Notices
Disneyland California and West Coast Trip Planning Disneyland California and West Coast Holiday Planning Questions, Suggestions and Tips.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old 20 Aug 21, 06:25 PM  
Link to this Post
#1
Miasmum
Stuck in the Tower of Terror
 
Join Date: Oct 13
Car hire San Francisco

Does anyone know where we would rent a car from when leaving San Francisco? I here that’s the best thing to do, given price of parking!
Thanks
Miasmum is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 20 Aug 21, 06:57 PM  
Link to this Post
#2
cornishfrogboy
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
I can only tell you what I did.

I was staying in the Union Sq area and how no intention whatever of driving the ‘Streets of San Francisco’, nor of paying the exorbitant car parking charges.

I discovered that there is a Budget/ Avis car hire centre just a few blocks from Union Sq and more importantly, a single block from the Bay Bridge ramp, taking us out of town.

I got an excellent price and a RAV4 with around 3k miles on it. Driving was thus simple, out the garage, turn left and after a single block, turn left again.. and then on 100 yds to a traffic light controlled crossing, across the lights and turn left onto the bridge ramp. We were gone and heading to Monterey!
You will find detail in the trip report in my signature.

In my thrice cancelled vacations, I booked a car from SFO International to pick up as I left the city. If you are in the Union Sq area, it is a simple walk to the Powell BART Station and up the line.

If you are down towards Fishermans, then it is more difficult.
You could catch the cable car to the Powell turnaround and then catch the BART.
You could walk round Embarcadero to the BART close to the Bay Bridge.
You could take a Taxi to the Powell or Embarcadero BART.
You could pay a fortune for a Taxi to SFO Int.


The relevant excerpt from my trip report…


Day 4. Commencing the long drive South... ''Do you know the way to Monterey' 🤣(yes I know it should be San Jose, but going via Oakland, we missed San Jose).

We had carefully chosen our hire car company and purely on the basis of location, Budget at 821 Howard St. This was a 5 minute walk with suitcases from the Marriott Marquis and very close to the entry lane onto the Bay Bridge. £272 for 11 days hire and dropping off at LAX (minus A £20 cashback, so £252). We were given a lovely Toyota RAV4 with 2700 miles on it. This worked very well as I had no intention of driving in SF and in any case, parking fees are eye watering.

And so we leave! Bottom, outbound deck of the magnificent Bay Bridge.


Decisions, decisions!
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196

Edited at 07:11 PM.
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 20 Aug 21, 07:41 PM  
Link to this Post
#3
meboo
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Apr 09
Mobile

We have driven in to SF to drop a car off and picked one up and driven out. I didn’t find it too bad as a city to drive in. Both times we used the car hire off union square - there are lots of them there (second time we had Hertz and possibly Dollar the first ). There are lots of hotels near by but if you want to stay further afield and not drive to your hotel for luggage, simply get an Uber/Lyft
meboo is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Aug 21, 05:28 PM  
Link to this Post
#4
landandword17
Imagineer
 
Join Date: May 17
Some of the motels over in the Cow Hollow/Marina District area have free parking. We did that on our first visit but as others have said you will find car hire agencies in Union Square and in the Fisherman's Wharf area and yep if you're not staying in a place with free parking it is outrageous, I've seen anywhere from $50-90 per night.

Andy at Discount Florida Car Hire had the best rates for our West Coast and Hawaii trips so get a quote from him too.
landandword17 is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Aug 21, 05:53 PM  
Link to this Post
#5
cornishfrogboy
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Originally Posted by landandword17 View Post
Some of the motels over in the Cow Hollow/Marina District area have free parking. We did that on our first visit but as others have said you will find car hire agencies in Union Square and in the Fisherman's Wharf area and yep if you're not staying in a place with free parking it is outrageous, I've seen anywhere from $50-90 per night.

Andy at Discount Florida Car Hire had the best rates for our West Coast and Hawaii trips so get a quote from him too.
Strangely for us, Andy was not competitive on the West Coast last time I asked for a quote.. and I appreciate that he rarely fails in Florida. I also appreciate that time and again for DIBBER’s, his customer service has proved beyond reproach.

It may have been because I wanted to pick up at SFO (as I left) and then dump at San Luis Obispo, before then flying up to Tacoma.. a very small airport with doubtless very limited companies present.
__________________

2005 onwards.. lots of times!

Index of all my Trip and Pretrip reports..https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...6#post15662196

Edited at 05:58 PM.
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Aug 21, 06:06 PM  
Link to this Post
#6
ianmilly
Earning More Ears
 
Join Date: Jun 10
We picked up a car from Alamo by fisherman’s wharf
ianmilly is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Aug 21, 06:35 PM  
Link to this Post
#7
Mrs Red C
Imagineer
 
Join Date: Jul 17
We took the train back to airport to collect our car, fairly easy to do.
Mrs Red C is offline Girl Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Old 21 Aug 21, 06:41 PM  
Link to this Post
#8
cornishfrogboy
VIP Dibber
 
Join Date: Nov 10
Location: Falmouth
Originally Posted by Mrs Red C View Post
We took the train back to airport to collect our car,
fairly easy to do.
Are you talking about the BART?

Not so easy if staying at Fisherman’s Wharf area?

It’s either the cable car up to Powell turnaround or a walk round Embarcadero to close to the foot of the Bay Bridge at Market and Drumm Sts. Or a taxi.

From the Union Sq area or Tenderloin, then fine.

Edited at 06:44 PM.
cornishfrogboy is offline Boy Mouse Click to view Members Trip Plans Add Member to Ignore List
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:03 AM.


Powered by vBulletin - Copyright © 2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
DIBB Savings
AttractionTickets.com

Get £10 off each Disney Ticket with the code ATDIBB10

Get up to £50 off per room at Disney or Universal with the code DIBBHOTELS


theDIBB Blog
One of the the five worlds found in Epic Universe, How to Train Your Dragon... Read More »
Disney announced that a new nighttime show, “Disney Dreams That Soar,” will run nightly at... Read More »
Walt Disney World Resort guests can get ready to have a “glowing’’ good time when... Read More »


theDIBB Menu


Exchange Rates
US Dollar Rates
ASDA  $1.2354
CaxtonFX  $1.2310
Covent Garden FX  $1.2545
FAIRFX  $1.2350
John Lewis  $1.2380
M&S  $1.2178
Sainsburys  $1.2354
TESCO  $1.2364
Travelex  $1.2353
Updated: 02:00 29/03/2024
Euro Rates
ASDA  €1.1447
CaxtonFX  €1.1422
Covent Garden FX  €1.1521
FAIRFX  €1.1432
John Lewis  €1.1457
M&S  €1.1263
Sainsburys  €1.1440
TESCO  €1.1445
Travelex  €1.1435
Updated: 02:00 29/03/2024

DIBB Premium Membership
Did you know you can help support theDIBB with Premium Membership?

Check out this link for more information and benefits, such as...

"No adverts on theDIBB Forums"

Upgrade Now



X