West - Where should I rent a car at Sea-Tac?

I'm planning to rent a car for a bit over two weeks at Sea-Tac in November and wonder which rental company I should use. I have Avis Preferred First and Hertz Gold status but actually don't have a preferrence at the moment. I checked the various websites here in Europe and price difference is only marginal.

The idea is to get a car in the premium or luxury category. Ideally it should be something like a Chrysler M300 or Cadillac DTS. I'm not really in for a Hyundai and while I've never actually driven a Town Car I understand there catering more the 65+ audience.

I would be grateful for any recommendations for SEA car rental companies in terms of service, quality and car choice.

Thanks! :)

Let me move this to our Travel->West forum, for further discussion about the best choices. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

One tip: if you are able to rent from a downtown Seattle location, for a two-week rental, you could save a significant amount of taxes and fees that are charged at airport rental locations but not charged at downtown ones. Many companies will let you pick-up from the downtown location and return to SEA without an added (drop) charge. We do this often in our SEA trips. That said, generally the choice of cars is better at the airport locations, so you have to balance savings against car choice.

IME Avis SEA is not generous with UGs for Firsts, and Hertz Gold even less so.

Town Car is a bit above the Grand Marquis which is the classic grandpa car, but it still drives like a boat.

I've found Avis to be reasonably accomodating if you ask for a different car as a First, so if you are watching the pennies booking a premium on Avis as a First is most likely to get you what you want. OTOH, if you want to be sure of a Lux, book a Lux.

Either way, Avis first will count for more then Hertz Gold in gettinh what you want if what they have allocated to you is unsatisfactory.

Let me move this to our Travel->West forum, for further discussion about the best choices. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

One tip: if you are able to rent from a downtown Seattle location, for a two-week rental, you could save a significant amount of taxes and fees that are charged at airport rental locations but not charged at downtown ones. Many companies will let you pick-up from the downtown location and return to SEA without an added (drop) charge. We do this often in our SEA trips. That said, generally the choice of cars is better at the airport locations, so you have to balance savings against car choice.

Hmm... not a bad tip- didn't realize you could drop off at an airport location and avoid a bulk of the fees... - and with the new Light Rail open... not a bad proposition... ^

Let me move this to our Travel->West forum, for further discussion about the best choices. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

One tip: if you are able to rent from a downtown Seattle location, for a two-week rental, you could save a significant amount of taxes and fees that are charged at airport rental locations but not charged at downtown ones. [...]

Thanks for moving the post and sorry for not posting here first.

This sounds like a good idea. I also saw that there is a a Hertz location at the SeaTac Marriott, so this might be a good option - I will check the price difference. I guess I'll never be sure of the the car selection at either one location until I stand at the counter listening to what car they assign to me...

Update

Interesting, I just checked both Avis and Hertz online and compared prices between airport and downtown location and the price difference was, if at all, marginal. Many times I even got the very same price. Did I miss anything, could it be because I rent from Europe or for a time of over two weeks?

Update

Interesting, I just checked both Avis and Hertz online and compared prices between airport and downtown location and the price difference was, if at all, marginal. Many times I even got the very same price. Did I miss anything, could it be because I rent from Europe or for a time of over two weeks?

Are you looking at the "all in" price that includes taxes and fees? Many times this is shown right before inputting the CC info... this is where the rate may differ...

Are you looking at the "all in" price that includes taxes and fees? Many times this is shown right before inputting the CC info... this is where the rate may differ...

I'm pretty sure that the prices were all-in and final. I just tried it again and went all the way where I could enter my billing details and no additional charges showed up. The sum also showed up as 'total amount'.

Quick example (without any discount, company, etc. codes)

Avis - Premium (Buick Lesabre)

Seatac: 671 Euro
Seattle 5th Avenue: 671 Euro

Hertz - Premium (Lincoln Towncar/ Cadillac DTS)

Seatac: 627 Euro
Seattle Downtown: 627 Euro

Maybe I'm missing something here?

This anomaly may have a lot to do with your rate plan and particular promotions.

For example, when I put in my usual Avis rate plan in for a two-week rental in Oct., the savings were about US$350 if one rented downtown and returned to the airport. If I tried National for the same rental the net difference was about $45 less if I rented and returned to the airport. With National, taxes were 50% of the rental picking up and returning from the airport but the base weekly rate was much lower from the airport.

So in this very quick experiment, there are many variables that go into the mix. It appears that National is trying to encourage people to rent from the airport, but Avis, not so.

One tip: if you are able to rent from a downtown Seattle location, for a two-week rental, you could save a significant amount of taxes and fees that are charged at airport rental locations but not charged at downtown ones. Many companies will let you pick-up from the downtown location and return to SEA without an added (drop) charge. We do this often in our SEA trips. That said, generally the choice of cars is better at the airport locations, so you have to balance savings against car choice.

This is exactly what we did for our last 2+ week stay in the Northwest. Rented a 1-day from SEA airport to get all our luggage to our suburban hotel, then the next day, returned it to SEA airport and took the bus (about $2) to downtown Seattle, where we picked up a long-term rental which we returned at the airport. Saved us over $500 IIRC. Plus we got to experience the cool underground tunnel system for Seattle's busses.