Oakland International Airport – Rental Car Center

Renting a car around the country/​world can be a hassle, especially since each airport has its own way of doing things. Sometimes you can just walk, sometimes you have to take a train, sometimes you have to take a bus, and sometimes you have to take a bus to take a bus. And even then, it is only half of the battle.
I have had the pleasure to rent more than enough cars here out of OAK. Unfortunately, each time has been with AVIS (which lately, IMO, has become a joke– but I will not knock the Car Center for that).
The lowdown– let’s say you just got your bags. You proceed to walk maybe 50 yards across the street to a bus stop. The longest I have ever waited was 4 minutes for a bus. The bus stops at Terminal 1 («all other airlines” — NOT Southwest), and then Terminal 2 (Southwest). Less than a 5 minute ride later, you end up at the car rental center (which, for the most part, is 24 hours, however, some of the car places are not– however you can still drop off your car in the wee hours and get taken back to airport no issue).
The buses are easy to spot too. And they all look the same. Inside the buses give you a quick rundown of the layout, and each driver has their name tag up so if you have any questions, they are more than helpful and will be glad to assist to you.
When you get dropped off, you proceed to your car rental of choice, and voila! Dropping off is just as easy. The first time, I screwed up, and went the wrong way, but that was like a 10 minute detour. Once you get the hang of it (just follow the signs), you will be OK. Also, the Oakland Aviation Museum is literally across the street if you have some extra time to kill.
After dropping your car off, there is always a bus there to pick you up and take you back to the airport.
I give this place 5 stars for the friendly staff, and the efficiency. My record from the car rental center to my gate was 17 minutes, and that included checking a bag. It doesn’t get much better than that… now if only AVIS could step up their game…

Rented through Alamo. Great price. Free vehicle upgrade without asking. Kind and courteous staff. No wait for transportation to/​from airport. Couldn’t have been better!

This review is based only on the rental center parking when dropping my friend off at the rental car center. She had her luggage and presents in my trunk so I had to wait for her to pick up her car to transfer everything.
There were only maybe about 10 – 12 spots in the lot in front of the rental center which were all taken. On top of that, after being directed to an unpaved lot which is separated from the main lot by a fence, there weren’t any spaces in that lot and a few pot holes that I saw a BMW hit it’s bumper against when it dipped in because it was trying to avoid a water hole. Another compact car tried to fit in a tiny space and almost hit a parked car.
Not everyone takes the rental bus so please improve the additional lot and paint lines and pave it if you know it’s going to be used.
If I’d known, I would’ve told her to rent elsewhere so she and I could’ve avoided this.

Inventory is good here. Easy friendly rental… drawback is they don’t pick you up or drop you off at this airport location.

The shuttles were quick and the layout was fast an easy. Fairly painless location for bring off site from the airport.

Renting a car from this airport Hertz location was one of THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCES of my life. The car was prebooked and paid for in advance. When my elderly mother arrived to pick up the Toyota Corolla «or similar» car, she was told they didn’t have any in stock and that she would have to upgrade to a Mazda van for an additional $ 160. Since I was waiting at the airport with six suitcases, and we were both exhausted, she agreed in order to expedite the rental. After driving it, she discovered that it ran poorly, made a lot of noise, and had too many seats to even accommodate our luggage. Trying to return it was a nightmare. I went up to the desk with my Mom, where the original sales clerk was and she admitted that there was a car available that fit our original reservation after all; a «Honda» Elantra. (She must have meant Hyundai cuz that was the brand.) We went out to the lot to look at the same make and said it was fine, please hold it til we finalized the paperwork. The car they brought us was dirty and exceedingly scratched and dinged up, but we took it anyway after making sure we documented the condition which they weren’t cooperative in letting us do. The clerk in the Gold Club office was supposed to help us with the exchange and her surly attitude was, «» if you can guess what I’m thinking and say exactly the right words, I might let you have it for the original discounted terms.” She was very contrary and rude. The whole experience was unpleasant, and the employees seemed less than honest in order to get the upsell commission. I felt that they took advantage of my elderly mother’s fatigue and expectation not to be cheated. It was an incredibly distasteful experience and it took three and a half hours to go through this ordeal. WE WILL NEVER BOOK THRU HERTZ AGAIN, ANYWHERE.

