What is more advantageous: to collect your car rental inside or outside of the airport?

The holiday period is nearly upon us once again, this time Christmas. The moment to plan our holidays and we know that to make the most of our time we need a car hire. So, we search the internet and make our reservation based on the best value for money. However, seldom do we think about whether the car we have booked is for collection at the airport or nearby.

Although choosing the Rent a Car at the airport may seem to be the best option, we recommend that you take into account other factors and assess the possibility of collecting your car hire near the airport.

Precisely because most people believe that it is best to collect the car from the office at the airport, during holiday periods and peak times it is fairly common to see long queues forming at the car hire offices even though you have reserved to use an exclusive check in desk. Sometimes a long waiting time is involved, and this can be very frustrating especially if travelling with children.

Contrary to this, if we choose to collect our Rent a Car outside of the terminal but close to the airport, as soon as we have collected our luggage and a few meters from the terminal exit you will find a free shuttle service from the car hire company that will take you to the office in a couple of minutes. Once at the Rent a Car office, we can enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere in line with our holiday mood and with a quicker and more personalized service. Also, these ‘satellite’ offices often have a dedicated children’s area close to the check in counter as well as drinks machines and a wifi service without restrictions or spam to make our time at the office more enjoyable.

Another detail to be taken into consideration is the difficulty sometimes for leaving the airport once you have the car and also the inconvenience of returning it once you are due to return home. This is something that you don’t need to worry about if you choose your car hire from an office outside the airport as the free shuttle service will take you back to the airport and leave you directly at the check in area.
For these reasons is important that we know which airports can be subject to overcrowding, what dates or times, and what other services or options are available in the vicinity.
In Spain, airports located on the islands, Madrid or Barcelona are where you can frequently find more delays and where it is recommended that you book your Rent a Car offsite.

At Centauro Rent a Car we consider the advantages and disadvantages of each location and with the customer in mind, we choose the best place to be, either at the airport or nearby.
Whichever is the case, for our offices that are located outside of the airport we offer an exclusive free shuttle service to all our clients

See you soon family!