National Car Rental

We picked up our car at the San Francisco airport and returned it nine days later at the San Diego airport. I chose a midsize SUV as we moved to a couple different cities and drove down the beautiful Pacific Coast Highway which had just opened two days prior so we got very lucky! The car was very comfortable and I like sitting up a little higher to see the beautiful scenery. National car rental makes it easy, especially with the Emerald club that I’m a part of and they’re always very friendly and helpful. !

Excellent service. American Airlines suggested National on their web site. I have received my car in San Francisco International airport in a few minutes and I could choose from all SUVs they had. The car was superb. 👌 I spent less than a minute upon my return. The staff was very friendly and very professional. I give 5 * and I will choose the National once again in San Francisco and elsewhere! Thank you very much indeed for your excellent service! 👌

Great service! Very happy with the Rental! And I really appreciated the upgrade! Super easy to return the car. Very friendly and welcoming staff!

We booked our National car rental with eDreams for 2 weeks from San Francisco airport. We had a newish Genesis GV70 SUV which was fantastic. Very responsive and with a GPS standard so very useful for our touring holiday. The staff at SFO were excellent and overall it was a sure good experience.

Excellent car and outstanding service. We were able to skip the front desk and go straight to the vehicle, which made the pickup process incredibly convenient. It was fully self-service — we simply selected our car, and the key was waiting on the driver’s seat. Everything was fast and efficient with no extra waiting. The car was new, clean, and very spacious. During the return, Andrew provided exceptional service and made the process quick and easy. Highly recommended.

My wife and I had a great experience with national. Check-in was easy, there were no hidden fees or additional charges. It was great. Tim took us to our car and gave us a bunch of great insight about where to go and how to be safe. He is a Warm and friendly guy and got us started off on the right foot for our entire visit. Thank you, Tim!

I had such a wonderful experience with Shannon at National! From the very beginning, she was incredibly kind, communicative, and genuinely sweet. She took the time to clearly explain everything, answered all of my questions with patience, and made the entire rental process feel smooth and stress-free. Her warm and professional demeanor truly stood out — you can tell she cares about providing excellent customer service. It’s rare to encounter someone who is both so informational and so personable at the same time! Shannon made my experience with National a great one, and I’m so grateful for her help. Thank you, Shannon! 😊

Tim was so helpful when we arrived at 7am to select our vehicle at the National car rental aisle at SFO. Tim was so upbeat and cheerful! He noticed we were a family of 5 adults and showed us a brand new luxury van that would fit all of us. It was wonderfully spacious and comfortable. Thank you Tim for your help and cheery disposition! Great customer service!

Once in a while we will try another car rental company, but we always come back to National. At SFO we take the tram to the car rental area like others do, but they go to stand in line at various car rental counters. We walk directly to the National Car aisle, select our car, and we are on our way. So fast and efficient!

Last year, I had a poor experience with National Car Rental and was offered a coupon for 3 free rental days as compensation. The email included a coupon code valid for a standard-sized car and instructed me to call a number to apply it to a future reservation. When I called Agent #1, I clearly stated that I wanted to use the coupon code and asked two questions: Could I upgrade to an SUV? Could I return the car to a different location? I was told they had a luxury SUV available and instructed to show the coupon code at the rental location (San Jose Airport). When I arrived, the staff informed me that the coupon must be applied over the phone--not in person. They also told me that the reservation was made for a same-location return, but they changed it to drop off at SFO as requested. After returning the car the next day to SFO, I called Agent #2 who said the coupon code could only be applied after the reservation was closed. So I waited, closed the rental, and called again. Agent #3 then informed me that the coupon code could not be applied at all because it was only valid for a standard car, and I had rented a luxury SUV. I was also charged for 2 rental days plus an additional fee for the different return location. The final bill was $800 for a car I didn't ask for and didn't need, despite my repeated and explicit intention to use the coupon code. At no point during the three separate calls was I told that the coupon wouldn't be valid--until it was too late. This experience was deeply frustrating, felt entirely deceptive, and showed an unacceptable lack of internal communication and transparency. I am absolutely gutted about how this was handled. I will never use National or any Enterprise-related brand again. Update 7/6/2025: I contacted National's customer service regarding this issue and was informed that a case had been opened. I was given a case number for reference and told that someone would follow up with me. That was four weeks ago, and I have not heard a single word since. It's clear that National has no real interest in keeping their word--or their customers.

