Las Vegas - Question re: Las Vegas car rentals - please help!

Hi! - We are headed to Vegas and I am wondering - are we able to rent a car from any company directly at McCarren airport, or do they all require taking a shuttle to their car rental office? -- If so, which would you recommend for fastest service? - We are traveling with children and I would like to make it as easy as possible for us to get to our resort once we arrive at the airport. Thanks in advance!

No, there are no car renal places in the airport anymore.

I don't want to set your expectations too low, but LAS is one of the worst and slowest places to rent a car.

If speed is of the essence, have a private driver from your hotel pick you up, then rent a car that is delivered to you at the hotel later.

I agree renting a car in Vegas is a very slow process.

I guess my question to the OP is, do you really need a rental car, and where are you staying? Many of the large hotels have on-site rentals. I would look at taking a cab/car service to the hotel and getting a car there if you really need one.

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Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Renting a car at Vegas airport will require you to take a shuttle to the central car rental location. The shuttle ride is approximately 8 minutes once the shuttle starts moving.

For quick car rental, sign up for AVIS preferred and you can go straight to the Avis preferred booth, show your driver license, get contract and keys and be on your way. However, if you have not previously used Avis preferred you will need to show your credit card for verification the first time you rent.

More info here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/las-vegas/646121-consolidated-experiences-questions-re-consolidated-rental-car-facility-thread.html

Hi all - what great info/advice! -- Money is more of a problem than speed, so what I did was join the Dollar Rental Express dealio (hopefully I'll get my member # tomorrow cuz we leave on Friday!) - thanks to kingalien's advice. -- Avis seemed way too expensive and Dollar has good rates, so I will go with them. -- We are staying at Summer Bay Resort which is a couple blocks off of the Strip , and I know those are BIG blocks, lol. I may not need a car, but it seems that every time I go to Vegas I end up wishing that I had rented a car instead of wasting so much precious vacation time on the local bus and shuttles. Thanks again all!^

Renting and returning a car at LAS is a pain.

Find it easier to take a cab to the hotel and rent at the hotel but the rental price is a steep mark-up compared with rental price at the airport. Still if it is only for a couple of days or so ...

There used to be long queues for cabs at LAS. In the current economic climate, there are long queues of cabs waiting for pax.

There used to be long queues for cabs at LAS. In the current economic climate, there are long queues of cabs waiting for pax.

and in this economic climate you'll stand a higher chance of a taxi wanting to longhaul you. I've gotten tired of having to dictate which route to take with the taxis so I'm renting cars more often. With the express lanes at car rentals it's not really a hassle to rent cars.

i always rent a car when i'm there in vegas (and there's only me and my husband). my usual stay is about 3 nites/4 days. taking shuttles or taxis to & from airport would cost me $25ish rt. per person on top of having to go places when i need to could cost way over $100 for the stay. i opted to rent and it wasn't a hassle at all to take shuttle to rental and go straight to pick up my rental (check in online b4 hand) and leave.

walking to visit other hotels is fine as long as the weather is cool and you needed the exercize. but it is very hot now until the end of october so with children, you may want to reserve a car. you may enjoy it more taking your family around and go places (i.e., hoover dam, etc.)

Okay, I may be the only person here to say this, but I don't think it's too bad. It did used to be better when everything was on site, but the shuttles tend to run pretty frequently and I've found the rental center people to be reasonably helpful.

Mike

Okay, I may be the only person here to say this, but I don't think it's too bad. It did used to be better when everything was on site, but the shuttles tend to run pretty frequently and I've found the rental center people to be reasonably helpful.

Mike

No Mike, I agree. I would much rather have a car and there is very little hassle involved. I was there a few weeks ago and got from having my butt in an airplane to butt in a rental car in less than 30 mins :)...even though my wife insisted on checking luggage :mad:

Okay, I may be the only person here to say this, but I don't think it's too bad. It did used to be better when everything was on site, but the shuttles tend to run pretty frequently and I've found the rental center people to be reasonably helpful.
I've got to agree with Mike, here. With just a little bit of planning, the Rental Center can be a fairly painless experience. The key is joining the rental company's club (they all have one, and you can usually join online for free). The last time I was out there I reserved a standard size car from Thrifty, for less than $20/day. When I arrived at the Rental Center I walked right past the inside desk and out to the car area, where I picked up my rental agreement in less than a minute. I was then told to just select any car in the Standard area (I picked a red Dodge Charger ;)) and drive strait to the exit.

