Car rental shuttles at the Albuquerque Amtrak Station?

Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up and drop off at the Albuquerque Station or do we need to hop a cab to the airport?

Unknown about ABQ but most locations airport fees higher than town fees check very closely and find city facility if possible..

west point said:

Unknown about ABQ but most locations airport fees higher than town fees check very closely and find city facility if possible..

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Although airports have much higher fees they also sometimes include the counterweight of increased competition.

On the surface the US retains a robust car rental market with many major players.

1. Alamo

2. Avis

3. Budget

4. Dollar

5. Enterprise

6. Hertz

7. National

8. Thrifty

9. Zipcar

Unfortunately the US car rental market is quickly reaching the point where competition is more illusion than reality.

1. Avis owns Budget and Zipcar

2. Hertz owns Dollar and Thrifty

3. Enterprise owns Alamo and National

In my view the best possible advice for future renters is to shop around, including both city and airport locations, and to ask detailed questions. You can still find low cost rentals today, but if you bother to read the rental contract you'll see that the rental company can easily earn more money if you make even the slightest mistake. This includes the offense of not keeping tabs on the oil level and tire pressure or driving on a dirt road or transporting a pet or simply returning the car too early. No joke.

I've found that car rentals at airports don't always cost more. It also pays to shop around different rental companies and travel sites. For example, I have a Mustang convertible rented at the Ft. Lauderdale airport Enterprise agency in late May. I used the Costco travel site and booked it about two months ago for $802 (2 weeks). You can cancel and re-book anytime for no charge and cancellation fees. They don't even want your credit card number. Anyway, I checked last week and re-booked for $519! Just for fun I checked the Enterprise site and through there it is over $1600 for the exact dates. Another thought....it is always good to fine tune your pick-up and drop-off times. I changed my pick-up time from noon to 2:00pm and it was over $100 less. I also just checked the Costco site for any price changes....my car as of right now would be $748, but I'm locked in at the $519. I used every imaginable travel site looking for this rental, and Costco is by far the best deal. They also use only the well known agencies and not the fly by nights.

Enterprise near Amtrak's ABQ station (NOT the Enterprise at the airport) will pick you up / drop you off at Amtrak, even on a Sunday. Did this myself earlier this year.

travelchick45 said:

Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up and drop off at the Albuquerque Station or do we need to hop a cab to the airport?

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Enterprise does. Also, here's a handy link for all other forms of transportation.https://www.cabq.gov/airport/ground-transportation

Probably wouldn't be a shuttle per se, but an individual pickup service. Doubt they have enough business that they could devote a shuttle just for train passengers, unless it's something like a downtown shuttle for different users.

I've done it before where an employee will pick up the renter and drop off when the rental is done. I did it when my car was being repaired.

As for airport costs, I've found that they can often be considerably lower, even with airport fees. It depends on competition as well as the airport fees. I've rented at an airport where the daily total with fees was less than the base rate for a downtown rental. Luckily my hotel had a free shuttle to the airport, and the driver said it was no problem. That might not be the case for you.

Albuquerque airport fees are outrageously high, often adding 25% to the cost of the rental. I took a cab from the Amtrak station to the airport car rental once. That was quick and not too expensive. On another occasion we took a city bus to the airport, where we picked up the airport shuttle. That was cheap but probably took an hour and half overall, including waiting for the bus to leave. I did call downtown Enterprise once and they told me they were closed on Sunday, so check ahead.

I never rent a car away from the airport (if I'm arriving there and returning car there). I don't care if I may have to pay a bit more at times. To me, the ease of leaving and returning to the airport is worth it rather than having to find some downtown rental agency in a strange city. I have often rented a car at Hertz in Portland, though. They pick me up at Amtrak and take me downtown to the car. Upon returning they drop me back off at Amtrak.

I always call the rental car place and ask if the station is in their pickup range. If they can't pick you up, they will generally, tell you to take a cab, and they will credit the cost to your rental. Always ask for a receipt from the cab driver if the rental car company asks you to do take the cab + credit option.

I suppose one reason for an airport rental is better hours, and often 24 hours. If the train is late, quite a few no airport locations close at 6 or 8 PM, and some are even closed on Sunday/weekends or have shorter hours.

I thought of maybe taking the CZ to Denver, but car rental was going to be an issue.

BCL said:

I suppose one reason for an airport rental is better hours, and often 24 hours. If the train is late, quite a few no airport locations close at 6 or 8 PM, and some are even closed on Sunday/weekends or have shorter hours.

I thought of maybe taking the CZ to Denver, but car rental was going to be an issue.

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When I called Enterprise near ABQ Amtrak to confirm they'd be open and able to meet me for a Sunday arrival earlier this year, they told me that if the train was really, really late (past their closing time), I should call to let them know to transfer my reservation to the airport Enterprise. Albuquerque isn't huge--it'd be about a 10-15 minute cab ride from Amtrak to the airport.

travelchick45 said:

Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up and drop off at the Albuquerque Station or do we need to hop a cab to the airport?

