Car Rental In Washington D.C.

Wouldn't a taxi or Uber (or a couple of taxis or Ubers) be cheaper and less hassle? There's a Metro station at the cemetery.

Just google zipcar in DC. I have never used them but I see the zipcars around.

Andrea, I saw one in traffic earlier this week, so Zipcar does still exist in the DC area. Although, it’s true, I don’t see them as often as a few years back. Check the website and see where pick up points are. I did a faux search and am seeing cars listed around Arlington, one near Pentagon City, etc.

ETA: For any visitors driving in the metro area, in addition to GPS-provided info, WTOP News is a priceless resource for traffic updates, road closures, special events. https://wtop.com/ or 103.5 FM.

Thanks everyone. We could just take the metro to Arlington, but once there we will have to move from one location to the gravesite which could be quite a distance. People will be traveling by car. After the funeral there will be a reception in another location near the cemetery, but I don’t know exactly how far it is. Obviously we can’t call an uber or taxi to take us around the cemetery. I’ll look into zip car and if that doesn’t seem feasible I will just rent a car at National for the time period we will need.

I was just at Arlington last week for a funeral. Whomever is arranging the service (the sponsor) should be able to tell you which entrance gate to use and where to assemble (either the Old Chapel or elsewhere). We were directed to enter a gate on the "rear" side of the cemetery, not the main entrance for visitors that is at the end of Memorial Bridge. You will need to register ahead of the visit using the sponsor's name for security. Once in the cemetery you can drive or walk to the gravesite. If you have mobility issues, I would highly recommend having a car.

I spent four days in DC in September and just used Uber. Driving there isnt much fun.

There are some convenient rental locations in the Clarendon area of Arlington if you don't want to deal with the airport for the rental. (I am referring to the Budget/Avis complex a block or so from the Metro)

Like you, for logistical reasons, we rented a car for a funeral in Arlington in 2023. We only needed the car for the funeral so we rented it through Uber - they delivered the car to us in the afternoon and picked it up the following afternoon. Depending on the time of the service you may have them drop it off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon on the same day, but due to the early time for the service we were attending, we did not want the stress of worrying if the car would arrive in time.

As I recall, while Uber delivered and retrieved the car, it was actually rented from Enterprise. It worked very well for us.

Where are you staying? There are lots of rental places that are easily accessible by metro.

Zipcar is a membership service and there aren’t as many locations to pick up a car as there used to be. For example, they no longer have any spaces in Arlington county. For simplicity, I’d probably just stick with a rental car.

Thanks for the additional information and advice.

I agree we will need a car and we won’t be able to ride with anyone else. The only person we will know there is the widow and she will be riding with her family.

We have to be at Arlington at 2:15 and after the 3:00 service (I have no idea how long that will take) we move to another location off site for a reception.

salbeachbum, thank you for mentioning that you rented through Uber. I never thought of that. I don’t have any desire to drive around D.C., though I am used to driving in cities and drove in D.C. once when we were leaving the next day to do a driving trip in Pennsylvania and Virginia and we picked the car up so we could leave first thing the next morning. We were staying in an apartment in a residential area and parking wasn’t an issue.

Laura, we are staying at Club Quarters Hotel White House, Washington DC located at 839 17th St., NW, Northwest Washington D.C. I chose it because it is close to the metro line that we can take to/from National Airport and Arlington Cemetery, plus it seems to be within walking distance of places we would likely visit. I can look for another rental pick up location if it’s easy to get to.

There is a Budget and Avis rental location at 1908 L St NW. That is just 4 blocks from your hotel so it would be easy to pick up. It closes at 4:45 so you’d need to see if the car can be returned after hours. It also has some negative reviews (e.g., no cars available when people showed up) so may not be the best choice.

Are you planning to do any sightseeing that morning? Another possibility would be to pick up a car that morning and use it to visit some place outside of the District before the service. For example, Mount Vernon opens at 9am and it would be an easy drive up the pkwy to Arlington Cemetery. You could pick up a car at the airport (on the blue line) or in DC and visit Mount Vernon or do some sightseeing in Old Town Alexandria before the funeral. If you end up picking a car up at the airport, check the location. Some of the counters are offsite so I would stick with one of the rental agencies on airport grounds https://www.flyreagan.com/parking-transportation/rental-cars

Do you know where the offsite reception will be?

Laura, the reception will be at William Jeffrey’s Tavern located at 2301 Columbia Pike, Arlington.

Thanks for the great information.

I checked Uber car rentals and it’s more expensive than renting through Costco so I think I’ll stick with them. I feel more comfortable getting a car at the airport rather than risking nothing being available. Thanks for the heads up about on site vs. off site rentals. I will discuss with my husband about whether we want to pick up a car early for sightseeing outside of D.C. We went to Mount Vernon in 2013. I am interested in going to Old Town Alexandria, but I just learned that the Alexandria Scottish Walk will occur a couple of days after the funeral so maybe that would be worth checking out?

