San Francisco Car Rental/Transportation Help!
 

Hi Everyone!

I am planning a trip next June to San Francisco/Monterey. We are going to fly into San Francisco on a Saturday. We will stay there for two nights and then drive down to Monterey/Carmel area on Monday afternoon. But we have a dilemma. We are staying at Petite Auberge near Union Square, but we are not renting a car while in the city. However, we will need a rental car to drive down to Monterey and to explore that area. So... on Monday we are going to get a rental car (from Fox rentals) and then drive down to Monterey from there. Does anyone have a suggestion of how to get from the hotel in Union Square area to the car rental company? I have looked into taxis and it looks like it may be in the $45 range. Is this correct? Are there any other options that may be cheaper? Because when we return to San Francisco the following Saturday we will be dropping the car off a day before our flight and will need to get from the car rental company back to our hotel for the night. Any ideas/suggestions would be so helpful! Thanks in advance :)

Kristin

The major rental agencies have offices in town. I rented from Hertz and Avis and they were within a few blocks of my hotel. Picking up a car from there will be cheaper than the airport because you don't have to pay the airport fees. Pick your favorite car rental company, choose an intown pick up location and book your rental.

I just read your post again. What is Fox rentals?
Book with another company and save the to and from $45 taxi fares.

I don't know about Fox but all the other rental car co's have downtown offices right near Union Sq. I find that Dollar typically has the best rates in SF. By renting in town you can also save on airport car rental fees.

Fox is offsite at SFO, not even at the main rental car center, so it would be a major pain to get there by public transportation. BART, AirTrain, then Fox bus.

My recommendation is to cancel your Fox rental, rent and return from Dollar or another co from the O'Farrell St. location.

Thanks starrs and J62 for such quick info! I am definitely going to cancel my reservation and look into a rental from a downtown location, it sounds like the best option by far. I really appreciate your help, this is great!

Kristin

Are you American and a member of AAA? You can get a 10% discount with a AAA rate. Are you a member of any other organization that offers discounts? If not, do an online search for promo codes and see if you can get something off the rates.

We have done this and found that Dollar [O'Farrell location right near Union SQ] had the best price [got an intown city special] with no one way fees. As has been mentioned, it is much cheaper than an airport rental since you don't pay aiport fees.

We actually picked up a car at 8 am, drove to Muir Woods and brought it back that night at 5 pm. Didn't have to pay parking in SF and the whole thing was under $25.

Deb

Thanks everyone!! I just booked with Hertz. They had a great price!! I looked into Dollar, Avis and Hertz and Hertz had the best price. I'm so happy you all mentioned the O' Farrell Street location it's less than a 1/2 mile to our hotel! I am so appreciative of your help and suggestions. Thank you all!

Kristin

I travel to SF for a long weekend next week. We also booked with Hertz out of the Marriott. $39 for standard and $40 for the next size up. Had to pre-pay for the price or could book the same car for $26 more a day. We just have the car for one day as we have to drive to Oakland for a wedding. Great thing is we can drop it off at any time that night and not have to deal with the hotel parking costs. Gonna use BART and muni for everything else. Just have to research to see how to use them...(-: