Kyte Rental Car Review: Philly To Asbury Park Beach Vacation

I’m a water child, by and thru. I used to be born in Juneau, Alaska, and have relished digging my toes within the sand on seashores all world wide. When it comes right down to it, I actually simply wish to attain the seaside, and this summer time, that necessitated renting a automotive.

This yr, my household decided to trip in Asbury Park, New Jersey, my sister’s favourite seaside city on the Atlantic Seaboard. The issue? She’s a metropolis dweller with a tiny hatchback, and our household of three (together with a 1-year-old who wants all of the issues) was flying from Saint Louis to Philly to satisfy her earlier than driving out to the shore.

I attempted this manner and that to determine how we may make the journey occur with out renting a automotive, however street tripping was not a viable possibility, and neither was public transportation. Ultimately, we booked a small sedan with a standard rental automotive firm. Whereas I wasn’t feeling excited concerning the automobile or the price of the rental, the seaside was calling, and we wanted a rental automotive to get us there.

Enter Kyte — An Progressive, App-Primarily based Rental Automobile Expertise

A couple of weeks earlier than our journey, I bought an e-mail about Kyte, “One of the best ways to get a automotive” with legit rental vehicles delivered to your door. As a journey editor, I get emails about a whole lot of merchandise and experiences, and I used to be skeptical.

I wasn’t inquisitive about driving another person’s automobile a la carshare firm Turo, however I was impressed by Kyte’s rental choices in Philadelphia, the place we may ebook an SUV for a day longer and over $100 much less than we have been planning to spend on a compact with the opposite rental firm.

Additionally, Kyte would ship the automobile to my sister’s condominium in Heart Metropolis. She may use it to select us (and all our luggage) up from the airport, no shuttle rides or ready round for a rental automotive required. She may even set up child’s backup automotive seat, already at her place from a earlier go to, earlier than we arrived.

I felt my stress concerning the rental automotive (and the way we have been going to get the whole lot in it) melting away. I made a decision to take an opportunity on Kyte.

Professional Tip: It’s value pricing out a Kyte rental even if you happen to’re already booked with one other firm. I used to be in a position to cancel my conventional rental reservation only one week earlier than its begin date with simply two clicks and no penalties or different charges.

How Does A Kyte Rental Work?

I used to be positive to learn the nice print as my sister and I navigated the Kyte rental. For instance, you should resolve what sort of insurance coverage protection your rental would require relying on whether or not the drivers are personally insured or not (we’re, so we didn’t need to pay these further charges). Likewise, do you want limitless miles? All Kyte journeys include 300 miles per day, however if you happen to’re going to place greater than that on the automobile, you should improve. The drive from Philly to Asbury Park is just 80 miles, and we didn’t plan on any further driving, so we didn’t.

Kyte’s website makes it clear that the reserving must be within the title of the one who’ll be receiving the automobile and the keys. Since child, my husband, and I might be in flight once we wished to have the automotive delivered, it wanted to be in my sister’s title. Simple breezy. We FaceTimed as she adopted all the required steps to determine herself as the first on the rental, entered my bank card information (I’d agreed to pay for the rental, and this didn’t current any issues), and picked a 30-minute supply window.

As quickly as we booked, we had the choice so as to add drivers by way of a hyperlink that collected the required info and took a photograph of my driver’s license adopted by (hilariously unflattering) “selfies” that have been used for ID verification. A couple of minutes later, I bought a textual content that I’d been accepted.

Professional Tip: You’ll don’t have any management over Kyte’s ID verification selfie cam. Put together to be amused and/or horrified by the images it takes in fast succession to match towards your driver’s license.

As promised, on the day our rental began, my sister bought a textual content notifying her when the Kyte “Surfer” (supply and pick-up driver) was on the best way and once more when he’d arrived. She popped exterior of her constructing, he verified her ID, they snapped a contented photograph, and the keys and an attractive, completely clear, fully-equipped, like-new GMC SUV have been all hers. She took her time putting in child’s automotive seat and picked us up from the airport just a few hours later. No shuttles, no standing round, no paperwork required.

Professional Tip: In contrast to another rental automotive firms, Kyte doesn’t supply automotive seats, however you may set up your individual. When you’re contemplating a Kyte rental, you’ll wish to journey with one or contemplate having one shipped to a journey companion or preliminary vacation spot forward of time. This was a godsend for us that alleviated a whole lot of stress.

Since I used to be accepted as a further driver, I had the pleasure of cruising out to the shore after selecting up a Goal curbside order. Child fell asleep in her acquainted automotive seat and my sister, my husband, and I discovered ourselves chatting and listening to music comfortably even because the SUV we didn’t suppose we may afford was packed to the gills with luggage, coolers, groceries, a seaside tent, and even the moveable excessive chair that wound up holding us sane throughout seaside home meal occasions.

Parking Our Kyte Rental Automobile

Once we bought to Asbury Park, we lucked out with a free parking spot proper in entrance of our trip rental. We unloaded our Kyte and forgot about it as we soaked up the solar, performed within the waves, went to seaside yoga, and strolled the boardwalk. The proper automotive rental, am I proper?

Notice that my sister did pay for parking in a non-public lot whereas she had the automotive in Heart Metropolis, Philadelphia.

No Want To Refuel — Let Your ‘Surfer’ Do It For You

When it was time to go residence, we packed the automobile and drove from the shore to the airport. My sister dropped us off and drove herself residence. A couple of hours later, through the window she’d scheduled, a Surfer texted to say he was exterior my sister’s constructing to select up the automobile, and she or he handed over the keys.

Given Kyte’s native market fee refueling possibility, we determined not to cease for gasoline as we nonetheless had over half a tank. Passively agreeing to let our Surfer refuel for us (which concerned our card on file being charged market fee, but no penalty, additional fee, or service charge whatsoever) made our journey that rather more relaxed.

‘No one Ever Says Good Issues About Rental Automobile Corporations’ (Till Now)

After I bought again to work, I discovered myself gushing about our Kyte rental expertise. “No one ever says good issues about rental automotive firms!” my boss chuckled.

The Kyte rental actually did make our seaside trip, so I can’t assist however suppose it may be the top of the stressing-about-renting-a-car period — and encourage you to strive a Kyte rental, too.

Who Is Kyte Good For?

Clearly, if you happen to’re snug street tripping in your individual automobile or might be touring with somebody whose automotive can accommodate everybody comfortably, renting a automotive isn’t a problem. However if you happen to’re planning a visit throughout which you’re going to wish a automobile and desire a deal, and a extra streamlined, progressive rental expertise, Kyte is for you.

It’s additionally an awesome possibility for people who wish to get away from residence with out placing miles on their very own automobiles (or who want one thing bigger or extra dependable) and people who can trip share throughout a part of their trip however then wish to hit the street (say you’re starting your trip in San Fransisco, then wish to head to Napa Valley).

Kyte at the moment operates within the following cities:

• San Francisco
• Los Angeles
• Boston
• Washington D.C.
• New York Metropolis
• Jersey Metropolis
• Brooklyn
• Chicago
• Miami
• Seattle
• Portland
• Philadelphia

Notice that you could get pleasure from a Kyte rental even if you happen to’re flying in and wish a rental instantly, however you might need to take a Kyte-covered trip share off airport property earlier than being handed the keys.