Perhaps you caught my postings on Instagram (username Andathousandwords) from San Francisco, where I toured once more in a Silvercar.  I’ll be posting more San Francisco tips in a few days, but this post is all about what I believe is the best way to get around in San Francisco.

If you stay in San Francisco, I suggest you use UberX or UberPool for getting around the city. But you will miss out on so many wonderful experiences, since the San Francisco Bay Area has so much more to offer than just the beautiful city itself. Think of Marin up north, with Stinson Beach, Bolinas and Point Reyes, or the wine country around Napa and Calistoga and the beautiful drive down highway 1 through Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz to Carmel and Monterey. That is where you need a car of your own!

After using a regular rental car service in Orlando from one of the largest brands, where I spent an hour in line for our reserved rental car after a 12 hour flight and got shafted with a refill charge of $60 although we had returned the car fully fueled, I vowed to give Silvercar a try. And I absolutely loved using Silvercar on my trip to Miami and Key West earlier this year. It was such a relieve after my bad experiences with other rental companies! Read here more about my first Silvercar experience and a more in-depth explanation on how Silvercar works. 

Since Silvercar had already checked my creditcard in Miami, all I had to do this time was take the free shuttle to the Silvercar lot next to San Francisco Airport, aim the app at the QR code behind the windshield of the shiny Audi A4 that the Silvercar rep helped me to, and the doors opened: ready for take off!

What I like is the quality of their car, as their entire fleet consists of Audi A4’s, but also the level of service. No attempts to upsell me any insurances or crappy navigation, simply because all necessary insurances are automatically included and the car is fully loaded with wi-fi, navigation, satellite radio and even the FasTrak system. It is a little plastic box we placed on the dashboard, that allowed us to zip through the FasTrak lane when crossing busy bridges like the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate bridge, where most people had to stop and get in line to pay toll. Silvercar simply adds the bridge toll to the car payment at the end of the rental, which is even cheaper than stopping at each bridge and paying cash.

All in all, Silvercar is a product and service that I wholeheartedly support so I am very pleased that I can offer you a special offer when you start using Silvercar. Use promocode: MPOORTEN and receive $50 off your booking for any rental over two days. Let me know how you like the silver drive!

And stay tuned for my SF travel tips!

X Merel