We just returned from an 11 week trip to Europe, I’m jet lagged and I have to get ready for family coming from out of State for Thanksgiving. I just want to press the Easy Button for all of this. 😉

Did you try Turo? I always forget about Turo until after I have had a terrible experience like waiting an hour in line to pick up the Budget car I rented through Costco.

Andrea, I corrected my post above. The rental place near your hotel is on L Street (not N Street). You will definitely need a car for the reception as it is not close to a metro station.

I’ve never heard of Turo. I’ll look into that.

Laura, thanks for letting me know.

Turo was considerably more expensive than Costco. I’ll stick with Costco, which includes an extra driver.

There is a large parking garage in the grocery center complex adjacent to William Jeffrey’s Tavern.
You can sometimes snag a street parking spot on the block.

Thanks valadelphia. The email we received with information about Arlington and the reception afterwards indicates there is an underground parking garage behind the building and the Tavern staff will provide a discount code for 3 hours of free parking.

The Alexandria Scottish Christmas Walk Parade will occur on December 6, from 11:00 AM til 1:00 PM.
You will need to look at the route map and pick a place to position yourself.
It gets crowded. Come early and get yourself in position.
https://visitalexandria.com/holidays/scottish-walk/?mc_cid=4604dc52e4&mc_eid=0f5603d4c6
Parade route here:
https://visitalexandria.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ALX_ScottishWalk_InfoAndSafety_24x36_2025.pdf

You will see, on the Parade Route map, King Street. On the left side of the map, just off the edge, is King Street station, the Metro stop/station. If you leave from your present hotel you have reserved, you will take the Metro from there and arrive at King Street station, then walk east for the parade route.

There is a Christmas boat parade (in Alexandria) along the Potomac the evening of Dec. 6 beginning at 5:30 PM.
https://visitalexandria.com/holidays/boat-parade/?mc_cid=4604dc52e4&mc_eid=0f5603d4c6
You'll find good restaurants along the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria.

P.S. In case this helps you with your original question:

Taxi: The following companies currently operate within the City of Alexandria but will take you to the airport, to Arlington Cemetery, to downtown for sightseeing, and so on:

GoGreen Cab: 703.212.2000, https://gogreentaxicab.com/blog/
Union Cab: 703.683.1200
VIP Cab: 703.333.5800, https://viptaxiva.wordpress.com/
White Top Cab: 703.683.4004
Yellow Cab: 703.549.2500, https://alexandriayellowcab.com/#/booking/

The King Street Trolley (free) may come in handy if you decide to visit Alexandria:
https://www.dashbus.com/trolley/

Thanks Sam321. I have rented a car for the afternoon/evening of the funeral and will probably drive a couple of other people who are flying in for the funeral and won’t have one.

I want to go to Alexandria on Saturday, but we may consider arriving after the parade and stay through the evening and have dinner there. Unfortunately yesterday was the deadline for me to change our hotel reservation so we will just stay in D.C. as planned. If we make it out that way again I would definitely consider staying in Alexandria instead.

Andrea, sounds like a great plan. I was giving taxi info in case you needed a one-time ride somewhere.

Be advised the Weather Channel is now showing ice/sleet/snow for the D.C. area, Friday (the 5th) & Saturday morning (Dec. 6).

Saturday might be better spent in a museum or perhaps at your hotel, enjoying a meal or two there, reading, watching the snow drift by outside the window, and relaxing.

Bitter cold temperatures with that. Do take a very warm jacket, waterproof, with you.

Best of luck with your trip, and my condolences on the loss of your friend.

FYI: winters in DC are not nearly as harsh as they once were. Things are warmer here.

But in places that are proximate to water (e.g. Old Town Alexandria) it can get quite chilly. Saturday is looking like a high around 41°F and a low in the mid-20s F with low wind, so it shouldn't be too bad. That said, snow and ice are forecast on Friday and this area isn't known for being great at handling any kind of frozen precipitation. I've lived in DC, proper, for nearly 23 years after 10 years in New England and my first 20 years in Salt Lake City, both places that know from snow. While we will pre-treat the roads with brine, plows aren't as efficient at timely removal, especially on side streets (main roads, arterials, and highways get better attention).

And DC area drivers aren't the best in snow, so be mindful. They haven't gotten the memo that four-wheel drive doesn't mean four-wheel stop, or that all-season tires aren't great in frozen stuff (or that tires need to be replaced before the tread is thin).

It's not all doom-and-gloom, but given this will be the first winter storm of note this season, folks' memories of how to operate in such conditions will be... hazy.

Good luck!

Thanks Sam and R.D. We will only have a car for Thursday afternoon, maybe into the evening. As for Friday, I’m aware of the weather conditions and we will probably spend that day going to museums. I’m not too worried about Saturday because we brought warm clothes and layers. We fly home Sunday afternoon. We arrived yesterday evening and today we went to see the monuments. We missed them on our week long trip here in 2013 because of the government shutdown that year. So far I’ve walked 9 miles today and we will have to walk to and from dinner. With the sun out today it didn’t seem that cold, and I’m always cold.