I need to get a young adult (too young to rent a car but >18) from West Lafayette IN to Downer’s Grove IL. 2.5h each way, down in the morning and back in the afternoon. Bus will work, but would require an overnight and missed classes, so undesirable.
Looking for suggestions. I have of course considered Uber, but I’ve never used them for such a long trip and I have heard of drivers being less than cooperative on such trips.
So far haven’t found a car service, which would be ideal (so if there are any locals who know of one I’d be interested). I used to use these when I lived far from the airport and had good luck. I was thinking if I found one I’d negotiate to have the driver wait around for the interview to be over and take her back.
Anyway- thoughts? Have you had good luck with Uber on such long trips?
Enterprise Rent-a-car was a lifesaver for me a couple of times at that age when I really needed to rent a car, but it looks like they only rent to 18 year olds in a couple of states now.
She doesn’t have any friends she could “rent” the car from for a day?
I’m a little surprised they are not more flexible with virtual interviews now that everyone is so used to video chatting.
I live in the western suburbs of Chicago, not too far from Downers Grove. I think that Uber would be very tricky; as you say, it’s a long trip, and I suspect a lot of drivers would turn it down, as each leg of the trip would leave them 2+ hours away from home.
I used to use West Suburban Limousine for trips to the airport, and always had good experiences with them. If you go to the “Special Occasions” part of their Services, they mention services like transporting people to out-of-town sporting events in South Bend and Champaign (which are similarly far away), so I suspect that they would be set up to do something like this. I doubt it’d be cheap, but I imagine that they could/would do it.
(Also, I asked a mod to fix a typo in your title, which said “Downer’s Grove IN”; looks like @engineer_comp_geek has already fixed it.)
I suspect it would be possible. I always chat to my Lyft and Uber drivers and ask them about their longest fare, and I’ve gotten Green Bay from Chicago several times, as well as Indianapolis, so I do t think it would be TOOO hard to find someone willing.
I know there are shuttles from Midway Airport to Downers Grove, and I suspect there are shuttles from West Lafayette to Midway. I’m sure a regular shuttle service would be more reliable than Uber/Lyft, even if it means changing rides at one point.
Good call; Google shows me several services that run shuttles from Purdue / West Lafayette to Chicago, though the ones I’m finding primarily go to O’Hare.
Their schedules may or may not work well with the timing needs for the OP’s young person, but they would definitely be cheaper than an Uber or a limo.
Price isn’t a major concern. Timing is critical because there are some can’t-miss things around it. Shuttles require leaving at 4am, so are a possibility but would prefer something better.
There is a later bus, but I guess they need to be in Downers before 1:30pm-ish? In that case, public transportation probably doesn’t work. It would either require an overnight or will be really early.
Looks like there is a rideshare group on FB and in there is/was a rideshare app on Apple. Might be able to find someone going toward Chicago on that day.
Thanks for all the thoughts. I’ll try some of those car services. I’m wondering, if one schedules the Uber in advance, do the drivers get to see the destination before they accept? Because if so, you’d be getting a driver who is open to the distance. One idea was to Uber down, and then tell the driver he could have an extra $100 if he hung around until the interview was over.
Regarding borrowing a friend’s car, naturally that was considered but it seems that only one friend has one, and it’s needed elsewhere.
Does Purdue have a ride board of some sort? Or, advertise (perhaps on Craigslist/similar, or FB) to pay a student to do the drive. I imagine there’s many Purdue students with a car who’d be interested in making a few bucks. Include an offer to pay for a meal in addition to the pay for doing the drive.
Have you checked all the car rental places in the Layette metropolitan area? The local ones may have lower age limits than the big national chains–perhaps marketing to Purdue students.