South - Car rental at CLT

This is the best-fit forum I could find for this topic.

Mrs. Mahohmei and I will be flying to CLT this summer and renting a car to go to a family reunion about 90 miles away. Looking at orbitz.com...

Hertz: $43/day
Avis: $42/day
Budget: $34/day
Dollar or Thrifty: $21/day

I have a pretty basic question here: what's the difference between the big names and the discount rental car agencies? All I want/need is an economy car, but I give bonus points (and I'm willing to pay extra) for:

- Check-in counter at the airport itself, so I can walk straight to it from the baggage claim.

- Getting a key and parking space number at the counter, so I can walk straight to the car and take off without needing a bus ride to a remote location, waiting for them to go find the car, fill it up, and bring it to me, etc.

- Not getting overbooked and having the reservation magically not exist when I get to the counter (IIRC, UHaul is notorious for this).

- Although this is not mandatory, definite bonus points for rental car companies with human-free check-in, where I can swipe my credit card and have the machine dispense a key and a receipt with a space number.

Can anyone offer insight on this, especially wrt CLT?

Thanks!

You might check the "Miles & Points" area of the site to ask about specific companies. Not all major companies and not all smaller companies are alike. Which companies do you refer to? Some use specific companies due to corporate discounts, frequent user discounts, variety of cars, etc. Some smaller companies may be off-airport. I usually check any discount codes I'm eligible to use (Costco, USAA, AARP, frequent flyer programs, etc.). You could also look at Hotwire and Priceline (usually don't know the name of the company beforehand and you pay in advance). On a recent trip we used Enterprise and Alamo at SMF, ONT, BWI and CLT.

At CLT, I reserved a premium car through Hertz, but turned out they only had Mercuary Marquis and Lincoln Town Car, neither of which I wanted, so I walked among the different counters in the CLT terminal (I saw Alamo/National, Enterprise, Avis and Hertz) and checked with each. One could not walk to ANY rental cars from the terminal. At least not at all easily. I wouldn't recommend even trying. Shuttle busses for each company went to their "remote" facilities. As is typical in my experience, no one brought the car to me. Once we got off the shuttle bus, they told me what cars in my class were available, I chose one, and I got the key and walked to the vehicle in the adjoining lot. Then drove it off, handing over the form showing any dents, etc. to an attendant at the gate (showed them the scratches, etc. I wanted noted so I wouldn't be charged for them when I returned). Tank is virtually always full (last time I got a car that wasn't was at a Budget franchise-- not corporate-- location in Anaheim and they noted it on the computer. Never ran into this at an airport location. I don't know how it would work with any smaller comanies at CLT. Maybe they have shuttle, as well, just not counters in the airport terminal. I believe you could get on the shuttle bus and do your paperwork at the remote facility, bypassing the terminal counter, though you'd have jto know in advance what company you wanted to use (separate shuttle for each company; the remote facilities aren't all together like they are at some airports, such as SMF and ONT), and I don't know if you'd end up saving any time.

I don't know of any company where you can rent without talking to anyone (and filling out the forms with your personal info and accept or decline insurance, etc.) unless you are a member of their frequent user club (e.g., National Emerald, Hertz #1), since they'd have all of your data on file (including drivers license # and insurance). If that's important to you, you might want to sign up for one. It's free. But, at least, at CLT you'd still have to go to the remote facility to get your car.

I think the biggest difference between the "big names" and discount companies is the mileage on the car. But there are others -

1) Big names have "express" service that allows you to bypass the counter entirely.
2) In general (but not always) big names have better customer service, especially when things go wrong.
3) Big names often have corporate contracts that reduce their rates to something similar to the discount companies.

Not having to take a shuttle is usually more a function of the airport arrangement than the individual company. Most big airports require a shuttle to the cars, even if they have a counter in the airport terminal itself.

I suggest you check the Hertz, Avis and National forums and try some of the discount numbers listed there.

Not having to take a shuttle is usually more a function of the airport arrangement than the individual company. Most big airports require a shuttle to the cars, even if they have a counter in the airport terminal itself.


