The "Ultimate Roadtrip Playlist" Is Ready, Now I Just Need a Rental Car That Will Play It!

January 7, 2007 9:57 AM

Help me find a rental car company that allows me to reserve a car with an auxiliary input to the stereo!

My wife and I are going on a two week road trip at the end of next of month and would like to make sure the rental car we select has an auxiliary input in the stereo system so we can plug in our iPod and not have to use the crappy radio adapter for hours every day. I know there must be some company that allows this but I've been to most of the major ones and haven't found anything so far.

Please help as multiple 7 hour days of driving without a decent iPod connection could ruin our vacation!

posted by phixed to travel & transportation (15 comments total)

While not as great as an aux input, I've found that a cassette tape adaptor works much better than iTrip. Then, of course, you have to make sure your rental car has a tape player. It might be good as a back up, though.
posted by bonheur at 10:09 AM on January 7, 2007

Second the cassette adapter, they sound just fine. It should be easy enough to find a car with a cassette deck.
posted by knave at 10:17 AM on January 7, 2007

this is a bit of a bizarre suggestion, but on a recent roadtrip I had a similar problem. our radio adapter was not very good and there was no tape player. However I did happen to have a power converter that included a normal 3-prong outlet and plugged into the cigarette lighter. And my friend happened to have a set of PC speakers. So, we powered the speakers from the car and plugged the ipod into them. It wasn't as good as the car audio system but it worked fine for us.
posted by PercussivePaul at 10:33 AM on January 7, 2007

My last rental with Hertz was a Chrysler of some sort (sebring? cirrus?) that had an aux-input.
posted by mathowie at 10:37 AM on January 7, 2007

Dodge Calibers have a aux-in port.
posted by machaus at 10:46 AM on January 7, 2007

Try renting from a company that allows you to pick the car you want from the lot. National/Alamo do this. I think there are some other ones that do as well. That may also depend on where you rent from. If it's just a local rental outlet instead of an airport facility, they won't have as much selection, so they might just tell you what car you get.

I had the same desire when I rented a car from SFO last month, but since I knew that I would be able to pick my car, I figured at least one of the available cars would have the jack.

I ended up with a pretty basic Chevy Cobalt and it had one.
posted by ninjew at 10:50 AM on January 7, 2007

Not really what you're ideally looking for, but maybe as a last ditch option which worked for me. I burned a bunch of CDs from iTunes so that at least I had something decent to listen to. The amount of time and $ this takes is negligible for the payoff. If you do albums back to back (or your ultimate play list in order) you can still find tracks/albums without too much work, and most CD players have a mix function.

In a pinch I've done the same as PercussivePaul, then you have your full ipod. The speaker quality (car stereo vs. crappy computer speakers) can sometimes flip the balance between these options. I only had one plug adapter, so I had to run my ipod on batteries while the speakers were plugged in, and there was no music while I had to charge my ipod (don't forget plug adapter/docking station).

You should note that just because you find and reserve the 'right' car, it doesn't mean you'll get it (they can switch cars on you), and you might be smart to have a backup option.
posted by kch at 10:55 AM on January 7, 2007

It's a bit of an expense but I love this ipod fm transmitter/charger. The only downside is you might have to change the station now and again if you're travelling thru a city.
posted by sexymofo at 10:58 AM on January 7, 2007

What about bringing an adaptor that plugs into a cigarette lighter, has an input jack for an mp3 player, and sends signal to the FM radio? here's one online, I've seen them in stores too.
posted by EllenC at 11:01 AM on January 7, 2007

If you have to use a radio transmitter, remove the external antenna for greatly improved sound quality.
posted by TrashyRambo at 11:21 AM on January 7, 2007

I rent exclusively from National, via their affinity "club" program which gives me my choice of cars, and I've yet to find a car with an aux jack, in six different cities. (In fact, 2 of my last 6 rentals had strictly AM/FM, no cassette, no CD.) I'd stay with another rental agency if this is a priority for you.
posted by Dreama at 12:52 PM on January 7, 2007

sexymofo:
I knew which transmitter you were talking about before I even clicked. I have used several different transmitters and always been disappointed, until I got that one. I recently drove from Boston to Hartford with it and didn't have to change the station once. So I'd say it's definitely an option.
posted by Turd Ferguson at 1:39 PM on January 7, 2007

I just bought a previously-rented out, 2005 Nissan Sentra through Enterprise, and it has an auxiliary input. I don't know if Enterprise will let you choose your car, but you could give them a call and ask, since I think (for mid-size sedans) they mainly rent out Tauruses and Sentras.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 4:24 PM on January 7, 2007

I just had a Chevy Impala (from National) over the holidays and it came aux-equipped. I didn't ask for it, but it came in handy.
posted by sluggo at 5:13 PM on January 7, 2007

For something that should be so simple, you will have trouble. Rental cars companies have no idea what car they're going to give you when you call/go online [unless you go high-end and rent a hummer or something]. Rental cars are also notorious for having shitty stereos.

I'd think going for the FM transmitter is the sure thing. I have the one linked to above. They've gotten much better. I have the one linked to above and it does the job+charges the iPod. Also, I haven't seen a cassette player in a rental car in years.
posted by birdherder at 5:53 PM on January 7, 2007