Car Rental at St Louis Airport: The best companies

St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL) is the largest and busiest airport in the state of Missouri with over 250 daily departures to domestic and international locations. It is located 23 km from St. Louis, between Berkeley and Bridgeton.

A plane prepares for take-off at St Louis International Airport (Photo: redlegsfan21 via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0)

Staffed only during peak times, customer service counters can be found in the lower level of Terminal 1 between exit doors 12 and 17. A free shuttle service is provided by all rental car companies to off-airport facilities. Clients are asked to return vehicles directly to off-site locations.

To determine which rental companies offer the best options across our three categories (Most Affordable, Best for Luxury, Best for Minivans), TravelMag.com have carefully conducted research into all of the agencies at STL airport across several dates. Our findings are as follows.

MOST AFFORDABLE: ALAMO & DOLLAR

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The first town mentioned in Bobby Troup’s famous ‘Route 66’ and widely known as ‘the Gateway’ to the West, the area in and around St Louis is best explored by car. On our sample dates, we found the cheapest car rentals at Alamo and American rental giants Dollar. Your final choice may be influenced by your preference of car; Alamo’s Mitsubishi Mirage and Hyundai Elantra were at $50-53 per day, while Dollar’s Nissan Altima and their surprise package deal (car depends purely on availability) were on offer at $51-60 per day.

BEST FOR LUXURY: HERTZ

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At STL Airport, we found Hertz cars to be consistently cheaper than its competitors in the luxury car category. With a reputation for new and what they classify as ‘dream cars’, Hertz scores additional points by offering a “NeverLost” GPS program with their car rentals. Prices ascend in a logical manner, with a Cadillac XTS being the cheapest car for a rent at $150-186 per day (all included). For Dodge Challenger fanatics out there (and there are plenty), Alamo and National both had this American classic for rent at a rather steep $366 per day.

BEST FOR MINIVANS: ALAMO & BUDGET

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Renting minivans at STL airport is a reasonably straightforward affair and you’ll find a good selection of vans at competitive prices across all the main agencies. On our sample dates, Alamo, National and Enterprise all had the Dodge Caravan for rent at around $70 per day, while Avis and Budget both had the Chrysler Pacifica at $112-134, and the latter a 15-seater Ford Transit at $224 per day. Once you’ve added on tax and other extras, all these prices increase by about 20%.