Wendell Connor's Car Rental

About the agency

Wendell Connor''s Car Rental has been running on Anguilla since 1982, started by a former cargo ship captain who came home with one car and a taxi van. Forty-four years later it operates three staffed locations, which is more than any other rental on this island: the Blowing Point ferry terminal, Clayton J. Lloyd International Airport, and the main office on Blowing Point Road, opposite the Delta fuel station. Most operators here are committed to one arrival point and improvise the other. WCAR simply staffs both. Free delivery to any location on the island comes with every rental, and there are dedicated drop-off arrangements at Cap Juluca and Ambrosia Villa. The thing nobody else does. WCAR charges one set rate year-round. There is no high season and no low season. On an island where high season runs November through April and rates move accordingly, that is genuinely unusual, and it means a February booking costs the same as a September one. If you are travelling at peak, this is the operator whose price is not going up because of when you chose to come. Rates start at $35 a day for an economy compact, $45 for a full-size Nissan Versa or a compact SUV, $55 for a midsize Hyundai Tucson, and $60 for an eight-seat minivan. Weekly and monthly specials are available on request. Payment, and a real difference. WCAR does not add a credit card surcharge and says so plainly: they absorb the bank fees rather than passing them on. That is worth noting because the operator at the ferry terminal adds 5 percent for card payments, so on the same rental you would pay more for the convenience there than you do here. Cash, major credit cards, wire transfer and PayPal are all accepted. The fleet is 99 percent left-hand drive, all automatic, with air conditioning, power windows and power steering. That drive side is a deliberate position rather than an accident. Anguilla drives on the left, and a couple of operators here run right-hand drive Japanese imports which put you in the correct seat for the road. WCAR takes the other view: most visitors are American, most have never driven from the right-hand seat, and one unfamiliar variable is enough. The business also took on new energy in 2017 when a family friend who is an automotive technician came back to Anguilla to run operations, bringing newer stock and tighter standards. A mechanic running the fleet is not nothing. The terms, which are mostly generous. Unlimited mileage and 24-hour roadside assistance are included. Late return is the most forgiving on the island: you get five hours before an extra full day is charged, where one competitor gives you two hours at $15 each and another bills by the calendar day regardless of the clock. The CDW deductible is EC$3,000, about US$1,116, which sits between the $1,000 and $1,500 you will find elsewhere at the ferry. Fuel comes back at the level you got it, and a shortfall is charged at one and a half times the pump price per litre, so top up before you return it. That is easy here: the main office is directly opposite the Delta fuel station. Getting the car. Walk out of the ferry terminal and ask for Wendell Connor Car Rental and an agent meets you. Same at the airport. The office keeps Monday to Friday hours of 8am to 5pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm, with an agent on call outside those hours, which covers the Saturday changeover that catches people out with operators who simply close.