Should I drive from JFK Airport or Newark to Florida

[noodler]

I am going to book a car from this site to drive from New York to Washington and eventually to Florida.

Does anyone have any experience of collecting a car from JFK or Newark? I will have 2 kids of 8 and 12 and want the smoothest exit possible. Do you know if the roads are busier or the same exiting either airport.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

[DaveL]

JFK is on the oppisite side of New York for what you want to do. I have attached a map showning the route from JFK to the freeway just below Newark. (click on thumbnail to see large version)

If you have the choice then Newark is the better choice and they get a better review on baggage handling / customs / INS

regards Dave

[noodler]

Thank you for the reply Dave and the map which is very useful. It is very kind of you to take the trouble to offer your help.


We arrive into JFK and will go directly via train/bus/taxi to our hotel for a few days.

We're not having the car whilst visiting New York so it's purely picking up the car and driving to Washington as soon as we've collected it. For this reason I don't mind which place we pick the car up from. Its the simplicity of getting from the car hire place to Washington that I want.

I hope now that JFK won't be too bad with immigration customs etc! Thanks once again.

[Katys Grandad]

Is there a particular reason why you want to go to an airport location to pick the car up?

Both JFK & EWR are quite a way from the usual tourist areas and there are much more convenient locations to collect depending upon where you're staying.

[DaveL]

As you can see from the map both airports are much the same distance from downtown New York which is where you are headed.

All the car hire companies have pick up points within the city. So when you are ready to leave for Orlando you just need to bring the car to the hotel load and go.

Regards Dave

[noodler]

Hi and thanks for the responses.

The reason I've asked about airports is as follows:-

According to the uscarhire website National only has 2 collection locations in New Jersey. One is the Renaissance Hotel Iselin and the other is Newark Airport. We felt it would be easier to get quicker, more direct public transport to Newark Airport than a hotel to collect the car. National are offering a much lower one way fee to Florida, $250 compared to Dollar/Alamo who want $500.

I was choosing JFK as an alternative to Newark because I was worried that driving around Manhattan would be busy. We have to drive directly to Washington from New York so I wanted to keep travelling time to a minimum with 2 young kids in the back. I realise its a good couple of hours but that excludes any hold ups getting out of Manhattan. Of course, I have no experience of driving around Manhattan and I would be more than grateful if someone who has done would let me know if I'm worrying about nothing.

It's also interesting to note that I've found through doing the quotes that New York rentals are much more expensive than the rest of the USA (at least £50 ). But also, you cannot hire a 7 seater SUV from New York through any of the companies. You can hire a 7 seater minivan but we'd prefer a 7 seater SUV as we will be driving throught the blueridge/smoky mountains.

To be honest, it looks like it's going to have to be Newark Airport because 1/ National have the lowest one way drop off 2/We can get the vehicle we want. When I originally posted this thread I hadn't heard back from Roulla about Alamo's one way fee but she's since emailed me with the price so that will now influence us greatly as I can only use National due to their reduced one way fee, and they only hire an SUV from New Jersey. Thanks to all those that have offered their advice.

[Katys Grandad]

As you can see from the map both airports are much the same distance from downtown New York which is where you are headed.

Newark is much easier to get to though because there's a direct rail link from Penn Station. JFK is a complete nightmare from Manhattan most times of day and I wouldn't recommend the subway with young children and luggage in tow.

[DaveL]

I think if I was in your position and needed to use Newark as my car pickup point I would do the follow.

Fly into which ever airport gives you the best flight arrangements (price/timing/whatever). Arrange for a limo to pick you up and take you directly to the hotel. When you are ready to leave get the same people to take you to Newark where you can pick up your car.

There are plenty of limo services available online or I can recommend some I have used. Sure there are other transport arrangements which are a bit cheaper but for easy of use you will not beat this.

regards Dave

P.S. What dates are you going? There may be some interesting things going on in the U.S. that we can let you know about.

[noodler]

Hi Dave, you really are a helpful man. Thank you for your kindness.

We are going from 28/3/12 to 20/4/12. I'd never thought about a limo so if you could recommend some companies I'd appreciate it. If you can't put websites on here would you mind PM'ing me? I've never done that before but others on this site have mentioned it so I hope thats doable/allowed.

I am going to be doing a very long drive, and there will be plenty of opportunity for stop offs. Our actual route is to go from NY, to Washington (we want to go to the space museum in Washington), we want to go tubing in the Shendendoah (hopefully not be too cold in April), maybe rent a cabin for a couple of nights round there. As well as that we want to visit relatives in Atlanta, we'll be stopping off at Dollywood/Pigeon forge before Atlanta...and then we will be ending up in Fort Lauderdale to visit more relatives. I have got to spend some time looking at places to go/things to do along the blueridge/smoky mountains.

Not sure whats happening during that time in the US but if you know of any interesting things I'd be happy to see if they fit in with our schedule.


Flights are booked back to NY as I couldn't face the drive in the other direction.

I managed to get 3 of the 4 flights free converting air miles so I had to use JFK as newark flights weren't available over Easter. Probably a good thing as I've spent a small fortune on hotel in NY, flights from Florida and I've still got to pay around £1000 for the car (luckily not all in one go!) Oh well, It was my choice to have a holiday of a lifetime.. I'm not complaining. Regards Nadine

[kitch50]

I would be inclined to get a yellow cab from JFK, they are very reasonably priced as a controller will agree a price with you before you get in the cab, if that is where you are flying into and then ask the concierge at your hotel to arrange a limo or town car to pick you up and take you to Newark ..... we have done this a number of times when we have been in NY and it worked very well for us ..... I have been to Dollywood and Pidgeon Forge near Gatlinburg in the Smokey Mountains too ... we went panning for gold there .... needless to say we never found any !!!! we stayed in a log cabin on the side of a mountain .... the views were stunning ... I hope you enjoy your trip.