I needed to pick up a rental car for my roadtrip from SF to Fresno. I went straight to the Executive Aisle, and was greeted with a slew of different Luxury Cars. They had Cadillacs, BMW's, and an Alfa Romeo. I picked the Alfa Romeo. The car was fantastic, it had a spunky personality, great amount of features and performed exceptionally well going to Fresno. National is a fantastic rental car company with great service. When I dropped the car off the first thing the lady asked was if I enjoyed my car. She let me even take pictures of it before I sadly had to leave it. I am definitely renting from National Again!

Cordial front desk staff & lot personnel. An actual person there upon return to accept car & give a printed receipt. I want evidence I've handed back a $45K asset. Fun Honda Civic vehicle which few RAC co's offer. Price was a net of 80.00 which was okay for SFO. $43 Of it goes to SFO & tax et al. which is ridiculous. An example of how both consumers & companies serve as tax slaves.

I wanted to personally thank Blake the manager from National car rental for helping us get up on our way after missing our flight. We had previously had a little issue with our previous rental we turned into before our flight (that we missed) and when we went back to get a new rental Blake went completely out of his way to take care of us. Did he have to? Not at all. He definitely went above and beyond and I will forever be grateful for that. Keep up being an amazing Manager Blake!

My friends and I rented a 2023 GMC Yukon from National Car Rental at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The full-size SUV was great for our group of 4-7 adults riding at any given time. We drove it up to the Sonoma Valley wine region and back to SFO. We had no issues at pick-up or drop-off. Everything went fast and smoothly. We paid $376.88 to rent the Yukon for a Thursday-Sunday long weekend. That cost was split between six people, including myself. It worked out to $62.81 per person, which I thought was reasonable. The person who booked the rental had some level of status with National. I'm not sure if we got a discounted rate because of that. We did get priority at the line for National at SFO, except there was no line when we arrived on a Thursday late morning. Avis was the one with the long line. They were slammed. National had nobody, but us. You have to take the AirTrain Blue Line to get to and from the Rental Car Center at SFO. The AirTrain runs 24/7. All of the National employees we interacted with were polite, professional, competent, and efficient. Our rental was in great shape. I liked it a lot. The Yukon provided a smooth, comfortable, spacious ride through San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge, up to Sausalito, Mill Valley, Penngrove, Santa Rosa, Bodega Bay, Guerneville, Petaluma, and back. Instead of re-crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on our way back to SFO, we crossed over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The Yukon handled dense city streets, steep and winding roads in the hills, and narrow driveways in the redwoods.

I was in San Francisco for a week with family on vacation. We started by getting our rental car at the airport. Janet was extremely helpful finding me the right car for the week.

Candy directed us right to the vehicle that fit our need and it is great. She helped adjust seats in the back and we didn't have to wander the Emerald aisle to find something. Thanks Candy!

Rami helped us and was great to work with. He was quick and polite and had us on our way quickly. I highly recommend!

Five stars for Calvin and Jackie who made my trip so successful. I love that they took time, listened to what I was looking for, and gave me an incredible car for the next two weeks. Very humbled by Calvin's professionalism and kindness. Jackie was great in helping me from start to finish. National will always have my business.

Not much to say since everything is so fast. We were able to come out pick our own car without saying anything to anyone and drive off. Keys are already in the car. Drop off is also very easy. We can just park it and leave the keys in the car and go. I like that they have a good selection to choose from. We ended up getting a SUV which was very roomy for our belongings. Couldn't have been a better experience. We like to go with national whenever we rent cars.

My first time renting a car at SFO and National did a great job. There was a big selection of full-size cars on the Executive Aisle and I eventually decided on the Ford Fusion with a California license plate and the hybrid engine as I expected to be doing a bunch of driving. There were also some full size SUVs and even a Dodge Challenger. Returning the car was easy and simple. Drive up, drop off, leave the keys and go.

