Fly-n-Ride or Rent-n-Ride

[YanniT]

Purchased a 2015 FJR1300ES model from this forum. Great deal with accessories. But the seller was 550 miles away. One-way air ticket was $300+ so I started search for a one-way rental car.

Found one Avis office nearby (Priceline.com) that quoted me $85 total for a one day rental. Bingo! Seller agreed to pick me up at local airport at the car return.

Try not to pickup the car at an airport. There are more fees and they don't seem to be as flexible as other offices. Mind you I could only find the one office at the time for a one-way but that's all I needed. Seller was also gracious to ship some extras to my home that I couldn't carry on the bike.

Just a thought, fellas.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Great idea and alternative for making the deal.

Congrats on the new [to you] '15ES! Great bike...you won't be disappointed.

--G

 

[bruinFJRguy]

Nice! I did that once. (LA to Palm Springs)

Also, I did Megabus once. (LA to Vegas)

And Amtrak once (LA to Victorville)

All were pretty close trips, but would have worked for longer trips also.

 

[Eagle Six]

This year so far I have made three rent-n-ride's. They were rather short, 220 mile, 250 mile and a 330 mile to pick up an FJR1300A, VFR800A and ZX14. I used Enterprise and they all worked out well.

Back in 2008, I sold an ST1300A to a fly-n-ride buyer. He flew from the Tampa area to Phoenix. We had several phone conversations with me feeding him dimensions of the side cases, as well as, the extra goodies that went with the bike. I picked him up at Sky Harbor Intl Airport and he had two hard suit cases and a smaller soft case. He arrived with all his riding gear including summer gear, rain gear and cold weather gear, helmet, and a bunch of chargers and electronics. Everything he brought for the trip back fit in the bike side bags and we strapped the soft bag on as a tail bag. All the extras I included we packed in his 2 hard suit cases. He departed late that afternoon and I ran along with him for the first 100 miles or so. The next day I dropped his suit cases off at UPS and he had a neighbor accept them in Tampa. His planned route home included a few stops in Indiana, Chicago, somewhere along the east coast before his home in Florida. Spoke with him a few weeks later when he reported his trip was a success. It was a lot of planning, but was a great example of 'planning pays off'.

 

[FTL900]

Airport car rentals are always more expensive, I move away from the airport to rent whenever possible.

I did a GF drive and ride... found an FJR in Phoenix so I talked the GF into making a weekend of it. We drove down from Las Vegas Friday, and on Sunday I rode the bike back home while she drove her car. Just over 300 miles, time enough to get a feel for the bike and what I wanted to change.