Anyone ever returned a rental car early? Need moving advice!

[wencit]

We are moving cross country next month, and my car is being transported via a car carrier, so I'll need a rental car in the meantime. The problem is that the company only gives an estimate of when the car will arrive, within 2-3 days. Is it possible to rent a car and then return it early? Will there be a penalty? What do other people do in this situation?

Thanks so much in advance!

[AJP]

Last time I rented I gave an estimate of a week to 10 days and they told me no problem if I returned it earlier. I'm sure it's less of a problem for you to return it earlier rather than later. I would think that they would be ok with a date range. Good luck with your move!

[AnnieW625]

Oh yeah done it a few times when we have been visiting my parents and realized that we just didn't need the car much at all, they only charge you for the days that you use it. Easy peasy. The only way you'd be out money I think is if you used an online service like Hotwire where you pay in full at the time of booking to get the lower price.

[Mommy_Mea]

This happened to us when we moved back east last year. The car carrier gave us a window, and then came a day earlier than that window!

We had no problem returning the rental car early, and they only charged us for the time we had it. We rented through Enterprise...