz had been mentioned as a choice for those early morning trains going through Ohio.

I am not sure how long the new hours will be in effect.

-- Jackie