My strategy is that I immediately get the shuttle to the car rental. Meanwhile, I leave the family at the airport to wait for our baggage. Then, I pick them up. It helps me get out in-front of most people, reduce our wait time, and eliminate getting bags on and off the shuttle.
At LAX that strategy can easily backfire. The "Horseshoe" getting back to passenger pickup is often jammed up with traffic and sometimes dang near gridlocked. LAX is really a very poor traffic design.