Depending on how well you know an airport, stepping out into a maze of florescent signs and advertising boards with a fuzzy head can be a confusing moment. To locate the hire cars at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), simply walk across to the ground floor of the car parks which are situated in front of the main airport terminal. Salt Lake City, like most US airports, hosts all the major names in the rental car business, 11 in total.
Approaching Salt Lake City (Photo: Kristina Hoeppner via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0)
To select the best of the multiple options on offer, travelmag.com has conducted a thorough research across several dates to come up with the following results (see below). We’ve split our findings into the following categories: Most Affordable, Best for Luxury and Best for Minivans – so all the major bases are covered.
MOST AFFORDABLE: ALAMO & HERTZ
On our sample dates, Alamo’s rates were often 10% cheaper than the competition across all the main categories (small, intermediate and large cars). Amongst their selection of cars, there are fuel-efficient vehicles like the Chevy Spark, the Toyota Prius Hybrid and their most economic model, the Ford Fiesta. Hertz almost matches Alamo’s most economical car price tag, with the stylish and zippy Fiat 500 being rented out at under 40USD. Hertz’s “Zap Technology” provides quick car returns, while their “Acceler-Rental,” allows customers to rent cars through a live face-to-face video, therefore eliminating lengthy queues at the check-in counter.
BEST FOR LUXURY: ENTERPRISE & AVIS
For high-end cars, Enterprise, with over 4600 outlets across the US, is one of the most popular rental companies in the US and is particularly revered by Americans. It’s also our choice as best rental agency for luxury cars at SLC with an extensive fleet that includes the Range Rover Sport, Porsche Cayenne, Mercedes Benz GL450 and multiple elite SUVs. Expect to be paying around 200USD a day for these type of cars. For an alternative range, Avis rents out a Ford Taurus and the impressive Lincoln MKZ at around 140USD per day.
BEST FOR MINIVANS: HERTZ & ALAMO
On our sample dates, Hertz had the cheapest offer with their 9-seater Dodge Grand Caravan costing just 54USD per day over spring/early summer period. Bigger groups should check out Alamo, where you can rent a 12-seater Ford Traffic at the same time of year for a mere 74USD per day. Renting with Alamo has several advantages; apart from having one of the largest fleets of minivans at the airport, they also consistently score well for speed of pick up and customer service.