Car Rental suggestions - away from airport (San Francisco: rental car, rentals)

[eagle06]

It looks like I can save a ton of money on my car rental if rather than dropping off at the airport we drop off at a remote location. (We're driving from San Francisco and flying out of LAX.) Does anyone have any inside info from a local on a convenient way to do this? Rental sites near a hotel that has shuttle service to LAX, near a train line with service to LAX, etc?

Thanks

[eastontracks]

try hertz.com. that's the cheapest i've found, even an airport location.

[Charles]

Try Rental Car Discounts and Codes

[cropper]

You can use any car hire comparison site like [url]www.carhiredetective.com[/url] to find the best prices from all the car hire companies like hertz, alamo, dollar etc

There is usually a fee for one way travel though, cos obviously the companies need to move cars around after that to make sure each outlet has their required number.

Just the perils of going one way I´m afraid!

[Charles]

If you have a friend that works for a huge corporation, ask them to search through his company's intranet for the rental car code (sort of like what I posted in post #3 above). Normally a minivan one week rental is pushing $500/week but using company codes it's like $275. Also, if the price is really low, there may be per mile charges. Make sure it is "unlimited miles".

[uptown_urbanist]

I know there's an Enterprise in Hollywood (plus probably a lot of other car rental places); if you were to drop off in that area you could then take the Red Line (subway) to Union Station, then get the Flyaway bus from there to LAX. It's an easy trip, assuming you don't have huge amounts of luggage.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

I know there's an Enterprise in Hollywood (plus probably a lot of other car rental places); if you were to drop off in that area you could then take the Red Line (subway) to Union Station, then get the Flyaway bus from there to LAX. It's an easy trip, assuming you don't have huge amounts of luggage.

Sounds like quite an extra hassle though. The difference in rental car price better be quite large. Otherwise, think about how much easier it is just to drop off the car at LAX (which is still sort of a hassle due to off site rentals there).

I wonder what would happen if the original poster made his reservation to drop the car off at a remote location, like Hollywood, where it might be a lot cheaper, and then, just drop it off at LAX anyway. Is there a loophole? Or, would the system come back and charge him what he should have paid had he reserved to drop it off at LAX in the first place? Probably. But, if he was willing to pay the higher rate to drop if off at LAX, maybe he should make the reservation to drop it off in Hollywood, get the lower rate, and drop it off at LAX anyway and if he is lucky (there's a loophole), he'd still pay the cheaper Hollywood drop off rate. Might be worth a try.

[eagle06]

Thanks Uptown...that's what I was looking for. I'll see how much cheaper it is to drop off in Hollywood. I'm saving a couple $100 by not picking up the car at SFO and having Hertz bring it to me at the hotel. Easy train ride from airport to hotel.

[WIFam7]

FYI, got a full sized rental last week at LAX for $12.00/day from Priceline. Haven't had one that inexpensive in a long while.

[thefunkyone]

Originally Posted by WIFam7

FYI, got a full sized rental last week at LAX for $12.00/day from Priceline. Haven't had one that inexpensive in a long while.

$12? wow!


I'll have to check priceline when I fly into LAX next month.