Fee to Fund LAX Car Rental Center

Passengers arriving at Los Angeles International and Ontario airports will pay more to rent a car next year after the city’s Airport Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to impose a new $10-per-rental charge.

The money will fund construction of a new complex for all car rental companies at LAX and a ground transportation system for car renters at both the Los Angeles and Ontario airports.

A new state law, which takes effect Jan. 1, will allow airports to impose the so-called customer facility charge on car rentals.

To the surprise of airport officials, no one showed up at Tuesday’s meeting to support or oppose the new charge, which is is expected to raise $24 million a year at LAX.

The charge will apply to vehicles rented from Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Thrifty. Customers of other rental car companies that operate off the airport premises will be charged a lower fee.

Airports across the nation are moving toward such centralized rental car facilities, allowing passengers to be shuttled back and forth on a single transportation system. The change is designed to reduce the number of rent-a-car shuttles that currently clog traffic at LAX.