sherryhall

I will need to rent a car for 1 week but prefer not to do so at the airport because of the many additional taxes that are required. What would be a close by (Airport) car rental location?
thank you.

happytrailstoyou

I recently saved a considerable amount with Hertz by picking up a car in downtown Atlanta even though I returned it to the Atlanta airport.

If the same applies in Portland, it may be worthwhile for you to take the train downtown: http://trimet.org/maps/railsystem.htm

Andrew

There are plenty of rental car places in downtown Portland where you can pick up a car - Hertz, Dollar, and Avis are three that come to mind. But I don't think you're going to save much money on taxes by booking downtown vs at the airport - you still pay most of the taxes if you rent in downtown Portland. But you can see for yourself easily by checking rates on Kayak.com . You can specify pickup location, and Kayak will tell you the total price including taxes.

Now, if you really want to skip those taxes, you could try renting out in Washington County, say in Beaverton (there's an Enterprise out there at least) and then you might skip some of the taxes.

lcuy

Just out of curiosity, I just used Expedia to compare an airport vs downtown portland pickup. (may 5- may 11, economy car). The taxes were about $10 less for the week downtown, but in several places the rental price was higher than at teh airport, so the airport was actually cheaper. I'd just get one at the airport, but your results mght be different for your actual week.

hopingtotravel

Plus you have to GET to downtown from the airport.

Andrew

It costs $2.30 for a one-way MAX train ticket to get downtown in about 30 minutes from the airport, so not a big deal in Portland.