Convertible

Convertible is the one class in the Florida fleet booked for pleasure rather than for logistics. Everything else on the list answers a question about seats and cases. A Mustang with the roof down on the A1A along the Atlantic coast answers a completely different question, and the people who book it know precisely what they are paying for.

Capacity is 4 seats, 2 doors, 1 large case and 1 smaller bag. Read that luggage figure twice, because it is the smallest in the fleet and the boot is genuinely small once the folded roof has taken its share of the space. Two people with sensible luggage is what this car is for.

Typical supply is the Ford Mustang Convertible, which is the car you are already picturing and the one Florida branches hold in numbers. It is automatic, air conditioned, rear wheel drive, and long and wide by British standards despite having only two doors.

Rear seats exist and are best thought of as occasional. Two adults will fit behind two adults for a short run along the beach road, and nobody will enjoy an hour of it. Children manage perfectly well, although getting a child seat past a two door aperture is a job you will want to do once a day rather than four times.

Couples on an anniversary, a honeymoon or a milestone birthday make up most bookings, and Florida is a good place to spend that money. The A1A up the Atlantic coast through Vero Beach and Daytona, the Overseas Highway through the Keys, and the Gulf coast road down through Sanibel and Naples are all genuinely lovely drives with the roof folded away.

Two adults with older children can make it work for a few days, since teenagers fit in the back for short runs and rather enjoy the novelty of it. Two adults with a toddler and a pushchair cannot, and should not try.

Short hires suit the class far better than long ones. Three or four days of coast driving is the highlight of a holiday. Fourteen days of theme park runs in a car with a small boot, a hot cabin at two in the afternoon and a two door aperture is a very different experience, and plenty of people who took a Mustang for a fortnight would take it for a long weekend next time.

Anyone based in Orlando doing parks every day should think hard before choosing this class. Theme park car parks are enormous, hot and completely exposed, the roof stays up all day, and you are carrying ponchos, bags and shopping in a boot that does not want any of it.

Where it works brilliantly is as a second hire or a split hire. Collect a saloon or an SUV at Orlando International for the theme park week, then take a convertible for the coastal leg. We can price that as two hires on one booking, which usually costs less than people expect and gets you the right car for each half of the holiday.

Basic and inclusive rate tiers apply here as everywhere, and the gap matters because specialty vehicles carry higher underlying rates. A basic rate covers the car and the legal minimum. An inclusive rate adds collision damage protection, the liability cover American law requires, unlimited mileage and usually an additional driver allowance.

Specialty classes sometimes carry different terms from the standard fleet with the same supplier, including a different excess, a different minimum age and occasionally a mileage cap where the rest of the range is unlimited. That is exactly why we confirm the terms attached to your particular booking in writing rather than describing them in general.

Mileage is worth checking specifically on this class, because a convertible is usually booked for driving rather than for parking. A Keys round trip from Orlando is around 780 miles before you have driven anywhere else, so unlimited mileage is worth having.

Toll charges arrive after the holiday under your supplier's programme with an administration fee per day of use, unless you collected a Visitor Toll Pass at Orlando International and paid the electronic rate directly.

Fuel policy is normally full to full, and a Mustang takes regular unleaded despite its badge. Filling stations sit within a couple of miles of every airport return road. Paying inside at the kiosk avoids the zip code request that stops some UK credit cards working at the pump.

Florida law requires a crash tested, federally approved restraint for every child aged 5 or under. Birth through age 3 must use a separate carrier or an integrated child seat. Ages 4 and 5 may use a separate carrier, an integrated seat or a booster. A seat belt is legal from age 6.

Two doors change the practicalities completely. Every installation, every buckle and every retrieval happens through a folded front seat and a narrow gap, in the sun, usually with a queue of cars waiting for your space. Doing that once a day is tolerable. Doing it four times a day for a fortnight is not, and it is the main reason families with young children should look at another class.

One restraint in the rear is realistic. Two is technically possible in some configurations and a genuine struggle in practice, and the rear seat of a Mustang is narrow as well as hard to reach.

Sun exposure is a specific concern with children in an open car. A child in a rear seat with the roof down is fully exposed with no shade and little airflow at low speed, so keep the roof up during the middle of the day when children are aboard and use it for the early and late hours instead.

Hiring a seat from the supplier is charged per seat per day and must be reserved on the booking. Bringing your own works too, since airlines carry them free on transatlantic routes. Fit it in the collection garage where you have shade and time rather than at the roadside.