Dear Source,
I am a long time visitor to St. John and I usually look the other way when it comes to the incredibly high price of renting a vehicle on St. John because I prefer to rent from local companies like St. John car rental –– but when you're already paying $380 – $420 a week for a rental car, then adding an additional $2 a day is just uncomfortable especially since many of us rent for a week or more——thats an additional $20-$40+ on top of already high car rental prices.
Based on what I read on the USVI-On-Line STJ Traveler's forum more and more visitors are choosing to rent from agencies on St. Thomas for a fraction of the cost of the outfits on St. John. While I generally try to discourage this (car ferry timing and costs of the ferry or if you break down on STJ you've lost a day dealing with the problem) most visitors are watching the bottom line and are willing to deal with the risk in exchange for a much lower price for the rental car. And I expect that you will continue to see more and more folks who are visiting St. John rent for much cheaper prices over on St. Thomas, leaving the local car companies (and Bobby at my favorite St. John car rental) on St. John to lose business.
Visitors know (or should know) that the price of doing business on island is higher than on the main land. It comes with the territory. But don't punish the visitors. We're trying to bring $$$ to St. John and if we're paying extra taxes like this, then that's one less souvenir, lunch or other item that we don't purchase from a local business because we're paying this extra tax.
It's also especially disconcerting knowing how poorly affairs are managed in the government and the waste that is evident——tell your legislators not to bite the hands that feed them.
Just some thoughts from someone who's been visiting for a decade!
Kala L. Quintana
Virginia

Editors note:We welcome and encourage readers to keep the dialogue going by responding to Source commentary. Letters should be e-mailed with name and place of residence to [email protected].