Economy

Economy is the cheapest line on any Florida hire quote, and for a good number of trips it is genuinely the right one. Every car in the class carries 5 seats, 4 doors, an automatic gearbox and air conditioning, because that is the standard specification across the whole Florida fleet rather than an upgrade you pay extra for.

Luggage is the figure that decides it, and the figure is 1 large case and 1 smaller bag with the boot lid shut and the rear seats up. That is an honest count rather than a cautious one. It is also the single reason families of four end up moving a class or two up the list before they book.

Typical models are the Kia Rio and the Nissan Versa. Both would read as an ordinary hatchback or small saloon at home, and both feel undersized next to the pickups and full size SUVs sharing your lane on I-4. You book the class rather than a named car, so treat those two as the shape and size that will be waiting in the collection bay.

Running costs are where the money comes back to you. A small four cylinder engine covering a fortnight of park runs, coast trips and supermarket errands uses noticeably less fuel than a large SUV doing the same miles, and American fuel prices make that gap far easier to live with than it would be at home. Parking is simpler too, which matters more than it sounds when you are circling for a space at Disney Springs on a Saturday evening.

Two adults on a first Florida trip are the natural fit. You have the airport run, a daily drive to a park gate, an evening out on International Drive and perhaps a day at the coast, and none of that asks anything of a car beyond air conditioning that works and a boot that holds the two of you.

Couples staying in a hotel get more out of this class than a family in a self catering villa does. A hotel trip does not involve a weekly supermarket shop and a villa trip does. Loading a fortnight of groceries for six people into an economy boot is the sort of thing people only do once.

Solo travellers and business visitors are the other obvious group. If the car spends most of its life parked and the rest of it on I-4 between a hotel and a meeting, paying for a bigger boot buys you nothing at all.

Where the class stops working is with young children. Three child seats will not sit side by side across the rear bench of most cars here, and even two bulky seats plus an adult is a genuine squeeze. Add a pushchair and a change bag and the boot is gone before your cases arrive.

Long drives are the other limit worth naming. Orlando to Miami is roughly 230 miles and Orlando to Key West closer to 390, both entirely possible in a small car and both noticeably less pleasant than in something with a bigger cabin and a quieter engine at 70mph. If your itinerary is Orlando plus one coast day, that hardly matters. If it is a full Florida loop, spend the difference.

Rate tiers are the thing to understand before you compare two prices. Florida car hire sells at a basic rate that covers the car and the legal minimum, and at an inclusive rate that bundles the protections and extras most UK customers assume are standard. The gap between the two headline figures is rarely the gap you actually pay, because a basic rate leaves several items to be settled at the desk in dollars.

An inclusive rate typically wraps in collision damage protection, the liability cover American law requires, unlimited mileage and at least one additional driver. Basic rates commonly leave some or all of that off. We confirm exactly what your chosen rate includes, and the excess that applies to it, in writing before you pay, because those figures move by supplier, by season and by pickup location and we will not guess at them.

Fuel policy is worth reading on the confirmation rather than discovering at the counter. Full to full is the usual arrangement and the cheapest to live with, and there is a filling station within a couple of miles of every airport return road in Florida.

Tolls come back to you after the fact under whichever programme your supplier runs, generally with an administration charge attached. At Orlando International there is also the Visitor Toll Pass, a hangtag collected from vending machines in the terminals that charges the electronic toll rate with no service fee of its own. Taking it means declining the supplier's toll product, and taking both means paying twice for the same journey.

Additional drivers, satellite navigation, child seats and one way drop charges all sit outside the base rate unless your tier includes them. Ask us to list them against your booking so nothing lands as a surprise on a Florida forecourt at eleven o'clock at night.

Florida law requires a child aged 5 or under to travel in a crash tested, federally approved child restraint. Children from birth through age 3 must be in a separate carrier or a manufacturer's integrated child seat. Children aged 4 and 5 may use a separate carrier, an integrated seat or a booster. A seat belt satisfies the law from age 6, although the safety advice runs well beyond the legal minimum.

American seats are not the ones you have at home. Florida writes its rule around age rather than the height and weight bands UK parents are used to, and the seats handed over at the desk are American designs fitted with an American belt or lower anchor system. Ask the staff to show you the installation rather than working it out yourself in a hot car park.

Hiring a seat from the supplier is the simple route and it is charged per seat per day. Availability is not guaranteed unless the seat is on the booking, so reserve it rather than assuming one will be there.

Bringing your own works too. UK seats fit American belts in most cases and airlines carry them free on transatlantic routes. The catch in an economy car is space. A rear facing infant seat in a Kia Rio pushes the front passenger seat a long way forward, and two seats plus an adult across the rear bench is tight enough that most families with two under fives move up a class before they reach the airport.

Fitting matters more than the paperwork. Check the belt path is correct and the harness is snug before you leave the collection garage, because the first junction you meet is one you will be concentrating on for other reasons entirely.