The best I've ever used is BNA (2010, pre-CRCF), where you walk up to the counter at the baggage claim level, they give you a key and space number, you walk right out the door, find the numbered parking space, get in the car, and drive off. I have not been there since then to "evaluate" the CRCF.

My ... award goes to PHL, where you walk out of the baggage claim to take a bus to the rental car location, and after taking what feels like a long bus ride involving multiple roads, you get off the bus and realize...that you're about 200 feet from where the bus picked you up, with an equally absurdly long ride back to the terminal when your trip is over.

A Google Earth view of CLT shows that you have to take the bus to all the rental car lots, but Hertz, Budget, Avis, National, and Enterprise are on the airport property itself, obviously providing for a much shorter bus ride--and CLT's roads are much more straightforward than PHL's, making the bus ride even shorter. I can even see sidewalks and crosswalks between the terminal and rental car lots, so if the next bus back to the terminal doesn't leave for 10 minutes... :-)

The best I've ever used is BNA (2010, pre-CRCF), where you walk up to the counter at the baggage claim level, they give you a key and space number, you walk right out the door, find the numbered parking space, get in the car, and drive off. I have not been there since then to "evaluate" the CRCF.

My ... award goes to PHL, where you walk out of the baggage claim to take a bus to the rental car location, and after taking what feels like a long bus ride involving multiple roads, you get off the bus and realize...that you're about 200 feet from where the bus picked you up, with an equally absurdly long ride back to the terminal when your trip is over.

A Google Earth view of CLT shows that you have to take the bus to all the rental car lots, but Hertz, Budget, Avis, National, and Enterprise are on the airport property itself, obviously providing for a much shorter bus ride--and CLT's roads are much more straightforward than PHL's, making the bus ride even shorter. I can even see sidewalks and crosswalks between the terminal and rental car lots, so if the next bus back to the terminal doesn't leave for 10 minutes... :-)

Last month, I think it may have taken 5 minutes to get from the terminal to the National/Alamo car lot. Just one bus goes to each company's lot. The one on the airport prooperty are near to each other. Under a 5-minute wait for the bus to leave from the terminal, and on the return to leave the lot to go to the terminal. I didn't even consider walking, since we had bags, so am not sure how easy it would be, but it didn't look close (as it is, say, at SNA or, for most companies, BUR and, apparently, at BNA). If you have bags, I wouldn't personally suggest it. If you have an account that allows you to bypass the terminal check-in, that would save some time, and you could just walk to the bus, but you still have the bus. Really not a big deal. BTW, one advantage of not having the car at the terminal is that you can bypass the congestion of cars dropping off and picking up people when, after picking up your car, you drive away. Just a quick exit to nearby highways.

Thank you, one and all, for your input. I've never used CLT (save for transfers), and I very, very seldom rent cars, sooo...I didn't know what to expect. :-)

I think the biggest difference between the "big names" and discount companies is the mileage on the car. But there are others -

1) Big names have "express" service that allows you to bypass the counter entirely.
2) In general (but not always) big names have better customer service, especially when things go wrong.
3) Big names often have corporate contracts that reduce their rates to something similar to the discount companies.

Not having to take a shuttle is usually more a function of the airport arrangement than the individual company. Most big airports require a shuttle to the cars, even if they have a counter in the airport terminal itself.

I suggest you check the Hertz, Avis and National forums and try some of the discount numbers listed there.

Good summery.

In CLT I always rent from Avis. They seem take good care of me. Why? I don't know.

BTW, one advantage of not having the car at the terminal is that you can bypass the congestion of cars dropping off and picking up people when, after picking up your car, you drive away. Just a quick exit to nearby highways.

When we rented a car from BNA before the CRCF, the lot from which we picked up the rental car had its exit positioned in such a way that we never had to interfere with the terminal.

My home TLH has an interesting setup. When you leave with a rental car, you go (almost) directly to an exit, bypassing the terminal. To return a rental car, you have to drive right through the terminal. Fortunately, the rental car return exit is on the left, it's three lanes plus the stopping lane, and TLH runs at a fraction of capacity, so you can count the number of cars on the terminal road on your hands.