Car Rental in Vegas

[purple hippo]

We will be heading to Vegas for the first time in September. While we are in Vegas we will not need a car, but will be driving to California and then will need to rent a car.

We will be staying at the Luxor until we leave for CA and staying at the Renaissance when we return to Vegas for our flight home.

Should we rent a car from an airport location or a non airport location? Does it seem silly to leave the Luxor to go to the airport to rent a car and leave or is that the simplest option for teturning the car and getting on our flight home?

Also there seems to be a lot of rental car companies I've never heard of but I dont rent cars normally when travelling. Any recommendations?

 

[China Expat]

Airport might be easiest

 

[bcla]

Definitely the airport. Even with all fees, there’s typically much better rates, especially if you’ve got an airport drop off. At least for me, when we went one year, picking a rental agency that had 24 hour rentals paid off. I was choosing between two, and 24 hours won out. I ended up late, my family on a separate flight arrived well after midnight when some rental counters were closed.

Also, the bus isn’t bad if you’ve got a lot of time. My last business trip to Vegas, I only traveled by bus, the monorail, a coworker’s personal car, and Uber.

 

[gmi3804]

The Car Rental Center at Las Vegas Airport is off the airport, accessible via shuttle bus. You can drive up to it too. The address is 7135 Gillespie St.

Used to be you could rent at an off-airport location, and return to the airport, and avoid the formidable airport taxes/fees. No more. Airport rates tend to be lower, even with the taxes and fees.

Good luck.

PS: Only tourists call it "Vegas."

 

[purple hippo]

PS: Only tourists call it "Vegas."

What do "non-tourists" call it?

 

[Lisa24jks]

PS: Only tourists call it "Vegas."

That is not true at all. I'm a nearly lifelong local and it's Vegas. We rarely call it anything else but that, to be honest.

(It's part of why they named the hockey team Vegas Golden Knights and not Las Vegas Golden Knights. Partly because the name was already too long, but also because that's what the locals say.)

 

[CLKnCA]

When will you be driving from Vegas to California? The reason I ask is, if you are planning to make that drive on a Sunday, you should plan to leave no later than 8 or 9 am at the absolute latest.

The traffic on I-15 between Las Vegas and the CA state line is notoriously horrible on Sundays (or on Mondays if it is a Monday-holiday weekend). The usual 3.5 - 4 hour drive to California (depending on where you're going) can easily be double that time because of traffic. It is an AWFUL drive, with bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles. If you aren't able to leave that early, you'd be better off waiting until later in the day, after about 5 or 6 pm to start the drive.

If the trip has already happened, I hope you enjoyed your time in Vegas, and you found it to be a quick and easy drive to California.

 

[purple hippo]

When will you be driving from Vegas to California? The reason I ask is, if you are planning to make that drive on a Sunday, you should plan to leave no later than 8 or 9 am at the absolute latest.

The traffic on I-15 between Las Vegas and the CA state line is notoriously horrible on Sundays (or on Mondays if it is a Monday-holiday weekend). The usual 3.5 - 4 hour drive to California (depending on where you're going) can easily be double that time because of traffic. It is an AWFUL drive, with bumper-to-bumper traffic for miles. If you aren't able to leave that early, you'd be better off waiting until later in the day, after about 5 or 6 pm to start the drive.

If the trip has already happened, I hope you enjoyed your time in Vegas, and you found it to be a quick and easy drive to California.

Thank you SO MUCH for this info! Originally we planned to leave Vegas Sunday noonish and drive to Knotts for Scary Farm Sunday night. We recently changed our plan to drive to LA Monday morning and go to Knotts on Friday instead. We plan to leave Anaheim Saturday morning and head back to Vegas for our flight home Saturday night. Sounds like we made a good decision without knowing avout the traffic! How do you tjink the traffic will be heading back to Vegas on Saturday?

 

[CLKnCA]

You should be in for an easy drive from Anaheim to Las Vegas on Saturday morning.

 

[purple hippo]

You should be in for an easy drive from Anaheim to Las Vegas on Saturday morning.

Awesome! Thank you!

 

[_19disnA]

Some rental car companies will charge an extra fee if you don't return it to the same location where you rented it. Something to consider when doing the pricing. I would look for one of the major companies who have a location at the airport to avoid wasting a lot of time standing in multiple lines or being transported to that off-site rental facility. (I believe the major brands still have pickup sites at the airport but has been a few years since we have been there.) I would avoid the no-name brands as you can see a lot of negative comments about them. Typically, they try to push you into buying unnecessary extras (like that 'insurance') which is a complete waste of money. Have also seen a few people who were asked to show them their actual auto insurance policy (who even carries that when traveling?) as a trick to force you to pay for the insurance. If you have any issues with them their customer service tends to be overseas somewhere and you can find a LOT of people who had various issues dealing with them.

 

[bcla]

Some rental car companies will charge an extra fee if you don't return it to the same location where you rented it. Something to consider when doing the pricing. I would look for one of the major companies who have a location at the airport to avoid wasting a lot of time standing in multiple lines or being transported to that off-site rental facility. (I believe the major brands still have pickup sites at the airport but has been a few years since we have been there.) I would avoid the no-name brands as you can see a lot of negative comments about them. Typically, they try to push you into buying unnecessary extras (like that 'insurance') which is a complete waste of money. Have also seen a few people who were asked to show them their actual auto insurance policy (who even carries that when traveling?) as a trick to force you to pay for the insurance. If you have any issues with them their customer service tends to be overseas somewhere and you can find a LOT of people who had various issues dealing with them.

Las Vegas Airport only has that consolidated off-site rental car center owned by the airport authority. When I went there they had everything including kiosks where I could print out boarding passes, although I've heard some Strip casinos have those too.