Avis vs. Budget at LAX
 

I'll be renting a convertible at LAX in a few weeks. Avis is about 5% more expensive than Budget for the same car. My gut feeling tells me that it's worth paying more because Avis has better service. On the other hand, I know they share a common fleet and probably the same staff, so it might be illusory. What about the shuttle wait times? I appreciate your advice.

I have both Preferred Plus and Fastbreak.

Avis Preferred is usually better/faster than Budget FastBreak. Even with FastBreak you often have to stand on line to see an agent, although it is a dedicated line and they typically have your paperwork pre-processed as a FB member, so it theoretically should be quick, but Avis Preferred is still more seamless since you can skip the counter entirely.

As far as vehicle selection, it can be hit or miss. By and large, Avis should have the better vehicles, but it often depends on timing and luck. Regardless, we'd probably recommend Avis over Budget for a small price difference.

Oh, be careful. LAX is, I believe, a special case where the cars are not pooled. Avis is corporate. Budget is a franchise. Is that still true?

Budget LAX became corporate a couple years ago. Not sure if the fleet is pooled with Avis or not. Note that Budget SAN and Budget LAS are still franchises. Proceed with caution at both, especially SAN.

Budget LAX was one of the few "Fast Break Choice" locations I have seen (had it back when it was a franchise too). Vehicles in the lot by car class and the shuttle stopped you at your assigned area. Not sure how it worked on a specialty vehicle but for me reserving an economy I always had a large selection of late model farily low mileage bare bones compacts to select from in my assigned area then go to the booth to complete the rental and get the contract.

For a premium vehicle, I think I'd go with Avis over Budget. Personally as one who reserves compacts I'd go with Budget over Avis to save the 5% if it was a bare bones rental I was expecting/looking for.

Not sure if this is the best thread, but I can;t find a general LAX Avis thread:

Does anyone have a recent experience with Avis at LAX? I just received an email from the LAX branch stating that as of August 20, Avis LAX had temporarily relocated as a result of ongoing construction, and that this might impact their operations. I'm aware of the construction around LAX in general -- but is the Avis experience at LAX impacted enough that I should look to a different LAX rental company?

Having heard no horror stories, I went ahead with my booked reservation. It wasn't bad. When I arrived at 8 pm, there was no actual construction activity. The lot seemed well-stocked. As a Preferred Plus, I had booked an intermediate car and was assigned a Nissan Pathfinder. One downside: the lot was pretty dark where my car was parked -- I'm not sure I would have been able to see small dents or large scratches when I walked around the vehicle. Shuttles are never efficient at LAX; my shuttle experience was no worse than usual