PHX Car Rental Center

I’d give a zero stars if possible.
So far I have counted 17 shuttles for Terminal 4 prior to the Terminal 3 bus showing up. This is the worst system I’ve been to anywhere in the country.

The Phoenix airport car rental facility is HUGE. It’s so huge, that it’s not even at the airport. It’s a 8 – 10 min shuttle bus ride away.
It’s new and it’s clean. Best of all, you can check your luggage in right here and not have to take them with you on the shuttle bus. There are certain restrictions, like you have to do it at least 90 min before your flight and I think only certain airlines offer this service. I know Southwest does.
There are plenty of seats and they even have their own bathrooms. All of the major car rental brands have offices here.
This car rental center has the highest, longest and steepest escalators I’ve seen. They go up 4 stories, they’re continuous and they’re steep. If you have luggage, there’s a sign that says DO NOT TAKE LUGGAGE ON HERE, USE ELEVATOR INSTEAD. There’s probably a good reason for that.
Picking up and dropping off your car is easy and fast. Just pay attention to the freeway signs that will guide you to the center.

20 minute wait for terminal 3 bus. Other terminals coming and going, 2 stops for each terminal, 1 on each end. Far side had 2 busses, we had none and this is why you charge me a facility charge! Ripoff! Why do airports think this is a good idea for offsite facilities and then charge us for building the facilities, what you don’t charge rent? Poor service, I should contact the airport police next time for you picking my pocket!

Budget Rent a Car bad sign when you have to get a number took longer to get a car then to fly in from Oakland…

Setup is okay. A ten minute shuttle from the main terminals as the rental car center is a huge facility and appears to run like clockwork. Definitely similar to the Las Vegas setup. Once I arrived I made my way to National where there were staff directing me to choose whatever car I preferred. The rental car companies have lots of vehicles to choose from as its a fairly big tourist destination.
When I brought my car back I was able to connect to the wifi to Über a cab up to my returning destination. There is a café and longe are on the upper floor. Restrooms were clean and of no issue. Overall experience at the rental car center is what was expected. Nothing amazing, nor dissapointing. I’d call this meeting expectations.

Ok, so let’s dish about the PHX Car Rental Center’s Early Bag Check Counter. Sounds like a great idea, right? Check your bags when you return your car to the car rental facility so you can travel light to the terminal and proceed directly to the TSA security line. There are several items you should note before planning to utilize this service.
First, the participating airlines are limited. If you are flying on American, United or Southwest, then you’re in luck. Other airlines? Sorry — proceed to the terminal with your bags per usual. We were on Southwest so we checked this box.
Second, they have a strict, firm, draconian, no exceptions 90 minute cutoff before your flight’s SCHEDULED departure time. The entire transaction needs to be completed before this window closes. This is where we got tripped up. We returned our car with time to spare and hopped in the line, but due to the clueless attendant’s bumbling with the customer ahead of us and with our bags, we ended up missing the cutoff by 11 minutes when he was FINALLY ready to print our tags. I tried so hard not to be a jerk (and I’m trying now too, mostly) but this guy seemed so lost back there — he was literally counting the bags ahead of ours with his fingers, and it took him three tries to get to six. We thought we were still ok because the board RIGHT THERE showed our flight delayed by 30 minutes, so we were still 1 HR 40 MIN before our estimated departure. Didn’t matter. The system locked the attendant out. So not only were we denied, but we still had to cart all our bags to the terminal to wait in the next line having lost 30 minutes of our lives that we can never get back from that black hole of idiocy. Bad personnel + bad system = Useless.
And third, to add insult to injury, I didn’t appreciate the «Gratuities are welcome for excellent service» and «Gratuities accepted» signs. How about using that precious counter space and sign area to explain the 90 minute rule. So frustrating.
The rigid cutoff needs to be pushed back to 60 minutes or even 75, and they gotta take into account flight delays. Otherwise, nobody will use it so why bother having it in the first place.