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All off-airport Enterprise sites generally pick up and drop off during their business hours. Some have distance limitations.

It pays to check other non-Enterprise off-airport companies that normally don't offer pick-up and drop-off. In one case, I noticed a Budget outlet was several blocks from a LR stop. They picked me up and dropped me off at that stop.

A quick way to check all the companies like done above with Budget, I did a mock reservation using Costco's site. They provide price comparisons along with a map showing their locations.

Some downtown rentals will allow you to drop at airport. Did that once in Denver and saved 40%.

HighBall said:

travelchick45 said:

Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up and drop off at the Albuquerque Station or do we need to hop a cab to the airport?

Click to expand...

All off-airport Enterprise sites generally pick up and drop off during their business hours. Some have distance limitations.

It pays to check other non-Enterprise off-airport companies that normally don't offer pick-up and drop-off. In one case, I noticed a Budget outlet was several blocks from a LR stop. They picked me up and dropped me off at that stop.

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Depends on who. Most of the major rental agencies do pickup at off-airport locations. Hertz does pickup at their off-airport "Local Edition" locations.



Budget will do it, but request that you contact them 24 hours in advance.

https://www.budget.com/budgetWeb/html/en/common/pickupServicePopup.html

To use our free pick-up service, call your Budget rental location directly at the location phone number listed on your reservation confirmation. Pick-up service policies (hours of availability, allowable pick-up distance, etc.) vary by location so it’s important that you call the location and make arrangements for pick-up at least 24 hours before your desired rental time. When you call the location, be ready to provide all applicable information including precise address, exact time of pick up, and a phone number where you can be reached at that time.

I think Avis does it too.

west point said:

Some downtown rentals will allow you to drop at airport. Did that once in Denver and saved 40%.

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Definitely as a one-way rental, but it could include no surcharge or even be a better rate.

BCL said:

west point said:

Some downtown rentals will allow you to drop at airport. Did that once in Denver and saved 40%.

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Definitely as a one-way rental, but it could include no surcharge or even be a better rate.

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In my experience with Hertz, returning at any local Hertz office (and in many cases local included city and quite a ways out) was considered the same as returning at the original location.

travelchick45 said:

Do any of the car rental companies have shuttles that pick up and drop off at the Albuquerque Station or do we need to hop a cab to the airport?

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We were in ABQ 2 weeks ago.

There was no shuttle to the airport. Taxi ride was $15.50 and took only 10 min. with no problem hailing a cab. (I did this upon arrival and departure)

We got a hell, of a deal of $82 for a Friday afternoon thru Tuesday afternoon from Enterprise.

I've had good luck with the Hertz dowtown Denver office. They pick up at the train station, will drop off there if the office hours and train hours work. They do have after hours return when they are closed, you would have to walk a block and take the light rail.

I had an oragously cheap rental in ABQ (arrived by plane on Jetblues new flight) from the airport for $45 all in last month through Enterprise.

Booked about 7 hours I was due to arrive when I found out my ski buddy and hurt his knee and couldn't ski and drive me up to Taos.

Realized I overlooked this post, I had the car for 3 days so $15 per day.

Living in Albuquerque and renting cars often for 1,800 mile road trips I find the airport to sometimes be quite a bit cheaper than the HLE stations around the city. I am taking a trip in May and got a standard for $22 a day at ABQ, it would have been $35 from a local station.

me_little_me said:

BCL said:

west point said:

Some downtown rentals will allow you to drop at airport. Did that once in Denver and saved 40%.

Click to expand...

Definitely as a one-way rental, but it could include no surcharge or even be a better rate.

Click to expand...

In my experience with Hertz, returning at any local Hertz office (and in many cases local included city and quite a ways out) was considered the same as returning at the original location.

Click to expand...

Better check with them first. On our Big Family Trip to Disneyland in 2006 we had reserved two cars from Hertz at LAUS. When the Sunset Limited fell behind six hours late (arriving after the Hertz desk at LAUS closed), I called and asked about the possibility of picking up from LAX (airport) and returning to LAUS upon our departure. They told me bluntly that unless we picked it up from the Amtrak station we could not return it to the Amtrak station. I ended up switching our reservation to Budget.

I rented from Enterprise last week in ABQ. I called when I got there and they picked us up, but it was in a 15 passenger van with a massively high step to get into it (lets put it this way, I'm reasonably active but I had to have both a helping hand and a hold on the front seat to get up). More pertinently this was a vehicle with zero extra luggage room (the cases would have to sit on the seat if you wanted to take them), so I left my husband at the station, picked up the car, and returned for him. Coming back, I took the car to enterprise and they dropped us off in the same rental car.

One thing I will say: we were somewhat late getting into ABQ, and when I became concerned that we wouldn't make it before the rental company closed I made a back up reservation at the airport. It was $50 cheaper for the same rental period, a higher level car and maybe 4 hours less. I didn't use it because the local option was easier but don't assume that the 25% tax will make the airport option more expensive. And I believe there is a free or low cost public transport option to the airport. And Sunport is really close to the city.