Car rental pick up at SFO
 

We are flying to to the US for the first time into SFO and are picking a car up from Alamo Max. Could anyone help me and advise what time gap I should leave between flight landing time of 4.35pm and car pick up. Also is self check in for car rental a good idea (cutting out the desk and going straight to the garage). Having never traveled to the US, I have no idea what the immigration process is. Also would be useful to get advice about drop off time before we fly back as I have no idea how big the airport is. Our return flight is 10pm on a Friday night.

many thanks.

Unbelievably, minutes after I posted this, my airline changed my flight schedule! 🙄

Flight home changed from 10pm back to 8.55pm. A bit annoyed as it cuts our time in SF shorter but does make the car hire issue easier as the pick up and drop off times will be closer so won’t add an extra day. Thinking pick up at 6pm, from 4.30pm flight and drop off 6pm before an 8.55pm flight home?

Presuming you have bags, it could take anywhere between 30 minutes and 2+ hours from your flight arriving to get to the rental center.

Regardless of what time you book the rental, the click will start at the time you pick it up. So if you book it at 6pm, you can pick it up at 5:30pm or 6:30pm, and the clock starts then.

Alamo, like most rental companies, has a 29 minute grace period on return, so you can return it up to 29 minutes later than pickup and it won't add an extra day. However you need to be careful if you're going to cut it fine - if you get there 25 minutes after pickup time, and there's a line at return and they don't get to you until 30 minutes after, then officially at least you're up for an extra hour (which is likely either 1/3 or 1/2 the daily rate)

Ah, thank you. Thats really helpful.

You should find the whole car pick up thing very easy. Not sure where you are based, but just ensure that you have the correct Driving Licence and any associated documentation, and a credit card, and you are good to go. Working backwards, it takes about 20 minutes from dropping the car at Alamo to reaching the check in counter, via a dedicated tram which runs between the rental center and the terminals. So arriving at around 6pm, or a little later, is absolutely fine - don't forget to fill the car before dropping it off as otherwise they will massively overcharge you for fuel.

On arrival in SFO, expect the Immigration line to be absolutely horrific. I'm not sure what time of year you are arriving, but last summer the lines were always over 2 hours and often around 4 hours long. You endure this before you collect your suitcase and, by then, the suitcase will have been removed from the belt and put in a pile somewhere - so you won't have to wait for it, but also you will have to find it. From there, it's a straight walk out to the tram (they call it an AirTrain) and it will take 15 minutes max to the Alamo counter, or straight to the car. Again, very easy and nothing to worry about.

Thank you, that’s good to know. We’re from the UK and coming in October (16-30th).

How long should we allow to drive from Nob Hill to the airport if we are to arrive at 6pm on a Friday evening do you think? 😬

With no traffic, that's about a 25-minute drive, but there will be traffic -- probably lots of it. I'd give yourself an hour.

Ok, an hour is ok. Thank you very much.

I'd allow more than an hour, and also, make sure you take a more westerly southbound street to US 101 (the freeway to SFO). It can take a good hour just to get from the Union Square area (about 1 mile) to the freeway if you cross Market St. in that area during the afternoon commute. You'll want to go west from Nob Hill and then south no earlier than Hyde. Van Ness is probably your easiest (which is a non-freeway portion of US-101, and will take you to the freeway).

If I were flying from the UK arriving in SFO at 4:55 pm, I would not want to drive to Nob Hill. I would stay an an airport hotel. There is a popular lobster restaurant very close walking distance from the Westin (about 1 block, maybe 350 ft away) I think it's called the New England Lobster Market and Restaurant. Alternatively, there is decent food in the international terminal landside near check in. I would then pick up the Alamo car the next morning. Everyone's plans are different so you might have a need to go to Nob Hill immediately.

Agree. I would say a person can be too tired to drive, given the traffic is going to be stop and go, as well as pedestrians, Uber/Lyft, bicycles, stop signs, traffic lights, etc. Basically, the worst urban driving condition.

I'd actually consider heading to Nob Hill upon arrival, and then pick up the car the next day at a City location, saving a night's parking and also, the bullpoopoodoodookaka extra airport surcharges, and arranging for an airport dropoff at the end of the trip.

There is a de facto rental car center downhill. OP should check it out.

Drop charges vary from zero to high. Once I rented an Avis car with no drop off charge (picking it up in San Francisco, returning it to San Francisco Airport). Silvercar had a high drop off charge as did Thrifty. It really varies by company and specific dates.

Sorry I think you have misunderstood. We are staying in Nob Hill with the car on our last night, then driving to the airport to arrive for 6pm. We cannot rent the SUV we have via downtown, they don't have them. We also have a rental with a empty tank drop off so don't need to refuel before giving car back. It is cheaper to keep the car for the extra day than do 2 x uber trips for 5 people and 5 suitcases and we have a place with a private garage. We are picking the car up at 6pm on arrival from the UK and staying at an airport hotel then leaving the city off on our trip.

I'll check out the route from Nob Hill to the airport, thank you Eastbay1K