Peter Greenberg: Car Rental Savings

By: Peter Greenberg | Source: Peter Greenberg | 2008-09-02

I recently rented a car at the Phoenix airport. Of my $800+ bill, about $250 of it was taxes and fees. Is there any other way or city in Arizona to rent a car that doesn't have such high fees?
-June, Alexandria, Va.

Phoenix's rental car fees are among the highest in the nation, and we're sorry to hear that you found out the hard way. The airport is a particularly expensive place to rent, with a $4.50-per-day "customer facility fee" to top off the roughly 30 percent tax. These fees and taxes built the $455 million University of Phoenix Stadium and are now paying off the construction bonds.

To avoid at least some of this madness, consider taking alternate transportation, such as a cab or a shuttle, to a car-rental place outside the airport. You can at least skirt around the airport-related fees this way. For easy comparison, while taxes and fees make up about 16 percent of the total for cars rented away from the airport, taxes and fees can reach 40 percent for airport locations. If you're renting for more than a day or two, it will almost always make more sense to rent away from the airport.

Depending on where you're staying, another option is to rent your car from your hotel or resort. Contact the concierge. He or she may have relationships with car-rental companies, and that could deliver you some deals. Your resort could help you arrange transportation from the airport, too. It's definitely worth a call to compare prices, if nothing else.