I'm an Emerald Member, so this review is applicable to the Emerald Aisle process specifically. So, I've picked up rental cars at SFO before. You get off the train at the Rental Building and meet a long row of car rental counters, each with it's own snaking, roped-off line of despair. I believe I waited almost an hour in one of those lines for a car I reserved and paid for ahead of time. It took WAY too long. Enter the Emerald Club. I don't know why I didn't join it before, why I qualify in any special way now, and why the WHOLE WORLD doesn't join. But, let me illustrate the difference in experience. I get off the same train, walk past alllll the poor lemmings in soul crushingly-long lines with their stacks of bags and crying children and slip through the door to the parking garage where I walk along the "Emerald Aisle", a row of mid-sized cars (SUVs, Camrys, Chargers, full-size pickups, Elantras, etc.) all of which are unlocked with the keys inside. I put my bags in the back, drive the car to the gate, present my drivers license to the guy in the booth and I'm out. It's super easy, super fast, and I'm hooked. Returning is similar, but sometimes takes a bit longer based on the volume of cars and availability of staff people. But, it's still really simple. So, props to National for making my car pickup and drop-off experience so painless!

Rewards program We all have our favorites. Favorite food, favorite sports team, favorite airline, etc. etc. For me National is my favorite car rental. You've read all my National reviews right? Here in San Francisco, I had very limited access to staff since it's get off the AirTran and walk to any aisle to pick a car. I say limited because I did talk to the guy at the counter about bridge tolls. FYI if you don't go online 48 hours after occurring any bridge tolls, you'll be charged a convince fee of $4 to cover the rental car paperwork up to $20 total on top of the bridge charge crossing!!! I recommend you pay the bridge fee online ASAP to avoid the convince charge. I like this place because there's always a car that fits your need. I picked a nice infinity QX60 with all the cool gadgets. Getting in and out of the garage is easy and I have never had any problems with returns. Remember to have your drivers license and CC ready when at the gate to leave. Overall four stars. SFO AirTran is quick and takes you directly to the counter. People have always been informative. They may have a terrible dental plan because no one smiles here. Check it out you'll see. No five stars because I don't get any rental contract at the gate. I just have an email that's stated my cost is $27. No people not $27 a day, $27 total for six days. I love the rewards program. Now excuse me, It's taking me awhile to figure out this vehicle's Navigational feature. Now I'm not smiling!!! M

Valarie at the San Francisco Airport was fantastic. She was friendly, efficient, and energetic. I was going to miss my meeting because Thrift rental wait/line was 3 hours long. National had no line & Valarie was able to get me into a similar car and it was only $30 more than Thrifty.

Just picked up another rental at National in SFO. Tim, the Emerald Club Service Specialist, was so helpful in sorting out how to get apple carplay in a car. He went above and beyond to help me. Having someone at the car pick up to help me sort out basic buttons, plugs in the car is SUPER helpful. Thank you, Tim!

Long trip across the country and then traversing the airport left us tired and grumpy upon reaching the rental car place. Jaqueline was prompt to greet us and explain which cars were available and worked with us to get us the right car to suit our needs. Additionally, Jaqueline exuded customer service by offering a bottle of water when she recognized how thirsty O was. I wish everyone in the service industry was as friendly, kind and accommodating. Great job National. Hold on to that one!

Very friendly and efficient staff. No line at check-in. I got to pick a car which I liked. There was a guy there in the garage to answer questions. The car was great- new and clean. Upon return I was checked out in minutes. Very efficient.

Great operation. Smooth and fast, for both pick up and drop off. Polite service. Easy website to navigate. Would be five stars, except for the SEVEN taxes/fees that added 45%(!) to the bill. Ridiculous.

Easy access from the airport terminal via the Tram. Short line at SFO to sign paper work for the car. Upon selecting vehicles in the "compact" class we were given the option of Hyundai or Nissan Altima. The service rep seemed very rushed and quickly handed off the keys to help the next customer as we made our way to our rental. Returning the vehicle was fast and simple. Overall the rental was new and in good shape. More selection and better customer service would've been nice. [100 Yelp Review Challenge 2018: 42/100]

Had the worst customer experience today after returning the car at SFO airport. I'm an Emerald Club Executive member, so I've used their service around the world and used National 4 times this week in Dallas, Houston, Vegas & Phoenix (where all these locations Svc was excellent) This girl, came up didn't ask about how the car was, didn't ask if you had a nice trip and started to point out a misalignment on the plastic trim. She was so rude & so unprofessional. She was very argumentative about the damage on the bumper, however once we clean off the "dirt" she didn't apologise or admit her misjudgement. Horrible horrible experience and wonder if I should use other rental service from now on!!!

