Are new remote rental car facilities too far away?

by Charlie Leocha on May 21, 2008

Once upon a time car rental operations were right outside the airline terminal doors. Today, the trend is for major airports to consolidate their rental operations a distance from the airport. Fewer airports have Hertz, Avis, National, Enterprise buses looping around the terminals. They have all been consolidated into a single rental car bus system that whisks passengers to the central car rental facility.

The New York Times reported

Over the last decade, airports have tried to alleviate traffic congestion by consolidating rental-car companies into remote sites served by buses or people movers. Kansas City, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Phoenix Sky Harbor and Ted Stevens Anchorage international airports have recently opened consolidated sites. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International is building a site scheduled to open late next year, part of a 10-year development program budgeted at more than $6 billion. The $590 million center will include 10 rental-car companies and 8,700 parking spaces.

The Times is wrong about one thing. Consolidation has been going on for longer than a decade. Our own Christopher Elliott reported on this trend 11 years ago.

The jury is out on this consolidation. The airports claim that they have eliminated thousands of bus trips from their airports and say that the thinner traffic makes getting to the terminal easier even if the car rental facility is miles from the airport.

What’s your opinion? For me, I’ll take renting a car in Reno where I walk across the street to pick up my car over landing in Albuquerque and busing out to the consolidated rental facility. The next question when assessing these car rental facilities is, “How far is too far?” And is the facility three or four miles away advertised as an “airport location”? I guess that technically it really is.

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Tagged as: rental cars

  • Aaron

    I think it depends on the airport.

    I recently was in Las Vegas. Though I did not have a rental car myself, my ride to the airport did. We dropped the car at the facility and then got in line for the shuttle to the terminal. Maybe it was the time of the day, but we had a wait for the shuttle to even show up, let alone the 5th shuttle that we ended up on.

    Apparently, the shuttles leaving the terminal have to wait until they are full to head back to the center. I think as long as service is provided consistently, then the consolidated centers are no issue. However, if I’m running late to a meeting because the shuttle had to wait to squeeze in one more passenger, then I’d be upset.

  • jlawrence01

    All I know is that you pay dearly for the consolidated facilities – as much as $8-10 per rental. Cleveland Hopkins’ fees and taxes take a $15/day rental to $34.

  • Mike

    SFO adds a flat $15 to each rental for ‘transportation’ on the Air Train. I preferred the free walk which burned a few calories.

    I always try to use Orange County airport when flying to So Cal because you can walk across to the garage and pick up your car. No waiting for a bus.

  • BE

    In most cases the remote facilities don’t create too much problem. DFW, ABQ, LAX, DEN, PHX, LAS, SEA, ETC….all have good and bad days. Most times it is just that one shuttle driver that drives you mad. Yells at you for standing over the line, demands that he has to take your luggage onto the rack, does not allow beverages in the bus, remains at the stop with a packed bus. It is these guys that do not draw onto common sense. That is what drives you nuts while taking you to the airport.

    Let us all not forget the laundry list of charges above and beyond the rate:
    Taxes
    Surcharges
    Fees
    Customer Facility Charge $/day
    Concession Fee 9.89 %
    Leased Vehicle Gross Receipts
    Leased Vehicle Surcharge
    Gross Receipts Tax (6.8750%).

  • Joe Z

    “Today, the trend is for major airports to consolidate their rental operations a distance from the airport.”

    Just to clarify, FLL’s car rental facility is not “a distance from the airport.”. It’s more like a few hundred feet away. You can choose to take a bus or walk. I have not rented a car there, since family always picks me up. But, I have seen people walk from the terminals to the car rental facility and/or take the shuttle bus.

    At IAH, there seems to be plenty of shuttle buses to the rental car facility a couple miles away. I never had problems with those buses making me late for my flight.

    I’m in PHL, and while waiting for the parking shuttle for my car, I see the rental car company buses going round and round – sometimes empty, wasting all sorts of fuel, and since the arrival area is covered, all the diesel fumes permeate the air. I don’t know how the Philly cops can deal w/ the pollution for 8 hours. A consolidated rental car facility would do wonders for the arrival area at PHL and many airports.

  • Joe Z

    Oh yeah, SEA’s car rental facility is a short walk. No shuttle bus needed as well.

  • Phillip L

    Depends on the facility. Las Vegas is awfuly — I will never rent a car at the airport in Las Vegas again — the shuttle service is awful, primarly because the drivers insist on handling the luggage, the luggage storage in the shuttles is poor, and they will not let riders stand. Most others I have used (BWI, IAH, SFO, FLL) I have no complaints. I do wonder why the FLL shuttle drivers can do such a better job of filling up the shuttle and begin on their way than at LAS. And FLL includes cruise ship passengers with lots of luggage.

    My only conclusion is at LAS they are trying to discourage car rentals. Of course, that will also discourage guys like me who can drive from Los Angeles from flying as well.

  • Lewis

    I have yet to find a consolidated rental facility which could be classified as an improvement over the prior process. All of them take longer than the old company run process.

    The drivers are typically less helpful and courteous than their private company predecessors. Why? Because they work for the airport, or a local government agency, and not a publicly held competitive company. They are not worried about losing you to the company down the street. No competition no courtesy.

    Waiting till the bus is full is fine when the customer has no choice. I’ve switched rental companies at several airports just because their drivers were consistently poor.

    It’s a bad idea, but the coming oil crisis will make it justifiable and more prevalent.

  • Gabe

    Shuttels to central car rentals, I find not all that bad, it does save you those airport fees, traveling does have some built in discomforts.

  • James M

    I get offended when I pay “airport” fees, but the trip to the rental car facility takes more than 10+ minutes. When leave most airports, 10+ minutes usually finds me a many of miles from the airport. Taxes and fees often make it worthwhile for me to take a cab to the hotel and then pick up the car from a city location later. This is especially true in Germany, where there’s a great train to downtown and the airport pickup puts 20% on my bill (tax). I usually suck it up for a weekend in Detroit, but always consider the alternative.

    Overall, I think the time and cost make it worth considering the alternative. 15 years ago, I rarely thought about in-city pickup.

  • helly ander

    The trend is for major airports to consolidate their rental operations a distance from the airport. According to me long as service is provided consistently, then the consolidated centre are no issue.
     

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