Car rental near Kawaguchiko Station

I was very happy to see that ToCoo website is available in English, however, I can't figure out exactly where I need to be searching! I will be staying at Fuji View Hotel and I want to use my JR Pass. Does that mean I will get off the train a Kawaguchiko Station and need a rental company near that station? Or will I get off at Gotemba? (Yes, I will be so lost!) Thanks in advance for the advice! I will be coming from Narita Airport.

The closest car rental outlet that you can book through Tocoo is the Fujiyoshida outler of Nissan Rentacar, about 1.5 kilometers from Fujiyoshida Station:
http://www2.tocoo.jp/?file=rentcar_inbound/branch&id=02...

Toyota Rentacar has an outlet just a few steps from Kawaguchiko Station, which cannot be reserved through Tocoo, but Toyota Rentacar provides a website in English, too:
http://rent.toyota.co.jp/en/index.html

I rented from Toyota at Kawaguchiko. I also rented from ToCoo elsewhere and while Toyota costs approx 25% more, their GPS is much much better and since you'll be in the countryside, and I assume like me you don't speak much Japanese, you surely don't want to get lost and waste time. The ToCoo GPS was no good for off-beat sites in the countryside (major sites in Kyoto or Takayama were ok in our experience), so I strongly suggest you choose Toyota. Their branch is about 10 mins walk from Kawaguchiko station. You exit stn, turn right, keep going til interserction and bear right til you see a petrol station with Toyota sign (small sign) on opposite side of road. Note Toyota staff there speak very little English but we managed ok as the only thing you need to ask them is how to input the telephone no. of your destination into the GPS which you'll need to research BEFORE your arrival. Do this and you'll have no problems at all, just like we did. By the way, we returned the car in Kofu, which is less than 50 kms away so no drop charge and the Toyota shop there is right opposite the JR stn where you can get direct trains to Shinjuku. There are great peach orchards and other sites between Kawaguchiko and Kofu. There's also a tourist info located just outside Kawaguchiko stn but again little English is spoken but they should be able to direct you to the Toyota shop. This Toyota tel in Tokyo have good English speaking staff and you should keep this no. handy at all times: 813-5954-8020.

I checked out the Toyota English website and it states that you must phone to make reservations. Based on your recommendations, it looks like my best bet but do I need to make a call to Japan when they probably won't understand this WV girl! haha The reason we are renting is so we can have transportation climbing Fuji. We want to get a really early start and not feel rushed to get back to the 5th Station. The bus schedules on the first couple of days in July are geared toward overnight climbs which we just didn't want to do. Do you think it would be best to just rent a car when we arrive or should we arrange prior to?? Thank you so much for the info. It has been really helpful!

1. Call Toyota's Tokyo no. I gave you above and you'll find it's so easy. Have the website ready when you call and the girls will explain everything (in good English).
2. Can't comment on rental car to climb Mt Fuji as I've not done that but friends who have climbed Fujisan have all done the night climb. I'm sure people do day climbs but as far as I know, that's unusual, probably because of the descent, ie: better/safer to descend during daylight ? Suggest you ask others or look into this carefully. By the way, friends all say the climb was strenuous beyond their expectation, so take care.
3. Re prior car reservation, I would do that as the Toyota shop in Kawaguchiko is small.
Good luck.

I will give them a call tonight then! And yes, I have no doubt that the climb will be a tough one! I have read and youtubed all sorts of info on others experiences. That's why the hubby and I have been training hard since last February. We are big hikers, kayakers, and cyclists and that usually involves hills in WV! I think day or night, we will still be panting like dogs and praying for the end! haha (But all we can do is try!)
Thanks again for the advice!