Honestly, Anne you da best. She's great. I had a great experience with her and national. Tremendous amount of customer service. One of the reasons I'll book again.

National car rental double charged me. I questioned the sales rep on the over charge. She assured me and I was only being charged once. WRONG!!! My account was double charged $1070 which caused my account to be over drawn. I incurred a $35 NSF fee due to National car rentals incompetence! I had to call customer service to reverse the charge. They did so with no apology. National car rental has the WORST customer service I have ever encountered in my life!

Janet on Level 2 at the SFO "Emerald Aisle" was fantastic in helping me with my rental. They had a nice fleet of cars to choose from and I wound up in a super cute red Mini Cooper Countryman. All in all, a positive experience.

We reserved a rental through another rental company and after waiting 2+ hours for a car, we inquired if any cars were available at National. Valrie assisted my husband quickly and pleasantly and got us on our way in no time. She made sure a vehicle was ready and available for us before taking our reservation. I appreciated the great customer service and the fact that we got a rental! We will definitely rent from National again.

We chose National Car Rental when we were in San Francisco for a quick weekend getaway. I use to be an Emerald member when I traveled for business so I felt confident about this rental company. Since the hubby gets awesome commercial flight benefits we can travel almost anywhere for nothing-luckily most times it is nothing so we made last minute plans and decided to get our rental car through one of those bidding online agency's. $14 a day is what we found! We got a nice car with a sun roof-a must in the city. Car was clean service was great!

I rented a full size SUV from National. I got hooked up with an almost brand new ford expedition limited trim. Rance Granger checked me out and helped me switch the card I billed to so I could get more rewards points. Great service!

Peter of National Car Rental saved our trip. I am now a National customer for life because of him. Here's why: We had booked a rental car from another company on rentalcars.com and when we arrived in San Francisco ready to start our vacation... we had no reservation. In addition, the rental car room at SFO is jammed--the busiest I have ever seen it. There are probably a thousand people in this long room. Lines are wrapping into the hallway. We wait for over an hour in line, get to the counter where our car is supposed to be, and find that rentalcars.com took our money... but never made a reservation. We tried calling them several times, but the customer support number hangs up when you call it. So we have no car. We try making additional calls but to no avail. I wander around and find the National desk. Having used them in the past, I decided to see if they can help. We are desperate--we're supposed to be in Napa in just a few hours and now have no way to get there. Enter Peter and National. We explain the story and he says "Let me see what I can do." What he did was scan the system for my inactive Emerald Club account (I no longer travel on business), reinstate it, and after a few minutes, find us a better car than the one we had originally requested for about the same price. I had expected to be hit with a huge last-minute charge, but Peter took care of it as if I had booked it weeks ago. So in a matter of a few minutes, we go from having no car, no way to Napa, and hours in line to find for nothing... to having a very nice Mazda MX6 for a reasonable price and our vacation back. I cannot say enough about Peter's help and customer service. I've worked for a customer experience think-tank in the past and have to say, he epitomizes excellent customer experience. Saving a customers vacation is the kind of stuff that creates life-long brand advocates and leads to reviews like this one. I cannot recommend them highly enough. I doubt I will ever use anyone but National again. Thanks again, Peter--you truly saved the day for us.

I had a terrific experience renting a car at National, thanks to the great team but especially the assistance I received from George Rukab. George secured my future business. Thank you.

Great car rental location. Picking up the car was quick and easy. Shout out to Tim for being friendly, helpful, and finding us the perfect car!

Traveling with kids is extremely hard. I am a Emerald executive member and there were no SUVS available. I was waiting around for a bigger car because a young lady said "whatever is there is all we have available". My stroller and luggage bags would not fit in the trunk of a car. As I was maneuvering around with my kids and luggage, Jorge the branch manager saw me struggling and checked to see if there was anything else available. He gladly gave me an SUV from the back aisle and made my SF visit much more pleasant. Thank you Jorge- there is a reason why you are the branch manager. I am completely satisfied!!

