NYC to ATX Post-Christmas

My partner and I are planning a 10-day road trip from NYC to Austin, TX after Christmas 2018. We will fly to NYC and spend the holiday there, then rent a car and take our time driving home. I have done a (cursory) search for suggestions on this route, but have some specific concerns I hope this user group can address:

1) Best place to pick up rental in NYC area? I know city-center and airports tend to be higher-priced, so if anyone has input on where to make a reservation for pick up (most likely a large sedan or small SUV), would be much appreciated.
2) Route choices - I've looked at both an upper (cross the mountains) route and down the east coast and through the gulf states route, and was wondering if the weather during the timeframe (December 26th to January 6th) should play a role in my decision for the route. He's an experienced winter driver, btw.
3) Since New Year's Eve falls within this timeframe, any suggestions on where to stop on the route and enjoy the festivities? Edit: looks like Nashville may be the spot for NYE.
4) And lastly, I would love to either hear feedback from anyone who has done this road trip before, or can point me towards threads in this forum specifically for this route (or close approximation).

Here is the tentative itinerary (w/ approximate drive times):
Day 1: Pick up car in Newark, drive to Atlantic City (3H)
Day 2: AC to DC (3H)
Day 3: DC
Day 4: DC to Bristol, TN (6H)
Day 5: Bristol to Nashville (5H)
Day 6: Nashville
Day 7: Nashville to Memphis (3H)
Day 8: Memphis
Day 9: Memphis to Hot Springs (3H)
Day 10: Hot Springs to Dallas (5H)
Day 11: Dallas to Austin (3H...4, if we stop at Czech Stop, haha)

Thank you all in advance for any advice!

Molly

Welcome to the Great American Roadtrip Forum.

Although I have never done this, I have heard from lots of roadtrippers, and on this forum, that it is much cheaper to rent a car in Newark NJ than anywhere in NY. You might like to check that out.

I'll leave the rest up to others, who will be here shortly.

Lifey

Note that for a one way rental, there will be a surcharge and generally either the pickup point or the return point must be at an airport.

Great tips - Avis at Newark seems to have the cheapest prices, unlimited mileage, and no surcharges. Thanks for saving me some $$!

New Jersey certainly can be (but isn't always) cheaper than renting in NY. However, If you're thinking of also visiting some of the other east coast cities, like Philadelphia or Washington, you might also consider taking the train that far, and then renting the car from there.


Actually, I just noticed that you edited your original post to include an itinerary. Please do not edit your posts to change the content, after people have responded. One, it makes it hard for others to read the thread, and more importantly for you, there is a very good chance that people who saw your original post will not go back and see the changes you made and thus they won't respond to them!