Can anyone help with SFO car rental question?

[melk]

We are renting a car and returning it at San Francisco airport through Alamo. Got a great price through Costco. Now our trip has been extended by a couple of days, now leaving from San Jose. They're going to charge me a lot to modify the reservation so I thought of returning the car the original return date and picking up another. But unfortunately their Alamo prices are high for those couple of days. I can get a better price through another car rental agency.

My question is, how far apart are the car rental agencies at SFO? Could I return to Alamo and easily walk to another? I know it says we have to take a shuttle but am wondering if the car rental agencies are all lumped together at the same location.

Thank you for any help!

 

[bumbershoot]

I googled "sfo rental car" and got this site: http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/rental-cars (thought of this b/c Seatac, our home airport, has one main rental car facility just off site and I figured SFO might do the same)

It says (forgive the font/size change...I can never fix it once this has happened) "San Francisco International Airport's Rental Car Center allows travelers to pick up and drop off rental cars at one convenient, central location."

That shows all the agencies that are at the center. Seems like it won't be that hard to do in terms of distance to walk.

 

[melk]

I googled "sfo rental car" and got this site: http://www.flysfo.com/to-from/rental-cars (thought of this b/c Seatac, our home airport, has one main rental car facility just off site and I figured SFO might do the same)

It says (forgive the font/size change...I can never fix it once this has happened) "San Francisco International Airport's Rental Car Center allows travelers to pick up and drop off rental cars at one convenient, central location."

That shows all the agencies that are at the center. Seems like it won't be that hard to do in terms of distance to walk.

Perfect! Thank you so much!

 

[Ranger111]

As mentioned, SFO car rental central is one giant ClusterF****

You will be lucky to know if you are in the correct line for the correct agency -- I am almost serious. Leave extra time, lots of extra time...unless you are going at some oddball hour.

 

[melk]

As mentioned, SFO car rental central is one giant ClusterF****

You will be lucky to know if you are in the correct line for the correct agency -- I am almost serious. Leave extra time, lots of extra time...unless you are going at some oddball hour.

Yikes, thanks for the tip! We have a car rented through National Emerald Aisle so I think we can bypass the counter.

 

[rwdavis2]

I never fond it that difficult to navigate.

 

[bumbershoot]

As mentioned, SFO car rental central is one giant ClusterF****

You will be lucky to know if you are in the correct line for the correct agency -- I am almost serious. Leave extra time, lots of extra time...unless you are going at some oddball hour.

Is it that bad? It works really well at seatac.

 

[Huff]

Why is Costco charging to change? I've never had to pre-pay on Costco and just cancel and make a new reservation.
Our last trip to SFO we were staying in SF and opted to not rent a car as parking in SF is $50/nt or more. Used Wingz and Uber!

 

[achang2001]

Why is Costco charging to change? I've never had to pre-pay on Costco and just cancel and make a new reservation.

I bet that there is no "change fee" but adding the 2 days made the rental rate much higher.
The SFO car rental area was fine. You take a tram over and pick your car in the garage. We had 4 adults and lots of luggage and were given a free upgrade to a minivan thru Alamo.
Is your plan to keep your original rental and have a second rental where you pickup at SFO and return at SJC?
Having a car is both a nuisance and a blessing in some ways in San Francisco. If you are going to Muir Woods, Hearst Castle, half moon bay and some more distant sights, it's definitely nice but if you are staying in the city, it's sooo expensive. We had a 5 day rental for...hold your breath...$54 for 5 days!!!! We paid $55/day to park at the hotel. One day, we had an Alcatraz tour then decided to go to Fishermans wharf for dinner then Ghiradelli for dessert. $55 parking at hotel, $18 parking at pier, $22 parking at Fishermans wharf then we paid a cab $10 (incl tip to get fr Ghiradelli to Fishermans wharf bc it was raining) so $100 parking for 1 day! Not to mention you have to be a master parallel Parker!!!!
Also, before you go, read a primer on meter parking in the city. The parking people are relentless! 5 min over, you will get ticketed/booted! There are certain colors that you can't park at certain times of the day and you have to turn your tires a certain way on hills! We live in Texas where we rarely parallel park or pay for parking so it was very intimidating!

 

[Ranger111]

My travels to Bagdad by the Bay (San Francisco), usually take me at peak hours and I usually find it a crowded mess. But, there are times it is not so bad.

As Achang said, IF YOU ARE STAYING in the City you would be better off not renting.

There is good public transportation from the airport to the whole bay area and you can walk from one end of the city to the other with no issue, or take public transit. Parking is a killer.

I usually have to go to Guernville, Santa Rosa, etc., so I usually do rent a car, but it stays parked at my hotel most of the time. All my "city touring" is done on foot -- or cab if the weather is too bad.

 

[bumbershoot]

We live in Texas where we rarely parallel park or pay for parking so it was very intimidating!

My mom lived in SF in the 60s and through the 80s when we would visit her old friends, she would pull up, put on the parking brake, and have her friend come out and park her car for her. She just never got used to parallel parking on those hills...

 

[melk]

Why is Costco charging to change? I've never had to pre-pay on Costco and just cancel and make a new reservation.
Our last trip to SFO we were staying in SF and opted to not rent a car as parking in SF is $50/nt or more. Used Wingz and Uber!

I bet that there is no "change fee" but adding the 2 days made the rental rate much higher.
The SFO car rental area was fine. You take a tram over and pick your car in the garage. We had 4 adults and lots of luggage and were given a free upgrade to a minivan thru Alamo.
Is your plan to keep your original rental and have a second rental where you pickup at SFO and return at SJC?
Having a car is both a nuisance and a blessing in some ways in San Francisco. If you are going to Muir Woods, Hearst Castle, half moon bay and some more distant sights, it's definitely nice but if you are staying in the city, it's sooo expensive. We had a 5 day rental for...hold your breath...$54 for 5 days!!!! We paid $55/day to park at the hotel. One day, we had an Alcatraz tour then decided to go to Fishermans wharf for dinner then Ghiradelli for dessert. $55 parking at hotel, $18 parking at pier, $22 parking at Fishermans wharf then we paid a cab $10 (incl tip to get fr Ghiradelli to Fishermans wharf bc it was raining) so $100 parking for 1 day! Not to mention you have to be a master parallel Parker!!!!
Also, before you go, read a primer on meter parking in the city. The parking people are relentless! 5 min over, you will get ticketed/booted! There are certain colors that you can't park at certain times of the day and you have to turn your tires a certain way on hills! We live in Texas where we rarely parallel park or pay for parking so it was very intimidating!

It's not a change fee, it's adding the extra days that is hiking up the price. We're going to be based in Half Moon Bay, we have family there. So we plan on them giving us the grand tour, haha! Not sure if they will have us take public transportation in or what, but I'm sure they'll take care of us.

So the plan is we'll return the original rental to Alamo (we have an SUV as we are touring Sequioa and Yosemite first). Then I was able to book with National on their Emerald Aisle for a pretty good rate for the next couple of days. We'll visit Monterey in that car and then return to SJC for our flight home.