If I could give it a zero, I would. Very time consuming. Buses sometimes run 20 minutes or more apart. Huge pain. Most times I über where I want to go to avoid this place.

What a mess. Weakest link in the chain is renting a car in phx. Need to add 30 minutes to the trip time. Private enterprises would never survive with this level of service,

I like this set up. It is similiar to Las Vegas and LAX will have something similiar sometime in the next decade or two. Its convient with all the different car rental companies in one location. The bathrooms are clean and there is snack shop. Airline schedules are posted and there is an early baggage check in for Southwest and several other airlines. It has to be least 90 minutes before your flight which saves you the hassle of hauling your check in all the way to the terminal. Note, 1 guy was working the morning I came thriugh and he was not that quick. Also since this place is a parking structure, not a parking lot, and your pick up is not on the top floor, your rental has not been sitting out in the sun all day. Freeway signage could be better but what car rental place near an airport has good signage? Shuttle staff was friendly and drivers helped people with luggage.

When arriving at the Phoenix Airport, you can take a shuttle to the PhX car rental center. All the shuttles that I have taken in the last year, always have a very nice driver that will help you load and unload your luggage. It takes about 5 – 10 minutes to arrive at this phx car rental center.
When you arrive, your luggage is unloaded and you enter a huge building full of car rental options. The first time we rented a car in the phoenix area, we did not pre-​set up a reservation and chose the car rental place that had the shortest line.
This last visit, my wife decided to book a car in advance. We went with Hertz, which I will save my review for them for another time. (Just a side note DO NOT GO WITH HERTZ).
Then there are elevators that direct you to the floor where you pick up your rental car through the company you chose, and off you go. Very easy dropping back off he car too. Signs are very helpful.
Shuttle drivers are very helpful, overall a good experience.

worst setup for rental cars at a major airport in a warm weather city. I have to add 30 – 45 minutes of time on both ends of my travel to account for possible delays as the shuttle bus takes you on a roundabout and LONG trip from the terminal to the rental car center. The signage to get you back there is also very limited unless you come directly off the freeway/​highway.
This trip I also had a very happy and friendly bus driver who talked a bunch on a loud and distorted PA. So what i head was BSLJKSJDLKJl SJLFDJLKSJDLJ hSDH famlilySJJL FDSLJ don’t leave SJDFLKJjlasjflj.
It is awesome that anyone is amped up to do their job — I really enjoy mine. But i don’t share that with you on a bull horn turned up to 11.

The car rental center is PHX’s satellite service center for car rentals. There are numerous car rental agencies located here with a multitude of websites to rent through, but the main reason for this particular review is related to finding it, especially upon return! This review does NOT reflect my feelings about the car rental service that I actually used to rent the car.
The center itself appears quite new. There is a huge garage housing the rental cars and a level of the building dedicated to providing service to customers. The center is about 8 – 10 minutes FREE SHUTTLE from the airport and each airport terminal provides a shuttle to the single center. Upon returning your car and heading back to the airport, just be sure you’ve identified the correct terminal that you need the shuttle to take you. From return to arrival at the airport, give yourself 30 minutes of fluff in case the shuttle is not there right away.
The signage to get into the car rental center really sucks. At night there is a serious lack of lighted signs with text large enough to read. Be aware that the address of this center is at 1805 East Sky Harbor Circle South and you’re looking for signs for «car rental return.»
If you’re returning from south of Phoenix, you’re on the I-​10 heading West. You want to take Exit 150B to South 24^th Street. Take a Right at the end of the ramp onto S 24^th. At the first light there is NO SIGN HERE! but you need to take a Left onto Sky Harbor Cir S. Keep your eyes open! Your next turn is to the left. Here there is a TINY SIGN that says «Car Rental Return» and there is no lighting for this sign!
The facilities are clean and the shuttles are frequent enough. Good luck!