San Franscisco Intl Car Hire

[shimmers]

We have booked car hire with Avis for our roadtrip. We land on Oct 3rd and are picking car up then and then driving to our nearby airport hotel. Am I right in thinking the car rental pick up lot is off site and we take a shuttle bus to pick up our vehicle? Also, do both my husband and I need an international driver's permit?

[400ixl]

No international driver's license required for the US. You also don't need the DVLA code as you would in Europe

[martyn7836]

We need to know this also. I was due to fly into San Fran and collect car next sept and hopefully still will once I’ve sorted out the TC issue. Didn’t realise the car hire was off site

[AlexE]

All car hire is off-site at San Francisco but an easy monorail to the Car rental centre - easy peasy

[shimmers]

So just to check...we dont go to the Avis desk on arrival at San Fran? We go straight to off site rental centre? I was getting in a muddle with what insurance we need as well. Any advice on that welcomed too.

[Buzz n' Piglet]

Originally Posted by shimmers

So just to check...we dont go to the Avis desk on arrival at San Fran? We go straight to off site rental centre? I was getting in a muddle with what insurance we need as well. Any advice on that welcomed too.

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There is a monorail like at MCO that you need to get on. It does a loop of the airport. I cant remember what the lines are called however the car hire centre is the last stop on the southern side of the airport.

Get off there and the Avis desk is just inside, then after being allocated your vehicle you go in the lift to the garage. Is a really easy route out of the airport.

Is it a BA flydrive? You dont need any other insurance if it is. It includes everything you need.

[Jacq]

We picked up our rental car at SFO 2 weeks ago. The car rental area is signposted and will lead you to the AirTrain. They were doing some maintenance on the AirTrain which meant the routes (there is a blue line and a red line) were slightly different but it is well signposted and there are plenty of staff around to ask directions.
Are you aware of the runway works causing delays at SFO? We flew from Philadelphia and were delayed 4 1/2 hours. Long distance and international flights have priority but you may still have delays. It might be worth checking the delay statistics for recent flights on your route.
We were with Alamo but, in the small print, it says they keep your reservation open for up to 24 hours (although I hope you don’t need to take advantage of that!).

[shimmers]

Thanks for the very helpful replies. I did know about the construction project and really hope it finishes on time! We fly on 3rd October. Didnt know about air train work. Thanks again.