It's that time of year again when car rental companies need to return their fleets north for the summer where they're most needed by travelers preparing for vacations. We've rounded up some of these promotions for your perusal.

Alamo (tel. 800/GO-ALAMO; www.alamo.com) has a one-way rental special from Florida (click on 'deals') with GPS included, starting from $11.99 for daily rates for a compact car ranging to $16.99 to a minivan. The special is valid for rentals that are picked up by June 14 and also include a free GPS rental, which you must ask for at the time of reservation. Choose among a dozen and a half or so pick-up locations across the state, such as Pensacola, Sanford, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, Orlando, and Jacksonville, and drive to a range of cities in Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Georgia, Delaware, Kentucky, Michigan, Massachusetts and Minnesota.

Avis (tel. 888/777-AVIS; www.avis.com) offers an extremely low rate right now--starting from $4.95 per day for economy and compact carsÂ?for one-way rentals May 1 through June 30. It is valid for select Florida airport and suburban locations, except for Key West airport and suburban locations. You must be able to drop it off at participating destination offices, except those in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Taxes and fees are not included; surcharges may apply during peak periods and there are some blackout dates.

For those who want to rent one-way from Arizona, rates start from $17.95 for an economy car valid through May 24, and you must be able to drop it off at select corporate locations in either California or Nevada. You need to rent for a minimum of one day but no more than seven consecutive days.

Budget Rent-a-Car (tel. 800/527-0700; www.budget.com) also has one-way specials from Arizona and Florida. Economy cars are available at $17.95 from airport locations in Phoenix, Tucson and Flagstaff for drop off at airports in Reno, Las Vegas and Sparks, Nevada, along with dozens of locations in California. The special is valid for pickups through May 24 and only on rentals of economy cars through four-door full-size vehicles.

Its Florida specials are less expensive, priced at $4.95 for economy and compact cars, but the rate is only valid for the Florida fleet's corporate owned locations. In order to determine whether the airport destination you seek is privately owned or owned by the corporation, upon booking you need to type in the airport code, which will indicate your eligibility for the special. You must return it to any contiguous state in the country except for Arizona, Florida, Nevada, or California.

Hertz (tel. 800/654-3131; www.hertz.com) has a few offers for one-way rentals. You can select from a $10 off for a weekend one-way rental for economy car or larger, depending on the location. This particular special is valid through June 30 and is also valid for its green collection. Or you can select $25 off a weekly one-way rental for an economy class car or larger.

However, Hertz's Florida special starts from as little as $5 per day for pick ups in Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Meyers, Jacksonville, or Miami. It seems especially helpful for those heading toward the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts) as well as the Midwest (Wisconsin, Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana), and destinations in Texas, Colorado, and Louisiana. The site lists specific corporate and suburban destinations that are eligible in the aforementioned states.

If you click on the "specials to go" button on the web page for National Car (tel. 800/227-7368; www.nationalcar.com), you can peruse a number of incentives for rentals. National has a similar deal to the one Alamo offers: one-way out of Florida starting from $12.95 per day for compact cars and ranging up to $17.95 for a minivan. The offer also includes a free GPS rental, but it is only valid until June 14. It's a suitable offer if you can pick up the car in either Boca Raton, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers, Cocoa Beach, Daytona Beach, Miami, Orlando, Key West, and a number of other locations, and drop off in a handful of states from the Southwest to the Northeast, ranging from Colorado, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, all the way up to Maine and Massachusetts, among others.