Renting a Car at LAX? Here’s What to Expect from the New Consolidated Rent-A-Car Facility

We’ve broken ground on a new Consolidated Rent-A-Car (ConRAC) facility at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which boasts the second-largest rental car market among domestic airports.

The new facility will centralize rental car operations into one location that makes it more convenient to rent a car at the airport, served by a direct connection to and from the Central Terminal Area on the future Automated People Mover (APM) train.

By the numbers

The ConRAC facility will feature 18,000 parking stalls with 6,600 ready/return spaces, 10,000 vehicle storage spaces, 1,100 rental car employee spaces and 75 spaces for visitor parking. A quick-turn around facility will also be on-site, allowing for fueling, washing and light maintenance of rental car vehicles.

We’re providing program management and construction management, as well as design management services for the facility, which aims to reduce congestion at LAX and nearby communities. The approximate $1.1 billion (construction cost) ConRAC facility, procured using a public-private-partnership (P3), is one of the major elements of the airport’s Landside Access Modernization Program (LAMP).

Planes, trains and automobiles

When the ConRAC is completed, rental car shuttles will no longer access the LAX Central Terminal Area because customers will ride the APM train to and from their rental agency. The elimination of more than 3,000 shuttle trips per day will decrease traffic congestion, enhance the traveler experience, free up critical curbside loading areas and reduce environmental impacts to the surrounding community, including noise, traffic and air quality.

“The ConRAC is about helping LAX users get to and through the rental car process more quickly and conveniently, and in doing so, reduce congestion and environmental impacts,” explains Jacobs Buildings, Infrastructure and Advanced Facilities Americas West Region Director of Aviation Ron Siecke. “When projects like the ConRAC support transportation and the environment, it’s a win for everyone.”

To complement LAXs’ rank as the fourth busiest airport in the world, when complete in 2023, the ConRAC will be the largest facility of its kind in the world with approximately 6.3-million-square-feet and approximately 15 rental car companies operating at the facility. Since its kickoff, we’ve led development of the project programming and definition documents and preparation of procurement documents for the design-build-finance-operate-maintain delivery contract on the ConRAC. Jacobs has represented Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) in all aspects of LAX’s capital improvement program (CIP) and the LAMP since 2016.