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SFO car rental—which car rental company?

We will be renting a car at SFO and would like recommendations for which car rental company is reliable and nice to deal with.
Also, is there a bit of a drive to pick up the car in a shuttle bus and is it the same distance from the airport for all the companies?
Thanks for any suggestions!

Posted by
992 posts

There is a car rental complex for all of the on-premise rental car companies a bit away
from the terminals, but on the Airtrain routes (both of them).

Posted by
765 posts

What car rental companies do you have a rewards account with?
If none, are you a Costco Member?
If so, go to Costco Travel
https://www.costcotravel.com
and enter your dates and pick the car you want based on price or company.
Hertz tends to be more expensive than the rest. I have rented cars from just about all of them. I can't recommend one over the other.

At SFO airport, you will take the air train Blue Line to the Car rental Center. All of the car rental agencies are there, in one place. Couldn't be easier. No bus, no shuttle.

https://www.flysfo.com/passengers/ground-transportation/rental-cars

Posted by
659 posts

Thanks for the responses!
I don’t have a rewards account with any car rental company and we don’t have Costco.
It sounds like it will be easy to get to the rental offices.
If anyone has had either positive experiences or negative ones at SFO with any particular companies I would love to hear about it.
Thanks!

Posted by
5230 posts

With rental cars anywhere in the world, it's the luck of the draw. You can get a good employee or a bad one, or a good car or a bad one. I don't sense that there is a pattern.

However, be aware that Hertz has a history of reporting their cars as stolen when they are not which can be pretty dangerous for the driver. And they have a new system at some airports where the car is automatically scanned on the way in and out and that is how damage is assessed, not always to everyone's liking.