Buffalo NY and Toronto - Car Rental and Border Crossing

What’s the real question? You are border crossing either way which is the real PIA.

I’d fly into Buffalo if you are crossing by car anyway. Prob a cheaper fare as well.

If you are heading to Buffalo I suggest taking the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge crossing, especially if you're just going to Toronto.

There shouldn't be an issue with a rental car at the border as long as you are clear about where you are going and why.

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Flew to Toronto & rented a car. Crossed the border & returned it at Buffalo airport a few days later

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Awesome. That would be the easiest for my agenda.

I guess the next easiest would be fly in and out of Buffalo, so to only cross the border once (both ways).

Thanks for the responses.

Going to Canada the border crossing was a clusterfrick and I picked the wrong line.

On the way back, since I had registered my Global Entry for land crossings before I had flown up there (why this requires a separate registration on the website that's purely bureaucratic beats me), took 2 minutes. Unfortunately, can't use GE to get into Canada, that's only Nexus/Sentri or whatever.

My son and I flew into Buffalo and drove to Toronto for a Bluejays/Orioles series a few years ago. Easy trip.
Living in Baltimore, with Southwest, it was a no-brainer. If I remember it was much cheaper to fly in a Buffalo than Toronto.
I have done the border crossing there quite a bit, pre-Covid and always found it pretty simple. Smile, answer any questions and never elaborate and you will be fine.

Had to have been Peace Bridge IIRC. So nothing near where you'll be.

I've rented cars before in Buffalo and drove into Canada. Piece of cake. The border was a 5-10 minute affair. I got one covid test (this was over a year ago) in the US that was good to get me into canada and back into the US.

It would be far more of a PITA to drive into O'Hare, DFW, or LAX to pick up a friend from arrivals than it was to drive into Canada for a two hour meeting.

I've crossed the border in a car twice this past year, once in July and once in January. July took a little while, maybe 30 minutes after picking the wrong line (you never know who ahead of you is going to be an issue). January was quick, maybe under 10 minutes. I don't remember the Canada side requesting anything other than passports, so maybe the same thing will happen with a rental car.

I've also been asked to pull over for a more thorough inspection. Luckily I didn't receive my rental car in a box. I probably was pulled aside because I was under 25, had a NH drivers license living in VT and a rental car with MA plates.

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Heading to Buffalo and want to go check out Toronto.

My options are to fly into Buffalo, rent a car in the US, and drive across the border and back.

Or to fly into Toronto, rent a car in Canada, and drive to US and back.

I’m assuming Buffalo is the safest bet but does anyone have any reason for or against another?

Anyone have tips on car rentals driving across the border?

Anyone have tips on crossing the Buffalo/Toronto border?

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The short version: Flying into Buffalo and crossing is no problem, coming back in at Buffalo may be (you might want to fly out of Toronto).

The longer version:

The wife and I flew into Buffalo a few years ago then rented a car to spend the day and night in Niagra. Getting across the border into Canada was a breeze. The guards were professional but polite and kept the lines moving.

Coming back into the US... Not only were the lines longer and slower, but the Wish.com version of Jon Bernthal playing the Punisher was about as stereotypical a douche of a federal officer as you would see in any cheap Hollywood movie. Staring at me from his highly mirrored sunshades...

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"Let me make sure I got this right... you expect me to believe you flew all the way from Louisiana just to go to Canada for a day?"

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The wife could tell "I don't give a frick what you believe" was starting to come out (and very likely would have made an annoying few minutes into a completely shitty day) and interrupted me with "it helps when you can fly for free because your wife's a flight attendant."