Just a wild stab in the dark from Los Angeles

First off, I can confirm your prices.  I use carrentals.com to check all the major agencies and I’m seeing $475 total for pre-paid (which I wouldn’t do) and $524 for non-pre-paid for that time period.  If you do any of the options below, I’d reserve the non-pre-paid option so you always have that to fall back on.  If you don’t show up to rent it, it costs you nothing.

UberX (cheaper level) looks to be about $275 each way, so that doesn’t help on the cost.

Then there are individuals on Craigslist for any city that offer rides, presumably cheaper than Uber/Lyft.

There are also folks renting older vehicles off on Craigslist.  When I looked into it for Iceland, it was about half the price of renting from a major car-rental agency.

There are off-brand agencies, I’ve used “Rent a Wreck” in the past and they were a lot cheaper than the major agencies that pick you up at the airport.  http://www.carrentalwestlosangeles.com

Megabus.com is often amazingly cheap – my sister, BIL and niece use them a lot in California, but they go from LA to SF/Oakland on I-5, not highway 99.  So maybe you could hop out at a rest stop halfway up the central valley on I-5 and Uber it from there.  Fares starting at $10 this far in advance.  They have nice buses.  Never mind, Greyhound gets you far closer.

*** cheapest option I see***: Lots of departures on Greyhound bus those dates to and from Visalia for $15 each way which gets you 85% of the way there and would greatly reduce the cost of an Uber/Lyft to continue on.  But check for Ubar/Lyft availability in those smaller cities.

Thread drift.

Mineral King trailhead parking areas used to be notorious for critters chewing through hoses and other stuff in cars parked there multiple nights. It’s a long, windy way from there to get a tow/repair.
Supposedly the critters are attracted to the scent/flavor of the antifreeze.

Check with the ranger station about the current situation.

Not thread drift at all, if he might be leaving a vehicle at the trailhead.  People have been known to wrap their cars perimeter in chicken wire (50 feet x 24 inches and $20 at Home Depot or sometimes, Walmart).  Or use a large blue tarp.  Bob Gross was very up on that. Google “Bob Gross Mineral King” and his old posts will probably come up (Google works better to BPL than BPL’s search engine does).

Here’s a pic of BPL member Jay Wilkerson’s truck all wrapped up at Mineral King.

Here is that thread

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/66508/

I researched this one in the past and don’t remember all the details, but it is true you can get most of the way north to Visalia via greyhound, and there is a shuttle into the park out of Visalia but it won’t get you all the way to Mineral King:

https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/parktransit.htm

I bet with the proximity to Fresno that Uber/Lyft out of Visalia would be the best option.

Thanks for all of your reponses. I had considered the Uber/Lyft/bus options, but the timing of flights, permits, minor running around for things I can’t carry on the plane kind of dictates the need for a car to make it work and minimize potential snafus.

Fresno is closer to Mineral King, however, I can get a direct flight to LAX, so overall less time in route and less chance of a luggage mishap. Last year I split the cost but this year I’m flying solo, so I’m feeling the pain.

I’ll go ahead and make the rental reservation but will cancel if something viable comes up.  Thanks for the input.

Russ

Have you tried Turo?  It’s a bit like Airbnb for cars and significantly cheaper than a rental car from a traditional agency.  I see a Prius for your dates available for $23/day including free delivery to LAX.  If your insurance covers rented vehicles, it is going to be significantly cheaper.  If it doesn’t, you’ll still save a small chunk.

Ahem… if you think this is a viable option for you… please feel free to use the link for a free $25 (for us both).

You could do two one-way car rentals between LAX and Fresno, and then just find a way to get into and leave the mountain. Around $150. More expensive than Greyhound but can fit to a tight schedule. If UBER doesn’t work, Craigslist might. I’ve driven hitchhikers out of the hill to Fresno before.