Also, check up front for FEES.
I've rented in SF quite a bit and didn't seem to matter the location:
airport fee , OR
downtown fee....
Do you math on their website to be sure no surprises.
I just went to HERTZ.com , took some defaults to show in renting from SFO:

Selected Vehicle: Hyundai Accent or similar
Additional Items (included in Approximate Total Charges)
Tax 8.25 %
Airport Concession Fee Recovery On Flight Arrivals11.10 %
TRANSPORTATION AND FACILITIES FEE 15.00 USD
Califonia Tourism Commission Assessment 2.50 %
so a $100 "cost" for the car REALLY means:
$100 + $8.25+ $11.10 +$15+ $2.50 = $136.85 or a 36 % SURCHARGE to "the
daily rate" so just note the fine print.



"north" wrote in message
...
SMS wrote:
void wrote:
Later this month I'm going to need a car for 6 days to drive around
the
SF bay area. The big name companies (e.g. Hertz, Budget, Dollar) are
charging between $300-$350 total for a small car for 6 days. I found
a
car rental comparison site and they said a company called Pacific Car
Rental charges around $200. This seems dubious as the web site for
Pacific Car Rental only lets you pick 2004 and 2005 for rate
checking.

So should I just go with one of the big names or is there a cheaper
option?

That company sounds like a third-tier company, which should be avoided.

Use sidestep, and several of the second tier companies (Payless,
Dollar,, Thrifty) have lower rates. Sidestep is a good search engine as
it returns total cost, with taxes and airport fees added on, for all
the
different companies.

I guess I'd still go with someone like Budget, for $208 or so, as I've
had bad experiences with Dollar and Thrifty.

Ditto on Thrifty. Booked a car in S.F. as it was cheaper than others,
then they refused to rent without additional "mandatory" insurance.