In November 15th, 2021, I return the car with no damage at the Oklahoma Airport, and then I received the letter from Damage Recovery Unit said that I have to provide insurance information and credit card number to them. I always make a video before I take the car, and before I return the car to the National Car Rental at the airport, and I make sure there is no damage with the car. I call Damage Recovery Unit, and they transfer me to National, the person who take the call is very rude and hang up on me. All I want to know is why they send to me that letter, I do not know if the car was damaged or not, there is no picture, no witness and they just said that the car was damaged. I know it is not damaged because I have the proof with my video. Bad customer service.

Pretty seamless experience. I was worried because I've never rented a car at an airport and the reviews for the other (cheaper) rental companies at SFO are so atrocious. I am honestly glad I paid more for a better experience (joining the emerald club gave me a significant discount tho). The lines for Avis etc were *very* long. I didn't wait at all at National and got to pick from an entire garage of cars! The staff were very helpful and sweet as well. I'm happy.

To National Rental Car, So, we are driving down the highway at 60mph in one of your rental cars. Imagine this - you go to use the windshield wiper fluid and out comes Dawn dish soap! Not sure if you are aware what happens when dish soap is used on a windshield - it will white out the entire windshield and leave 0% visibility. Needless to say, it was one of the scariest experiences in my life. We were fortunate enough to be able to dodge the cars around us and pull to the side of the road where we had to splash coffee on the window to rinse it off because we didn't have any water. I called your customer service line, where I was promised a refund and that a manager would be contacting me. No call back. I called again and once again was promised a manager would contact me. Haven't heard anything. I'm done, I will never use your service again, what a joke. *Photo of windshield is post coffee attempt clean up. You can see where there are still white smears on the window

National is located n the SFO Renral Car Facility. It is accessible using the Airtrain that connects all terminals, parking garages and the BART station. The circular route of the Airtrain makes it easy to get to National. My check and check in out was courteous and easy. There are several gas stations nearby to fuel your car for its return. Everything was A OK.

Gave two young 20's a brand new 2018 Cadillac... enough said, happy about it. Only reason it isn't 5 stars is because they were not forgiving about our flight cancelation that led to us holding on to the vehicle a bit longer, but I understand they gotta make a buck

This has always has been my rental car company of choice and has been since the late 80's. I've rented hundreds of cars over the years from National and being an Emerald Club Member the perks are great and the ease of booking online couldn't be easier. This location is as easy as 1-2-3 ride the tram to the rental car facility, pick a car and drive away. They always have a large selection of cars here and the staff is first rate. I've never considered another car rental company.

Emerald Club/Aisle is the reason I return to National for both business (90%) and leisure (10%) Generally, you get a car with under 20,000 miles or so. You choose domestic or import, sedan or minivan, and occasionally in some locations a truck. Pluses: + You select your own car, same rate + Simply show your license and Emerald Club card at the gate for reservations made in advance (never tested this if you just show up) + Generally a good deal if you pay attention to all the other possible charges Small Gripes - Airport fees, Airport fees. I know it is not the rental car company fault for fees now approaching 33-50% of total rental cost. Car rental has become the milk cow for state and local government to tax and assess with reckless abandon. Tips: * Fill up your own gas before returning. I estimate that you save around half versus National's fee to fill up * Use care with today's EZ-Pass or equivalent depending on the area. Don't use the automated lanes. The fees come in later with surcharges added to your credit card. Expensive bordering on usury. * Bring your own GPS from home. I pack mine. * For long-term rental, save by taking a short ride out of the airport to another National location and say adios to the airport concession fee. * Allow extra time to get to the SFO Rental Car Return area. Can be confusing, and signage is unclear coming from the South on 101.

I recently discovered National car rental and I love that you pick the car that you want and there are no frills or hassles. I hate how the other companies always try to scare you into getting their insurance. Last time I was in Denver and rented with a different vendor they told me I should get the insurance because it's been hailing a lot (suckered me with that one) but I also noticed I never have an issue with a dirty car from National either. Last time I got one from Fox it had beige seats which looked really dirty, a funky smelly one from Enterprise and another one that was dusty on the inside and even had a spiderweb across the dashboard. I just wish there were more nationals available locally but other then that it's been great.

