Car Rental / RV Rental in Flagstaff: The best companies

A popular jumping off point for skiing and hiking trips into the San Francisco Peaks, the Arizona city of Flagstaff is a nature lover’s paradise, surrounded as it is by mountains, desert and pine forests. Meanwhile a buzzing historic downtown district, along with trendy restaurants, live music venues, craft breweries and galleries showcasing the local arts scene provide plenty of urbanised entertainment.

A street view in downtown Flagstaff (Photo: Ken Lund via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0)

While the city itself is fairly compact in size and scale, many visitors to Flagstaff choose to rent their own car in order to embark on regional excursions. To cater for such people, there are several cheap car rental agencies located here. Finding the right car deal can sometimes be a bit of a minefield, so we’ve looked into the options and picked out the best agencies based on factors such as rates, customer testimonials, and opening hours. While we were at it, we also looked into Recreational Vehicles that come with amenities such as beds and kitchenettes and, based on what we found, put forward our favorite RV rental company in Flagstaff.

Flagstaff Center: Avis

Book at Rentalcars.com

For downtown rentals, we’d recommend Avis. Although their downtown Flagstaff office is only open for limited hours, when we conducted some online searches for week-long rentals we were persuaded by their impressive selection of cars, from basic but reliable models like a Ford Fiesta ($486 per week) to luxury rental cars such as a Chevrolet Cruze for just a few dollars more. For something big and sporty, we also found a Ford Edge SUV for $627 per week. Included in the price is free cancellation up to 48 hours prior to pick-up, policy amendments, theft protection, and collision damage waivers.

Flagstaff Airport: Budget

Book at Rentalcars.com

If you’re planning to pick up a car from Flagstaff Airport there are six rental counters located either inside the airport or nearby. Our favorite is Budget, whose desk is located inside the terminal near the baggage claim area, with its cars all parked outside, a short walk away. Budget cater particularly well for those seeking something spacious, and one of the best deal we found was for a Hyundai Elantra which would cost $508 for a week’s rental and offers high performance along with plenty of boot space. Or for even cheaper you could go for a Ford Escape SUV, which combines space with sporty performance. For a minivan option, you can get yourself a Chrysler Pacifica or similar for $589. Budget’s opening hours at Flagstaff Airport are Sat-Sun 8am-3pm and Mon-Fri 8am-4pm. Free cancellation up to 48 hours prior to pick up, policy amendments, theft protection, and collision damage waivers are all included.

RV Rental: Outdoorsy

Book at outdoorsy.com

Outdoorsy is a peer-to-peer marketplace that enables RV owners to advertise and rent out their vehicles to other campers who are looking for a short term RV rentals. They come in a wide range of sizes and styles, from 2-person trailers to much larger vehicles that can sleep up to 15. One big advantage of booking an RV through a company like Outdoorsy is that you’ll often find much cheaper deals than with traditional rental agencies. When we searched for RVs in Flagstaff, we found numerous options available for pick-up across the city. Among them were a R-pod 179 for $959 per week that that sleeps 4 and is located in east Flagstaff near to the Country Club Estates. Or for something bigger, there was also a Forest River Wildcat for $875 per week that sleeps 8 and is offered near Doney Park in the northeastern corner of the city. If you’d like to add insurance onto your booking, there’s the option to include a variety of indemnities, too.