Budget Car Rental in SF

[Spoogle]

I'm planning a California road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in late May. We will be picking up a car in San Francisco and returning it to LAX before our flight home. The one way car rentals through Budget are $960 if I pick the car up at either SFO or the Hyatt near Fisherman's Wharf. However, there is a Budget located on Harbor Way that has the same car for $350. What's the catch? Is anyone familiar with that location or Budget? It's about 7 miles from Fisherman's Wharf but that can't be more than a $50 cab ride, right?

 

[bcla]

I'm planning a California road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles in late May. We will be picking up a car in San Francisco and returning it to LAX before our flight home. The one way car rentals through Budget are $960 if I pick the car up at either SFO or the Hyatt near Fisherman's Wharf. However, there is a Budget located on Harbor Way that has the same car for $350. What's the catch? Is anyone familiar with that location or Budget? It's about 7 miles from Fisherman's Wharf but that can't be more than a $50 cab ride, right?

It's not actually San Francisco but South San Francisco. South SF is a completely different city in a different county.

I looked up the location, and it's near San Francisco International Airport surrounded by a bunch of airport hotels.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=230+H...n+Francisco,+San+Mateo,+California+94080&z=17

I tried looking on Budget, and I don't think there's any catch. This is just a less expensive location for Budget to operate than Fisherman's Wharf or the airport. I'd say take the deal.

Also - how many people? You might even try taking public transportation to get there. The South San Francisco Caltrain station is less than a mile away. You could leave your party at the station with the luggage and then pick them up once you get the car.

 

[zimaaaaah]

Thanks for this post! We are planning the exact same type trip at the same time and I was having sticker shock over the rental car prices (and everything else) in San Francisco but now I re-quoted from that location and feel much better.

 

[MMCD]

I am so glad that I saw this posting. My plans are to go to SF then to San Luis Obispo then to Disneyland. I was looking to rent a car at SLO and use Amtrak from SF to SLO and SLO to Disneyland. I wanted to avoid renting at SF and DL. But with a rental at South SF Harbor Way and returning it to Anaheim Budget at South Harbor, that's the same price as our Amtrak tickets!! So I'll be renting from Budget.

So now I have to figure out how to get to Budget from the SFO and how do we get to DL after dropping off at Anaheim. Have any of you gone on your trip to experience this yet?

 

[bcla]

So now I have to figure out how to get to Budget from the SFO and how do we get to DL after dropping off at Anaheim. Have any of you gone on your trip to experience this yet?

A taxi is less than $20. You could take your party or even leave some at the airport with your luggage and pick them up when you have your car. There are public transportation options too, but a bit messy since you'd be about a half mile and schedules may mean waiting around a while.

 

[IncredibleboysMom]

Chiming in as another person who is so happy to have found this thread AND this option DH could leave me and the kids at SFO with the bags and come back for us. It will save us about $500!

We will return to the Anaheim Budget location which appears to be a couple (large) blocks from DL. We are spending 4 nights at DL and really dont need the car there correct? I'm thinking it would save a few days rental if DH drops us off at the hotel (probably Desert Inn), returns the car and then returns to the hotel on foot. We would then find a shuttle to LAX for our flight home.

Our trip is in late June, if anyone uses this off airport Budget option before then, could you let us know how it goes?

 

[MMCD]

We are going in mid-June. I haven't called Budget location to verify that they received my reservation. Has any of you called directly, yet?

 

[MMCD]

Has anyone used this Budget in South San Francisco? I hope this is legit since I haven't made any backup plans. I googled the address per above. It's address came up as AVIS. I tried calling one time but nobody picked up.

 

[bcla]

Has anyone used this Budget in South San Francisco? I hope this is legit since I haven't made any backup plans. I googled the address per above. It's address came up as AVIS. I tried calling one time but nobody picked up.

I looked up the location on Google Street View, and it is an Avis location. However, the name of Avis's parent company is the Avis Budget Group. I guess it makes sense. It may be something like airline code sharing.

You might try calling the Avis number to figure out what the deal is.

http://www.avis.com/car-rental/location/details.ac?LOCATIONCODE=S6F

 

[MMCD]

OK, somebody finally answered the phone. It is Avis Budget. Both are located here. They said the taxi will cost $12 to $17 from SFO. It seems legit.