MLB Reports

SILVERCAR rental car company is the 1st establishment to offer the exact same vehicle for any duration of a car rental. They have services currently in Austin, TX, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Love Airport, Dallas FT Worth Airport, Denver International Airport, Ft Lauderdale Int’l Airport, New York City – Brooklyn Easy Out, Phoenix Sky Harbor Int’l Airport, Miami Int’l Airport.

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Chuck Booth’s 2015 MLB Park Historical Road Trip

The GOAL: 183 Straight Days (every single day at least 1 gm) Of ALL 30 MLB Parks Trip In 2015 (217 Games) view full year schedule.

The CAUSE:  To Raise Money for Concussion Awareness (via Sports Legacy Institute. donate money here) Through Inspiring Others.

So about 2 months ago I found out about this car rental company called SILVERCAR, locate on the Interwebs at http://www.silvercar.com, I was definitely intrigued by the idea of the idea of having the same rental car always as an option.  The problem was the cost at first.  It was a premium rental vehicle that was in the $90 a day for all the costs included.  But I downloaded their app anyway, while doing some more investigation.

We all have been stuck with a rental car that wasn’t to our liking at all right?  It is a catches-catch-can at the rental locations, and if you are not a preferred member of a rewards program, you don’t stand a chance to receive your ideal car.

I was sitting on 40 free rental car days at National Car Rental this year. have 5 other free days from a Canadian Base Rewards Program (also using National Car Rental as my designated rental location), while also possessing a long term rental car that is at my brothers in Sicklerville.  This is when SILVERCAR offered me a nice coupon discount for half-off a 2 day rental.

Knowing that San Francisco Airport carries a $20 Airport recovery fee for another car rental ensures that even my wicked National free days will still see a monetary hit when I rent from that location.

It set up perfectly to give them a shot because i needed a car from June 25th – June 27th, while I was also picking up Scott Bultman (going to 60 games and 21 parks with me) at Oakland – then dropping him off in San Francisco on the 27th.  I began to think it was even better when I determined using public transportation in the BAY area was going to run me $40 anyway.

In staying with my buddy Tike’s family in San Leandro (about 4 miles from Oakland downtown), we also all wanted to hang out – scurrying around in only one vehicle on June 26th.  The Audi 4 selection at full size was looking like a perfect selection.

On Thursday June 25th I dropped a rental car off at National, proceeded back to the SFO terminal, and my Silver Car experience began.  I took an off-site parking Park ‘N’ Fly shuttle bus to the location.  During my trip over there, i touched a button on the app to let them know I was coming.  My phone assured me they were waiting.

I was greeted by a nice young lady that knew my name, and had a car waiting for me.  It was this car pictured below.

She quickly informed me of the features of the car, and i scanned the barcode on the windshield to start my rental.  It was that easy, no fumbling around with credit cards, after I quickly just proved i was who I said I was the agent.

I was blown away by the options on this car.  First off, having free WiFi is a baseball bloggers dream on a rental car.  It virtually means anytime that you are in your car – you are connected to the superhighway.  I started envisioning long weekend roadtrips with several ballpark chasers, and all of us being plugged into our social media network.  This alone is worth a lot of cash on a daily basis.

The beautiful brand new Silver Audi 4 only had 2500 miles on it, and had the aura of a new car smell.

It was time for me to leave, and the lady ran down that I she already saved the rental car companies address into the favorites for the GPS navigational system, and I was out of there.  By the way, for those people who are not familiar with directions to rental car locations, this alleviates any strenuous pressure in finding your drop off point when your contract is up.

During the drive, I was able to listen to satellite radio – and of course the MLB Network.  This is a must have in any rental I have, owning a baseball website, and also going to a game every year. Even with the best of car rental places I belong too, there is never any certainty the satellite radio will work for all – or parts of your trip, based on trial subscription.

Right after that, i noticed the transponder toll pass for the California highway.  Having one of these can run $5 – $7 a day, and it was included in this rental.  You still have to pay for tolls encountered along the trip, but also at a time-saving rate in the FASTPASS lanes.  Having this for a place like New York City would be ideal.

The car had plenty of entertainment gadgets from the navigational guides, to dc volts to plug adapters in, a USB port as well.  Yes, these are standard in premium cars, but there was 3 different portals to choose from.

This ride was a smooth one back to San Leandro from San Francisco this night.  I showed it off to my buddies, and we all agreed it was a nice looking car, and that the Wi FI feature was worth about $7 – 10 for us.  The reception strength for the internet was strong. On Saturday morning, I was in the car for 3 hours at o.Co Coliseum catching up on blogs.

We ended up using the car to pass over 4 different toll bridges, and the use of the navigational guides was key in avoiding several bad traffic jams over the day.

This vehicle fit 4 adults, and one kid very comfortably, and all of us had enough room.

One of the features I did not use was there value play of a $5 fill up option.  Instead of worrying about filling the car up, you could have them do it, and they would only charge the rate of gas at the nearest gas station, and then just add $5.  This is a convenient service, especially if you are just too late to do it yourself.  All other rental companies would make the $5 off you after pumping just $8 worth of gas to begin with.

Because I had a coupon, it knocked my price of the 2 day rental from $162 – $92, but the price point of $81 all in at that location is very competitive with the leading car rental companies.  Of course I am thrilled to have had the bill under a hundred, but the extra’s we had during the time i had the Silver Audi was well worth the price difference of the cheapest rate i could get even having free rental days.

When I returned the car, a young man named Lamar greeted me at the drop point, and he couldn’t have been more cool to help me with all I needed to know.  This team of Silver Car may be a young organization, but they have bright, intelligent people working for them.

In the end, I probably wouldn’t rent a car from SILVERCAR if it were just me going into the car, yet the more people who get added to a roadtrip, suddenly this idea seems a lot better as an overall deal.

I definitely recommend everyone to try this new rental company out at least once.

All of us in SF loved the rental car maneuver here the last 2 days