We will be renting a car at San Francisco airport for about a week. Last time we used Hertz and the line was horrible just to get to the counter. Can someone recommend another company. Also any tips on saving money. Thanks.

You will save money by riding BART to downtown SF and renting there. The extra airport fees are more than the BART fare.
Many years ago I vowed never to rent at SFO.
If you have a choice, fly to Oakland, San Jose or Sacramento.

Finding a good price on rental cars is a challenge these days...

Here is what I have done recently for upcomng trips:

go to Kayak.com, research car rental prices for dates in SFO.

go to airline flying on and check if any airline partner discounts

ck any other discounts AAA, AARP, etc you may be eligible for

go to carrentals.com ck best rates there

go online and search "car rental discounts" or "car rental coupons" (one site in particular that is good is mousesavers..not just for Florida or CA either)

hopefully you have been taking notes of lowest prices

now go to horwire.com, type in the destination and dates...and you will liley be able to come up with a good number. you won't know which rental car until you book, but it will be a major rental car co not Fox or Rentawreck.

You can cx car rental resv without penalty Before rental start date....but red teh fine print

If you want best parking rates choose a hotel near a city gargage in SF...or for example we always book Union Square Hyatt..and look for rates that include parking...

I've used 'em all at SFO, and Hertz is usually the fastest line compared to Dollar, Thrifty, Enterprise, etc.

What you can do is sign up for one of the fast lane programs. Hertz gold club cost about $50 per year, but many of the others are free. Check out both dollar and thrifty's programs.

That lets you pre-enter all of your details (address, phone, dL #, etc) and you can bypass the long line and either go straight to your car, or to a booth with no line right where the cars are.

tomfuller, maybe you should explain that you had ONE bad experience renting what you considered to be an underpowered car at SFO many, many, years ago when you issue a blanket statement to never rent at SFO. It would be more helpful.

Jabird, are you staying in SF or are you picking up a car at SFO to travel elsewhere? If the former, you can easily forego a car in SF. Or just rent one in the City for an out of city trip.

SAB:

Jabird: Going into SF to rent a car ONLY makes sense IF you are staying in SF. And if you are staying in SF -- you don't necessarily want a car because you'll have to pay to park it. Hertz may have had a long line that time, but next time it could be just fine -- and Avis or Budget could have the looooong line. You can't really base a decision on one event sometime in the past.

But you need to give us more details before we can give good advice. Where are you headed to out of SFO? And day of week/time of day? (some central city locations have more limited hours).

I've had good luck with Enterprise using every code I could think of or find on the web.

Wow, thanks for all your ideas. Sorry I didn't give enough info; basically, we are driving from SF airport directly to Napa. We will be leaving the airport in the a.m. on Wednesday.

Then just book which ever gets you the best rate, points or whatever. No telling which firm would have the shortest line on that day.

I find that it is sometimes faster to get a car if you belong to one of the rental companies express programs: some of them are free such as Avis' Wizard and it can save some time.

If you don't mind, i'd like to jump on this thread with a question. We, too, will be flying into SFO mid-June, Tues-Tues. (using airline mileage for tickets, which we have already purchased) We will be heading to the Palo Alto area to find housing for your our daughter. Is it best to rent and drive from SFO airport or rent from the downtown area (as tomfuller suggested)? I've found some pretty good prices via Hotwire. I don't feel comfortable "bidding" on Priceline; not familiar with the way they work. Seems risky??

1JAR I agree, searching all the different rental companies is exhausting, so time consuming! You gave good advise, I too, usually take a look at Kayak.com first to get a feel of going rates and then check out Hotwire. To me, renting a car is the most challenging part of the trip.... hotel and air is less complicated. Just my opinion.

Are you going to be staying in SF? If not why would you go into SF from the airport, rent a car and then immediately drive to Palo Alto. I realize that you are attempting to save a few dollars and if money is that tight, you will save some money. However, you have the cost of getting into SF, and if you return the car in SF, the cost of getting to SFO. Not to mention the waste of time and hassle.

Katiekate: "Is it best to rent and drive from SFO airport or rent from the downtown area (as tomfuller suggested)?"

Going into San Francisco to rent a car makes no sense for you-- it is entirely the wrong direction for Palo Alto.

SAB's comment to tom fuller was re his explaining on a previous thread that one should never rent at SFO because he once flew in [on either Pan Am or TWA - I just remember it was a defunct airline] and rented an underpowered Geo Metro [that tells you a bit about how long ago this happened - Metros were last made in 1996].

But in any case that has nothing to do w/ going to Palo Alto.

Oh -- didn't see SAB's post (was interrupted after starting mine)

I had a bad experience renting a car many years ago at SFO. The thing I object to now is the high taxes and fees that the airport charges on all the rental cars. Figure on topping off the tank about 20 to 25 miles from the airport. Use Kayak to find out what the rental itself is for the car you want. Use Priceline and bid about $2 less per day, You will probably get the deal. The taxes and fees seem to be a constant.
Don't pay for a tank of gas with the right to turn it in empty.
With my luck I would run out in a traffic jam 2 miles from the airport and miss my flight out. The price of gas seems to be 5 to 10 cents per gallon more within 6 miles of the airport than elsewhere.

Only you can decide if saving a few dollars is worth the hassle. Even if gas is 5-10 cents more per gallon. If the tank is 20 gallons, the total is $1.00-$2.00. Are you looking for off- campus housing? Are you aware how high the cost of housing is in the area ( there's a reason most undergrads live on campus all four years)? If so, you'll know that saving a few $$ on your car rental is small potatoes!

Just to clear up the confusion: First of all, I am not familiar with SFO airport vs. downtown area AT ALL. Haven't been to SF in yrs. So when I read there was another rental area, I asked about it. Had no idea the distance. I must admit it does sound like a major hassle to go to another rental area and not just rent from the airport area.

We are flying into SFO from DFW. We picked SFO because of the airline mileage ticket opportunity and to visit friends in SFO after our trip to Palo Alto. Daughter will be moving to Palo Alto for a new job, not as a student, although, her job involves working with the Stanford students. And, yes, we have heard how expensive PA is. (scary!)

sf7303 you are so right, the few dollars saved is very small potatoes compared to the big scheme of things. The June trip will be both of our first to PA.... trying now to get a feel for the different areas to live which will allow her access fairly close proximity to the campus. (but, now I'm getting away from the original post)

Thanks for all your input. We can use all the advise we can get.