The shuttle from the airport to the rental center comes quite often I assume since we didn’t have much of a wait going from the airport to the rental center and vice versa. However, the shuttle does get PACKED, so be prepared. We rented with Alamo and had to stand outside next to another rental service to get our car. There was a line and it took maybe 15 – 20 minutes to finally get into a car. We left from California at 8:00 in the morning and while other rental services had people behind the counter in the building, Alamo did not

This rental car center used to be great — NOW, I’m waiting for the shuttle 15 – 20 mins. There’s often a line to get here from the airport. It never used to be that way. They definitely cut the shuttle service down — but obviously there’s still tons of rental car business. Hopefully someone reads these reviews and will spend the extra money and bring the shuttle service back up to par.
Oakland used to be one of the best airports to fly in to.

Wow, this rental car center is WAY off airport. With SJC as an alternative, I will look there for a first choice the next time, where I can pick up my car in a garage directly across the driveway from baggage claim.
Look at the map above, google maps says 3 miles from the trerminal, with a slow moving bus, stops, and traffic, count on 10 minutes or more to get to the rental car center.
As far as the bus to get there, and the facility itself, that part worked out OK, they seem to have good announcements on the bus, etc

UGH! Never again! Dollar rental has NO customer service; VERY apathetic! They charge you if you get a ticket (I didn’t but seriously?) Had to upgrade $$$. They said my online added insurance was useless & ‘offered’ $ 17/​day — no thanks! I returned car with full tank from 20 miles away (not 10 so they charged $ 10 freakin dolars tho needle only slightly moved). I felt violated, ROBBED, and will never rent here again.
Take a cab to an offsite dealer!!!

This review is purely for the rental car center. NOT the car service I chose :) different check in and review ;) fair is fair.
Large center. Every rental car agency you need. Good choices. Lots of cars. High end to low end. Shuttles to and from the airport at all hours (I am writing this at 330 am!). I have never had an issue finding or dropping off my car from here.

I’m flying in here regularly as our operations office is here. I like the airport; and I don’t mind the rental car center. But the shuttle bus continues to be one of the worst I’ve dealt with. The operator apparently won’t free up another bus (there is a lot full of them across the street) until the lines are forever. So they shoe-​horn us in like sardines. Makes for a truly forgettable experience.
Also, Hetrz seems to always run low on cars; my choices were a Yukon… Or a Yaris (I took the Yaris.)
The airport really needs a modern rental-​car center. I had heard that they were working on it. Can’t come soon enough.

My father-​in-​law rented a car from Budget on our recent trip to California. When we arrived at the rental car station after taking the shuttle from the airport, no one was inside. It was a hassle to track them down and they acted like we didn’t have a reservation. Once all of it was sorted out and they tracked down the paperwork, we made our way to the rental.
The outside of the vehicle was filthy. It also had scratches on the outside. When we got into the car, it was evident that it had been quickly cleaned because the steering wheel was sticky and the car smelled of smoke. Throughout the week as we were driving the car the smoke smell was extremely strong.
When we returned the car and shared these problems, $ 20 was removed from our bill with hardly any sympathy. I would not recommend this car rental agency. Try out another company in the center.
However, the shuttle runs back and forth from this location to the airport. Which is convenient. But, it is hard to navigate the various car rental places to figure out where your car is located.

I would rather fly into this airport and drive to Sonoma and Napa than going to the busier San Francisco one. Having a carry on bag, getting off the plane, and heading over to the shuttle for the car rental was easy. The car rental port was a nightmare, but that is a completely different story.
Going back was just as simple. We printed out our boarding passes at the entrance, went through customs, everyone was friendly, and we were on our way home.

