Located 6km north of downtown El Paso and the Mexican/US border, El Paso Inter-national Airport (ELP) is the largest airport in West Mexico, catering for almost 3 million travellers each year.
El Paso International Airport (Photo: redlegsfan21 via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0)
The rental car counters are found inside the main terminal, opposite the baggage claim area. Once you’ve filled out your forms, you can simply walk across to the recently inaugurated rental car centre, which is located adjacent to ELP Airport. With no need to take shuttles or walk any sort of distance, you can comfortably be on the highway in ten minutes.
To determine which rental car companies offer you the best options across our three categories (Most Affordable, Best for Luxury and Best for Minivans) TravelMag.com have carefully researched all of the rental car agencies at ELP airport and come up with the following results.
On our sample dates, the difference in single-day rents between Thrifty, Dollar and Avis was a matter of cents. But because Thrifty consistently has the most impressive customer feedback, we’re picking them as the best agency for cheap car rentals. Thrifty’s most economical choice is often the ‘Wild Card’ option, where the make and model of the car is determined upon pickup. If you’re unhappy with the vehicle selected, customers can always up-grade for a few dollars more. For those fans of American car manufacturers, we’d recommend Avis, which has the Chevrolet Cruze, the Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus in their economy car range.
Thankfully, prices are competitive among the 10 official rental car companies competing for business at ELP, so driving around the area in a premium car doesn’t have to be classified as a ‘luxury’. If you’re into American-style comfort, then Thrifty offers cars like the Chevrolet Impala, and for cruising the states’ highways the Ford Mustang Cabrio. But for a similar price and with a greater selection of cars (including the Dodge Durango and Chrysler 300), then we’d recommend Enterprise. Their ELP airport branch is also favourably reviewed online.
The Dodge Grand Caravan and the Nissan Quest are the two most popular minivans at ELP International Airport. In this competitive category, Thrifty and Dollar rent out the Nissan Quest at $82 per day, while Enterprise and National’s Dodge Grand Caravan start at around $125 per day. As is often the case, Thrifty receives better online reviews. For larger groups, Alamo rents out the 8-seater Chevy Suburban at similar prices to Thrifty’s Dodge Caravan. Offering the versatility of a SUV with the refinements of a luxury car, the Chevy Suburban has bundles of room and is also surprisingly fuel-efficient.
