All seven big US rental brands allow one-way rentals. The drop fee only shows in your quote.

Key figures

Each brand states its one-way rules differently

Enterprise, National and Alamo describe a separate one-time drop charge or mileage charge. Avis says most locations charge none. Budget says one way is not more expensive. Hertz and Sixt say a fee may apply depending on route and season.

Read on each brand's own one-way and age pages on 15 November 2026. Hertz and Sixt pages did not load in full, so their wording comes from search extracts of those pages and is marked reported elsewhere.

A one-way rental is booked like any other, with a different return location

1. Enter the pick-up location, then a different return location, before you pick dates. Enterprise says one-way rentals must be reserved in advance 10.
2. Read the quote line by line. Enterprise, National and Alamo show any drop charge when you book and collect it at pick-up 13. Avis shows fees at step three of booking 6.
3. Check the mileage terms. Avis says most of its cars have unlimited mileage; Enterprise and Alamo may add a mileage charge to some one-way rentals.
4. Return the car where the agreement says. Budget charges extra if you drop at a new location without its authorisation 8, and changing the return point after pick-up can cost more based on distance.

Drop fees change with the route, the season and the car

Enterprise says its drop fee "varies depending on location and time of year". Hertz says the fee covers getting the car back to where it started, and that distance, rental length, car type and drop-off location all count.

National says there is typically no drop charge between airport locations, with restrictions. Returns inside the same city can still attract a drop charge, mileage charge or higher rate at Enterprise, National and Alamo.

No price or fee is shown on this site because no brand publishes one. Local news coverage of the 13 November stop reported sell-outs and queues and no prices 20.

Compare the total of each quote, drop charge included

• Quote the same pick-up and return points, dates and car class at several brands. The daily rate alone misleads when one brand adds a drop charge and another does not.
• Try airport to airport. National's typical no-drop-charge rule applies between airport locations.
• Price the under-25 surcharge. The minimum age is 20 at Hertz and 21 at the others in most states, and every brand adds a fee below 25.
• Pay later if your plans may change again. AutoSlash reports a prepaid no-show at Hertz, Avis, Budget, Dollar and Thrifty keeps the full price 21, while pay-later bookings carry no no-show fee at the major brands 21.
• Add your flight number to any car booked at your destination. AutoSlash reports all eight brands it checked waive the no-show fee when the airline and flight number were on the booking 21.

Five lines in the rental agreement decide the final bill

• The return location, written exactly. A return anywhere else is unauthorised.
• Any drop charge or inter-city fee, and whether it was paid at pick-up.
• Mileage: unlimited, or a cap with a per-mile charge.
• Where you may drive. Sixt bars one-way rentals from the US into Canada and into or out of Hawaii.
• Young driver and additional driver fees, if anyone under 25 will drive.

Rental searches ran at nearly 3 times normal when flights stopped on 13 November

Searches for "rental car" peaked at 5pm ET on Friday 13 November at 265 on the Google Trends scale, against a normal level of 95.2 in the days before 1. That is 2.8 times normal. For "one way car rental", Nevada led every state.

Counters emptied fast. In Atlanta all eight rental brands had no cars at 5:42pm, under two hours after the stop began 20. At Nashville six of ten companies sold out 22, and John Wayne Airport stopped taking walk-up rentals 23.

Hertz said one-way rentals had increased and its teams were working to accommodate travellers. It mentioned no fee waiver 2. No other rental company published a statement 24. During the shutdown flight cuts of November 2025, Hertz one-way reservations ran more than 20% above the year before 25.

Waivers have happened before. After 11 September 2001, National and Alamo ran a flat one-way rate with no drop fees and Avis waived drop charges 26. Nothing like it was announced this time.

If you are stranded now, book the car before you queue and add your flight number to any rental waiting at your destination. The ground stop page has current FAA status, and the 13 November ground stop page tracks what every travel company said.

Insurance pays for a rental only inside a delay or interruption limit

No US federal rule requires an airline to pay for meals, hotels or ground transport after a delay or cancellation, whatever the cause 27. The airlines' own care promises cover problems within their control, and the 13 November stop was an FAA failure. The airline hotel guide has each airline's rule.

Travel insurance delay benefits repay "reasonable additional expenses" once a waiting period has passed. The US policy documents read list local transport among those expenses (Generali 28, Travelex 29, Nationwide 30), and Travel Insured International lists ground transport 31. None of the US wordings read names a one-way rental home.

One Canadian policy does. CAA's Trip Delays benefit names car rental, inside its C$400-a-day limit 32. American Express Canada's Platinum card cover excludes alternate travel such as a new ticket or an intercity bus and allows local taxis 33.

Timing matters too. Of the US delay products that state a waiting period, 10 of 14 start at 5 hours or more, and the stop ran 4 hours 21 minutes 34. Keep every receipt and the airline's written notice of the cancellation, then check your wording in the claim tool or the insurance table.

Ten cities carry most one-way searches

Chicago, Las Vegas and New York lead by a long way. Each city page lists the rental centre at the main airport, drive times to nearby cities and the train and bus operators.

US monthly search volumes, 12-month averages.

Questions people ask about one-way rentals