You’re planning a bachelor party ski week for you, your brother and a large group of some of your closest friends (for next winter, of course. Thanks COVID). The typical Las Vegas bachelor party scene isn’t for you, so you’re opting for a quiet(er) trip to an iconic destination far enough away from Los Angeles so you can recharge and have some fun together.
You found yourself a gorgeous Airbnb cabin up near Mammoth Mountain. The perfect spot, complete with a hot tub, a fire pit, an awesome setup for grilling and cooking, and you’ve locked in a great ski/snowboarding package deal thanks to Snowpak.
Now it’s just a matter of getting you, your brother, your crew of 7 friends, all of your luggage, ski gear, the coolers, and food for the Russian army up to the mountain. Making the 5 hour drive from Los Angeles to Mammoth Lakes together in one large passenger van rental just might end up being one of the best parts of your trip.
The road trip always ends up as the most memorable part of the experience.
You’ll be glad you made the choice to travel together in one vehicle, maybe for no other reason than the impromptu stop you get to make at some random rad little tavern for sandwiches and beers without having to coordinate a travel detour on the move via group text. You know that always ends up with somebody saying, “Whatever, we’ll just meet you at the Airbnb.”
While some people might try to cut corners on transportation costs so you can splurge on accommodations, food, and great wine, you know that the travel is part of the experience and you’re not going to short change your group on such a potentially fun and memorable part of the trip.
You don’t want to split up between two small vehicles, so you spend a little extra and go for a large passenger vehicle rental that can accommodate everyone and all of your stuff. Those two friends of your brother who work in corporate finance who flew into LAX from New York with their brand new ski rigs won’t mind chipping in for a nicer, more comfortable ride to the mountain.
While you might think a large van rental like this is just for big church groups or sports teams looking to squeeze as many people as possible onto four wheels, it’s one of the most comfortable vehicle options for a group of 9 adults and all of your ski gear and luggage.
What type of van rental is best for a ski trip to Mammoth Mountain? You just have to know what you’re looking for.
When you dive into travel blogs and the big company websites looking for a van rental in Los Angeles, you’ll find tons of options and an overwhelming amount of information.
Most companies that specialize in passenger van rental in Los Angeles will carry either a 12 seater van or a 15 seater van as size options. Those two types are essentially the same vehicle. Things get a little more confusing when you start talking about 8 or 10-passenger vans, and don’t even get us started on how many people search for and ask about a 16 passenger van. (It doesn’t exist.)
In the case of the Ford Transit 350 XLT long-wheelbase passenger van, both the 12 and 15 pass sizes are the same length (235.5 in) with slightly different seating configurations.
The 12 seat passenger van has a cargo area between the last row of seats and the rear doors. The 15-pass van has four rows of seats that go all the way to the rear doors, leaving no cargo space other than limited space underneath the seats for small soft bags.
Since we only carry the 15-passenger long wheelbase configuration, it’s standard procedure for us to remove the back row of seats to create a larger cargo area in your van for luggage, skis, snowboards, boots, the coolers, and the extra cases of wine.
If you’re really packing heavy, we’ll remove the full-back two rows of seats to give you (dimensions) of cargo space, turning this into an 8-passenger van that beats out a Chevy Suburban in comfort and storage any day.
The Transit vans also come in three roof heights: Low roof, medium roof, and high roof. The low roof transits are the most common vans for rent that you’ll find at the big name rental agencies, and they’re certainly not the most comfortable vans on the road. The high roof transits are harder to find, much more expensive, and a specialized option for big van rentals.
The medium roof is, of course, just right, and the only size 15 passenger rental van we carry at our Los Angeles location.
“Or Similar” is the last thing you hear right before your trip gets ruined.
Keeping our fleet limited to one vehicle type we can customize and configure to the specific needs of your group helps keep things efficient for us and affordable for you. It also means we NEVER, have to use the dreaded “or similar” phrase.
You might not see this fine print when you compare models and prices from some of the bigger companies, but “or similar” often means that there’s a good chance you’ll get a last minute phone call from the company you booked with telling you they overbooked your vehicle class and you’ll have to deal with something smaller.
Or, even worse, you’ll get offered two minivans instead of one big passenger van. Not exactly the solution you had in mind.
“Or Similar” is not our game. We don’t mess around when it comes to commitment to what you expect from us and the quality of our product. We do one thing and we do it right.
I’d love to say we’re like the In-N-Out Burger of passenger van rentals. We don’t sell chicken sandwiches, burritos, wings, and hotdogs.….we sell cheeseburgers (and if you’re in the know, we have a secret menu, too). Except our “cheeseburgers” are 15 passenger medium roof transit vans and that’s it.
How else are your vans awesome?
We buy our inventory brand new every year directly from Ford, and we keep each vehicle in service for no more than 12 months. No matter what, when you rent a Ford 15 passenger van from Greenvans, you’re getting a top-of-the-line, brand-spankin’ new rental van supported by some of the best customer services in the industry.
Greenvans was all that I could ever hope for when booking a van for my production. Especially in these times of covid, it was such a relief to see how clean the van was. It was brand new… like BRAND. NEW. Not to mention, it had apple Carplay which made the long drive much easier by having the navigation pulled up on a bigger screen. The sounds system was great. The customer service was great, Chris and Mike were great. Anyway, highly recommend supporting this small business instead of going to the big guys… you’ll most definitely be glad you did.” – Tara S. Google Review
You’ll have no problem getting your collaborative Spotify playlist up on the sound system. The CarPlay is perfect for letting the co-pilot manage the playlist while adding stops to google maps directly from the in-vehicle touch screen display. The Ford Transit 15 passenger van interior is mint.
And because you know your mom is going to bug you about being safe on the road, the new transits are loaded with safety features: Blind spot detection indicators on the mirrors, lane departure warning that vibrates the steering wheel whenever you start to drift, pre-collision assist with automatic emergency braking, and side impact safety canopy airbags for the passengers.
You can also tell mom that all of our vans have Ford’s 3.5L EcoBoost V6 turbo option, so whenever you put the pedal down on an onramp, you’ll have way more power than what you’d expect out of a 20-foot van. Not to mention fantastic fuel economy at 20mpg and a smooth and quiet ride you’d think you were driving a car.
At the end of the day, we know that none of those tech specs mean anything to the rest of your crew sitting in the back seats. They really want to know, “can I charge my phone?” And yes, there are 5 additional USB charging ports and 12v power points.
Sounds great….. How much to rent a 15 passenger van?
After you test the comfort, ride and style of one of our 15 passenger vans for your Bachelor party ski trip, maybe you’ll consider renting some of our vans for your wedding, too!
Rent a 15-passenger van to make every mile of the journey something to remember.
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