An aircraft wing above cloud

Photograph: Ross Parmly

  1. Home
  2. Airport car rental

Arrivals

Airport car rental

The rental starts when the flight does. These pages do not include terminal maps, and each major airport has its own page.

The decision

The arrival is its own drive.

Airport car rental and airport rental cars are the national versions of a search that is otherwise fiercely local: Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Calgary, Halifax, Edmonton, Montreal, and a second tier of smaller fields. The national page explains the pattern. The airport pages explain the arrival.

You are usually tired, carrying more than you planned, and about to drive a car that is not yours onto a road you may not know. That is a different problem from picking up a car beside a house.

Arrival

A calm sequence.

Time

Build a buffer after landing. A late flight is a reason to shorten the first drive, not to add a mountain leg.

Place

Know which airport, not only which city. Pearson is not downtown Toronto. Vancouver’s airport is on Sea Island. Calgary’s is north of the city.

Vehicle

Choose for the luggage and the next morning’s road, not for the photograph in the cabin.

Return

If the car will not come back to the same airport, it is a one-way rental and should be requested that way.

Limits

What an airport page will not claim.

An airport guide explains where the field sits relative to the city and what the first drive tends to feel like. It does not name a terminal door, a shuttle time, or an open desk. Ask the airport and the company you choose, because those details change.

Pickup and drop-off timing is discussed generally in pickup and drop-off.

Questions

Before you decide

Which airport page should I open?

The airport you actually fly into. City pages are for driving once you are in town.

Do you list terminal instructions?

No. Use the airport’s own directions once you are in the building.

Can I return the car to a different airport?

Treat that as a one-way request. It is not confirmed here.

Is a cheap airport rental a separate product?

No. Price hunting belongs on the cheap rental page, and the arrival belongs here.

Next

Note the place and the dates.

The planner records a pickup, a return, and an optional vehicle class. Ebomim does not reserve a car or publish a rate.

Plan your trip