Each person we interacted with from the manager at the desk to the person giving us the keys and finally the person releasing us were so friendly, professional and clear. This experience far exceeded any other we've had with a car rental company. Keep it up National!!

Seamless transaction. Got a Camry SE from the Emerald Aisle. Excellent location being on the 4th floor so you don't have to go up and down the elevators to get on the Air Train back to the terminals. Even Hertz and Avis can't beat that at SFO.

Car selection is slim pickings and the cars here are all older and have higher mileage and need maintenance.

Very good service! Love the National Emerald program where you walk out and get in any car you want. Happy employees make it a pleasant experience. Am I supposed to be so excited about renting a car?

SF did a great job for me. Snow expected in the mountains, so they found me an SUV with 4WD and XM radio. Could not ask for more than that.

Since I was originally motivated to sign up on Yelp in order to post a negative rental car review, I try to give special consideration to car-rental places whenever I happen to need one. This was a business trip, so my selection was whatever my company's travel booking software offered up in the correct price range. I got 3 different companies as options and had not rented from National before. They were also about $3 / day cheaper, so I went with them. As far as convenience, they are in the same building at the same counter as all the other similar firms at SFO (other than off-airport companies, if there are any). The line at National didn't seem particularly longer or shorter than the other nearby counters. It moved fairly quickly; I didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes. Once at the counter, they found my reservation promptly and did not try to upsell me any insurance, etc. Maybe because it was a corporate booking? At any rate, the process was quick and painless and I was on my way out to select my vehicle. I'd consider 5 stars except that they didn't mention the push-button start mechanism. I'm now driving a car with that feature at home, but the last time I was at SFO a different company skipped that detail also. I just think they ought to spend 30 seconds on the topic until they know the customer is familiar with it, just as a courtesy. Also, while I like selecting my vehicle from a row of similarly classed vehicles, National apparently released about 7 customers onto a row of 8 cars simultaneously. This made it more like musical chairs (or cars). As far as drive-ability, etc., I was fine with my selection, a Chrysler. The controls were a bit odd (dial-a-gear, no foot-activated parking brake, non-obvious headlight selector), but that wasn't really National's fault. All-in-all, though, I'd definitely consider renting from them again.

It was my first time renting a car so I was very confused. Sirjary was the front desk who helped me and he is the kindest and the sweetest guy! He made the process very smooth and explained everything so well and it was quick and easy! Will definitely come back if I ever need to rent a car in the future!

Bottom line- step up your game, National. It's easy to put on a smile when there aren't any problems present. However, it's a bit more difficult to provide good customer service when there's a problem. Regardless, I believe that a company is supposed to take on ownership for it's wrongdoings, and apologize for any mishaps, which National did not do. The only reason I'm giving two stars instead of one is that the customer service was mediocre the second time around. We rented a car from here for two weeks, and about 5 days into the rental, we got a notification saying the car was due for an oil change. There was only 4% of its oil remaining!! Now, most cars get an oil change done before 20% is depleted. I was shocked that National didn't pay attention to this. We switched cars at San Jose since that was closer to us, and we received exceptionally horrible service there (I wrote a Yelp review on them too). San Jose made us pay for the half empty gas tank because we were switching out our car, even though it was not our fault. Anyways, two weeks later we returned the 2nd car to SFO. When we explained their problem, the customer service lady didn't even blink or apologize on behalf of National. She silently typed, and reimbursed us for the gas receipt from San Jose. National, please make sure your cars are all up to date and that their oil has been properly changed!

I have always had a good experience with national. I like selecting my car and the drop off is efficient and friendly. Most recently my car was almost brand new. Made my trip pleasant, because I am allergic to febreeze, and how the car smells is at the top of my list. National, please do keep up your car inventory!

Rented a car here for mwd. I made a reservation about a month in advance and had to change the car type a week before but I was no trouble at all. The reservation process was easy and I ended up finding a $20 discount on the website. (Which is better than nothing). The attendant helping us at the desk when we arrived was nice and helpful. I added on insurance when I got there which wasn't a problem at all. It was overall a little pricey but I had no trouble checking in or out. The car I choose was a nissian Altima which was clean and fairly new! Overall I was happy with the reservation and the service at national and would recommend renting from them!