Scammers. Check your receipt when you turn in your car. They billed me for returning the car at a different location than the pickup location and for not topping off the gas tank. The extra charge was real funny.
Luckily I retained my Oakland airport boarding pass and the gas receipt from the gas station 2 miles down the street time stamped less then 15 minutes before the turn in time. Lesson learned on my part: don’t trust the lot crew when your rental car is paid for on a gov’t credit card.

The customer service was in the clouds!
From the counter to picking up the car, the fast, smooth with a smile service is the best I’ve ever had in any city or state !
*Maurice*

It’s my fault, I knew if I was late with my return there would be extra costs. I just didn’t expect the extra cost to more than double my original deal!
The 4 folks at the desk who were standing around bored (bless them for their jobs suck) were able to take off a $ 15 from the $ 560 bill. The manager could do no better.
Online I got a deal for $ 200 for 8 days. Getting full service brought me to about $ 320. They charged me $ 110 extra per day!!!
My return was 2 days late! I thought it was $ 45 a day (20+15 penalty) They explained I was paying the extra services at $ 20 per day —- so fine. More than I thought.
So the deal is, For being 2 hours late and they charged me an third day– an extra $ 70. They say that counts as a full day. Learned my lesson. I’m sure this is all my fault and was in my contract but it just felt like gauging. Learned my lesson. A $ 200 deal on the internet means I could spend $ 540!!!

Holy moly! This place blew me away. Ah-​mazing service and pretty quick too! We landed at OAK and shuttled to the rental car lot (less than 10 minutes). Luckily, we were some of the first off the shuttle and into the Enterprise line. We were checked in within minutes and then proceeded to the parking lot where we were met and brought to a car for the walk around. We drove off and were greeted by my name upon reaching the exit gate where I then realized just how smooth, friendly, fast and efficient this location is.
Drop off was easy breezy as well! and our Economy car was clean and brand spankin’ new — got us to/​from/​and all around San Fran to Napa and back in one piece.
I most definitely will rent from here again if I need a rental car when in the bay area.

I don’t think a rental car center can be ran less effectively. They seemed to only have one shuttle bus running even though it was the middle of the day so not everyone from the first stop could get on. The people at the second stop were just screwed.
Once at the rental center; the line to get out the gate was ridiculously long (at least 8 cars long) because they only had one line open. At the checkout, the network was so slow it must have been dial-​up and the printer for the contracts was so old that it took a couple of minutes to print out the pages of the contract. I might expect these technology issues at a smaller airport, but not at a larger airport like Oakland.
It should never take more than a half hour to pick up a rental car if everything has been previously setup; yet alone over an hour.

Good experience here… Shuttle from OAK takes about 10 minutes to get to the rental car center. Everything under one roof, sort of… I say sort of because you check in to the rental counter, which is indoors, with your reservation (Enterprise in my case) and you go outside and look for the rental company booth you’re renting from then someone takes you to pick your car. All this uncovered… no roof. Might be an issue if the weather is not agreeable. I can only compare it to the McCarran rental car center in Vegas because it’s similar but everything is covered in LV, even the cars. So that’s one drawback… Another drawback is that there isnt much space in the lots where the rental cars are packed so it seems like all the cars are on top of each other. It was hard to differentiate where mid-​size end and full size starts… where Enterprise cars are and Alamo ones are located. The layout was in tight quarters… Again, something I’m not used to. The McCarran rental car center is also much bigger with 2 levels like a giant parking garage.
Staff were friendly. They tried to get us out of there in a timely manner. Renting a car in the Bay area is still my preference over taking the BART into the city or taking a taxi. Also remember the tolling on the Golden Gate Bridge is automatic. No stopping at the now defunct tollbooths. Ask your car rental representative the details. I rented with Enterprise and their cars all came equipped with FastTrak. It only costs money to go IN to the city of San Francisco on either the Bay Bridge ($ 6) or Golden Gate Bridge ($ 5). You can still pay cash on the Bay Bridge but you’d be slowing the traffic flow down and if the rental car has FastTrak anyway, might as well… Fees are automatically charged and you should see a daily convenience fee and actual toll charges a month later on your credit card statement. That’s what I was told.