Payless Car Rental Review

A rental car is a commodity, right? I just wanted a cheap car for my week-long business trip to Las Vegas last week and Payless fit the bill.

Bottom line: I'd rent from Payless again.

What I Got

I reserved my rental car through Travelocity and Payless was listed as the least expensive company for a compact car, around $109 for a week (before taxes). Fees and taxes on rental cars are exhorbitant in Las Vegas, but that is not the fault of the rental car company. Just be aware that Las Vegas car rentals cost much more than you expect, due to high fees and taxes. The total was $162 after all the fees and taxes were added -- again, these fees and taxes apply to all rentals at the Las Vegas airport, so this is not a reflection on Payless.

All car rentals at the Las Vegas airport are now handled through a single large rental center. This includes just about every car company, including Hertz, Avis, National, Payless, Dollar and so forth. You need to take a generic car rental bus to the rental center, and all the car companies have desks in this new center. It's a little disconcerting but it worked well.

The car I received was a 2007 Ford Focus and it was brand new with eight miles on the odometer. The car was so new that the license plate hadn't been installed yet! The car was perfect in every way and I had no trouble with it whatsoever.

The Deal

I'm convinced that rental car companies make very little on the actual car rental and most of the profit is on the added insurance. Therefore, I got a very hard pitch for add-on insurance from the otherwise friendly clerk. She repeatedly informed me that I was liable for the company's "loss-of-use" of the car in the event I damaged the car in some way, even if the damage was someone else's fault. This sounded ominous but I waived it off and took the car naked, without the add-on insurance. No damage was done, so my gamble paid off.

Other than the hard-sell on insurance, everyone at Payless was friendly and easygoing. The car was perfect and exactly the sort of car that I wanted.

Summary

I liked the people and the car from Payless... I'd do it again for my next car rental.