Bob

Okay, I may be the only person here to say this, but I don't think it's too bad. It did used to be better when everything was on site, but the shuttles tend to run pretty frequently and I've found the rental center people to be reasonably helpful.

Mike

I agree, I think the new facility is a big improvement. I normally use Hertz, as I am lucky enough to be one of their 'No1 Gold' thing, so for me its off the shuttle, to the car park, look on the board, find my name, find the car and away in minutes.

I was only 'car-less' in LAS once, never again (please note this is IMHO) as I got taken on so many 'long-haul' taxi rides, it was not just the expense, but the irritation. Never again.

Count me in the "no rental problem" column. I go from gate to rental car exit in under 30 minutes. Of course, no checked luggage, and when we get to the rental car facility, I go to the kiosk (Alamo) while the wife goes up and selects the car. I follow in about 3 minutes, hop in the car and away we go. Never at the rental car location for more than 10 minutes.

From the rental car drop-off perspective, how much time should we allow between arriving at the car drop-off and arriving at the check-in counter? (US Scareways)

From the rental car drop-off perspective, how much time should we allow between arriving at the car drop-off and arriving at the check-in counter? (US Scareways)

Depends on the time and day of the week.

Depends on the time and day of the week.

Flight is at 9am on Saturday, October 3rd.

The shuttles run pretty frequently, so generally you are only looking at 10-15 minutes from dropoff to arrival at the counters. The bigger problem is check in lines and security. I generally go by the 2 hour rule at Vegas.

So...if you are dropping car about 7, you should not have any worries at all. I have seen many people all the shuttle freaking out over the 10 minutes they have left.

I tend to agree that, based on my experience, shuttles to the airport are frequent but I think most of our flights out of Vegas have been on weeknights so YMMV.

If you can't do web check-in prior to leaving... when we flew on US Airways a year or two back, they had a self serve check-in kiosk located in the Car Rental Facility. When you get to the airport, there's a special counter before the main check-in counter where I think they weigh your bags, confirm your docs, etc. You then go the main counter, skipping the main line to drop your bags off.

We haven't had problems with a long security line and we usually end up killing over an hour at the airport because we also target to be at the rental facility 2hrs before our flight leaves.

Is the most I've ever waited for a shuttle to the Rental car center. That will be the easiest part of your trip!

From the rental car drop-off perspective, how much time should we allow between arriving at the car drop-off and arriving at the check-in counter? (US Scareways)

I think a more important question is what rental company? There could be a delay in checking the car back in, and if they are running behind, you might have to wait 10-15 minutes for them to get to you.

If you figure 10-15 minutes to get checked in;
5 minutes to get to the shuttle;
10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive, load & leave;
10 minutes for the ride to the terminal;
and 5 minutes to exit/unload,
you are looking at 45 minutes total from arrival at the rental car center to entering the terminal.

Speaking of delays checking a car back in... there are unexpected issues too.
I once wasted 15min having to get in line to dispute the billing by Dollar. They charged me an extra couple of hours by marking my out time before my flight landed in Vegas.

I think a more important question is what rental company?


Avis, with no status, boarding US Scareways for a 9am Saturday (tomorrow) departure with no status. Already checked in but have a bag that will need tagging.

Avis, with no status, boarding US Scareways for a 9am Saturday (tomorrow) departure with no status. Already checked in but have a back that will need tagging.

Allow 2.5 hours. Rental facility should not be a problem. The bag checking might be.

Avis, with no status, boarding US Scareways for a 9am Saturday (tomorrow) departure with no status. Already checked in but have a bag that will need tagging.

If you don't mind paying a few bucks extra per bag, Bags to Go (www.baggagecheckin.com) can check your bag right from your hotel or the CRF.

Allow 2.5 hours. Rental facility should not be a problem. The bag checking might be.

Home now & following up -

Arrived at the car rental return bunker on a Saturday morning at 7am, with our flight at 9am.

Returning the car was painless, as was the shuttle to the airport. We were in the terminal by 7:15.

Bag drop at US Scareways was a nightmare of surly disorganization and outright chaos, with three separate queues that randomly changed purpose at the whim of staff who then yelled at us cattle, but I guess that was to be expected.

Security lines were pretty much non-existent and we were at our gate by 8am or so.