Picking up at LAX without a flight
 

We were scheduled to arrive into LAX by plane on the 4th of July but changed our flights so we are in fact arriving on the 2nd instead. We decided to go the first two days without a rental car and keep our initial reservation with Avis for the 4th of July.

We were thinking about just taking an Uber to the airport on the 4th and head to the Avis office but I was wondering what the smartest way of doing this would be considering we aren't arriving in the airport but rather getting to the airport with the sole purpose of picking up the car? Thanks for the help!

The rental lots are all off-site, why not just go directly to the Avis lot and skip the airport? I'm not aware of any requirement that you have a same day flight to rent a car, so I don't think there should be any issue.

You do not need to arrive by plane to pick up a rental car from the airport.
YMMV - non-plane arrivals might waive airport taxes, but most will not.

I would just uber or taxi - whichever is the most convenient way to get there.

In most cases, you will do better renting at off airport locations in this scenario because of the airport taxes. You can try to claim that you didn't use their shuttle, but that might be difficult.

Rasheed

They are much more concerned with people who ride their shuttle yet who aren't Avis customers than with people who are Avis customers but don't bother using their shuttle. I don't see why they'd care.

There's are several hotels within a few blocks from Avis facility. Do you think they don't allow someone who's staying at one of those hotels to rent a car there??? :confused:

I've rented cars there as a local dozens of times, just walking in off the street every time. (I was doing it because I was "between cars", and I did it at the airport instead of another location because of a big promotional miles bonus at the time. Many partner bonuses don't work at non-airport locations.) It's a long walk from the street to any of the booths, by the time you get to the booth it's not clear that you didn't just come from looking at some cars or something.

The only issue would be if you put in your arrival flight number in your reservation when you made it. Then if that flight is delayed, and that's known well ahead of time, they may not have your car ready until your delayed flight time, rather than your reservation start time. (Of course, half the time they do have the car ready, and are confused by why you arrived so late even though your flight number was in the reservation.)

The airport fees/taxes would be my primary concern; try to change it to an off airport location if it's convenient.

Otherwise, they really don't care how you show up. Your money is just as good as anyone arriving by plane.

Actually, airport fee/taxes can be irrelevant if the airport rates were much lower than what you can now get at an off airport location. Keep in mind:

1. What matters is the total paid, not the breakdown. How is a $100 total which includes $50 in airport fees/tax not better than an off-airport $300 total which doesn't include them? :confused:

2. Avis rates are constantly changing. Even if booked on the same day an off-airport rate may be lower, the fact that the airport rate was booked ahead of time and the off-airport rate would (at this point) be being booked a day or so out, just because of when it's being booked it could be higher by now.

Two other factors, in addition to those mentioned:

1. Car selection at an off-airport location may be severely limited. Not only in size or model, but you could end up in a car with very high mileage with no ability to switch.

2. Car return. Many off airport locations have very limited hours. And, you might not be allowed to return to the airport without a significant drop charge, negating any imagined savings in airport fees.

The LAX facility is guaranteed open 24/7.

I had this problem (admittedly with Hertz) - flew into LAX and stayed overnight at a convenient hotel. Walked to the facility the following morning to collect my car - nothing available... reason was, I had put my flight number on the reservation which arrives daily in the early evening.

I don't see why this was a problem as I booked my reservation for 10am but the counter clerk indicated the arrival time of the flight was their guide (there is no facility to enter date of flight). Now I always indicate I am not flying in when completing the reservation form.

Adey

The purpose of a flight number is if you're picking up the car when the flight arrives and to adjust that if the flight is late.

You should certainly not put in a flight number if you're not picking up the car when the flight arrives. But I would advise still putting in the flight number if you are picking up the car as soon as you got off the plane.

If you always leave off the flight number, even when you're planning on picking up the car as soon you land, you could end up with the opposite problem someday, of your flight being several hours late and your car reservation being cancelled because you didn't pick up anywhere close to on time. So you should not do it always one way or the other, but put in the flight number when it makes sense and don't put it in when it doesn't make sense.