Renting Hybrid Cars at John F. Kennedy International Airport
For travelers coming in to John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, car rental options are offered by Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, and National car rental companies. If you want hybrid rental cars, the larger companies will have a better chance of getting you one when you get there.
The rental car offices are located along the Van Wyck Expressway near the entrance of the airport. Once arrived at JFK airport, head out to take the frequent courtesy shuttles AirTrain to the AirTrain Station C – Federal Circle. There are 3 AirTrain routes that stop at all passenger terminals and terminal parking lots.
- The All Terminals Loop (black line) tuns in continuous loop in reverse order from Terminal 8 to Terminal 1 and back to Terminal 8 – about 10 minutes for the entire loop or 2 minutes between each station.
- The Howard Beach Loop (green line) originates and ends at the Howard Beach Station. This route stops at all passenger terminals, plus the Lefferts Boulevard and Federal Circle stations going both ways. The Federal Circle Station is where rental car lots are located as mentioned above.
- The Jamaica Station Loop (blue line) originates and ends at Jamaica Station. This route also stops at the Federal Circle Station and all passenger terminals.
Click on the map for a larger pdf version. Map courtesy of the Port Authority of NY & NJ.
Once getting off at the Federal Circle Station, you can head over to the car rental company of your choice. As always, it’s recommended that you reserve your airport hybrid rental before your trip.
Here are some sample hybrid rental car rates from Enterprise Rent A Car and Hertz Rent A Car.
Enterprise Hybrid Cars Rental Rates at JFK
Three different rental rates for hybrid cars were examined for a one-day rental (pick up on Monday and return next day), a weekend rental (pick up on Friday and return on Monday), and a one-week rental (pick up on Monday and return the following Monday.) Enterprise is known to have great availability and for JFK this is no exception. Both the Prius and Camry hybrids are available during this test, while the Ford Escape Hybrid is tougher to get, requiring a call to check availability.
Enterprise one-day rental rate, May 11-12-2009: $117.71 per day for Prius, $142.49 for Camry Hybrid. All fees and taxes are included.
Enterprise weekend rental rate, May 15-18-2009: Average $117.71 per day for Prius, $142.48 for Camry Hybrid. All fees and taxes are included.
Enterprise one-week rental rate, May 11-18-2009: Average $84.08 per day for Prius, $115.05 for Camry Hybrid. All fees and taxes are included.
Follow this link to check availability of rental hybrid cars at JFK International Airport for your next trip.
Hertz Hybrid Cars Rental Rates at JFK
Similarly I did a comparison of rates for Hertz Rent A Car hybrid rentals. One main difference if that Hertz will require presentation of a credit card at time of pick up and therefore makes only the “Pay Later” option available online. There is no “Pay Now” option for Hertz hybrid cars. Hertz has both the Prius Hybrid and Nissan Altima Hybrid for rent. The graphics below only show base rates without fees and taxes, so I included the total rates in the notes.
Hertz one-day rental rate, May 11-12-2009: $147.98 per day for Prius, $171.93 for Nissan Altima Hybrid – fees and taxes included. Fees and taxes are not included in rates below.
Hertz weekend rental rate, May 15-18-2009: Average $111.46 per day for Prius ($334.39 total), $120.28 for Nissan Altima Hybrid ($360.84 total) - fees and taxes included. Fees and taxes are not included in rates below.
Hertz one-week rental rate, May 11-18-2009: Average $91.50 per day for Prius ($640.49 total), $96.90 for Nissan Altima Hybrid ($678.27) - fees and taxes included. Fees and taxes are not included in rates below.
In summary, it looks like Enterprise has very competitive rates and may have more hybrid cars available for rent, whereas Hertz may not as a result of a smaller hybrid car fleet size. If you have experience with renting hybrid cars at Hertz out of JFK, please share your stories with us in the comment below.
