Car rental at/near STL station

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hgray480

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Is there a car rental company at or near the St. Louis Station? Our final destination is Sparta, Illinois. If there is another train station that has car rental, I am open to options.

Thanks so much!

Heather
 
I personally am not certain about at the station itself, but I don't think so. However, if you board the MetroLink (directly outside the station), it goes directly to the airport. There you can find many companies.
 
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I just saw there is a Budget location two blocks away but it closes before (6 pm) the train's arrival time of 7:20 pm.
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
That is usually true, but it is also true that the airport locations are most likely to be open 24x7. So if you need access at odd hours, they are one of your best bets.
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
That is usually true, but it is also true that the airport locations are most likely to be open 24x7. So if you need access at odd hours, they are one of your best bets.
That said, double check with any on-airport rental agency that they accept non-airline customers.

Ken
 
That said, double check with any on-airport rental agency that they accept non-airline customers.
It's been a long time since I've heard of this being an issue.

(I know anecdotes are not official data, but I regularly rent from the agencies -- National, most usually -- at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, which I can easily walk to from my office.)
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
That is usually true, but it is also true that the airport locations are most likely to be open 24x7. So if you need access at odd hours, they are one of your best bets.
That said, double check with any on-airport rental agency that they accept non-airline customers.

Ken
Under what circumstances would a car rental agency at an airport not do business with someone who arrived by, say, a taxi. How would they even know you didn't arrive on an airplane? I've never heard of such a restriction.
 
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About renting a car at STL - I've never done it.

I have taken Amtrak to STL, and the light rail to the airport. It is a short (120 meter) walk from the Amtrak station to the light rail connection, not as bad as as SAC, and the connection is good, safe, and room for bags on the light rail - but it's a half-hour or so to the airport.

I'd take the light rail to the airport there to rent a car anytime when the near-amtrak-station car rentals are closed.

Even with the airport rental-car fees and the light-rail fare, (maybe $20 total) the airport seems best bet.

Add in that the airport car-rent folks seem to be more up-to-date and helpful in general on the rules --

Book the rent-car 24 hours or a week in advance -- most car rentals have "zero" cancellation fees.

Check the car-rental places fees up-front -- I'm thinking that Amtrak-light-rail-airport will win for low-risk, low-cost, and efficiency.
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
That is usually true, but it is also true that the airport locations are most likely to be open 24x7. So if you need access at odd hours, they are one of your best bets.
That said, double check with any on-airport rental agency that they accept non-airline customers.

Ken
Under what circumstances would a car rental agency at an airport not do business with someone who arrived by, say, a taxi. How would they even know you didn't arrive on an airplane? I've never heard of such a restriction.
In those places where only the Nomenklatchuura are allowed to ride airplanes -- obviously
 
Long ago, I read that airport car rentals cost more than non-airport car rentals. Is that no longer true?
That is usually true, but it is also true that the airport locations are most likely to be open 24x7. So if you need access at odd hours, they are one of your best bets.
That said, double check with any on-airport rental agency that they accept non-airline customers.

Ken
Under what circumstances would a car rental agency at an airport not do business with someone who arrived by, say, a taxi. How would they even know you didn't arrive on an airplane? I've never heard of such a restriction.
That could have been a New York area isue with post 911 restrictions, but there was a time when the rental car agencies at Newark airport required your arriving flight information prior accepting a car reservation.

Ken
 
Every airport I have been to on Amtrak trips have rented a car for me with no questions. The only bad part is it cost more then a downtown location.
 
Depending on where you are coming from, you might want to rent from Enterprise in Galesburg IL. Galesburg is about 4-4.5 hours from Sparta by car. You might even get to Sparta before your train gets to STL. I had a one week rental last month at a reasonable rate from the Enterprise in G-bg which is about 100 yards from the the GBB station. I just got my 200 points per day from AGR.

If I arrive early on the Coast Starlight to SAC, I take the YOLO bus out to the Sacramento airport (SMF) to rent a car before the downtown locations open. They don't seem to care that you didn't get off a plane.
 
I've never heard of that airport car rental restriction mentioned, and I rent from airport locations frequently without flying into said airport.

It seems nearly every city in America, the airport location is the only one with decent hours. Non-airport locations frequently have hours almost as bad as banks.
 
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Noting that I don't know where you're coming from, the nearest Amtrak station to Sparta is DuQuoin. Three trains a day from Chicago, compared to five CHI-St. Louis. There's a Hertz at DuQuoin, and a Hertz and Enterprise at Carbondale, the next stop south of DuQuoin and about the same distance from Sparta as St. Louis is.

If St. Louis is still your choice, there's an Enterprise near Scott Air Force Base, at the east end of the Metrolink light rail. You'd be going closer to Sparta rather than farther away (west) as St. Louis-Lambert Airport would be.
 
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