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Car Rental

Updated · BootsnAll

There's one good reason to rent a car for a Chicago trip, and that's getting out of the city. Inside it, where most visitors spend nearly all their time, a car costs more than it saves. Street parking downtown is scarce and metered by the hour, garages add a hefty city tax, and between the L, the buses, Divvy bikes and your own feet, you can reach everything on a first-timer's list without one. Our transportation guide covers the transit side.

So my advice is simple. Skip the car for the city days. If you want to see Oak Park by train, you still don't need one. If you're heading to the Indiana Dunes, Wisconsin, or starting a Route 66 road trip, rent for just those days. Our day and overnight trips from Chicago page has ideas.

Getting to and from the airports without a car

Both airports are on the L. The CTA Blue Line runs from O'Hare to the Loop, and the Orange Line runs from Midway. A regular L ride costs $2.50, but boarding at O'Hare costs $5, according to the CTA fare chart. A 1-day pass is $5 and a 7-day pass is $20, and you can tap a contactless bank card or phone at the turnstile. See our airports page for the details, and how to get between Midway and O'Hare if your flights split.

Where to rent

O'Hare

All the on-airport rental companies at O'Hare work out of the Multi-Modal Facility (MMF) at 10255 W. Zemke Blvd., not the terminals. You get there on the Airport Transit System, the free people mover, which runs 24 hours a day, every 3 to 5 minutes at busy times, and takes about 10 minutes from Terminal 1 to the MMF, according to the airport. Build that ride into your return time.

The companies in the MMF are Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Fox, Hertz, National, Payless, Sixt and Thrifty. ACE Rent A Car and Routes Car Rental are off-site and pick up from bus bay 1 in the MMF.

Midway

Midway's rental counters are all in one building at 5150 W. 55th St., away from the terminal. Shuttles leave from Lower Level Door 2 and run 24 hours a day, scheduled every 15 minutes. You'll find Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Hertz, National and Corporate Rent A Car there.

Downtown and the neighborhoods

If you only need a car for a day or two in the middle of your trip, or you arrived by train or bus, pick one up from a neighborhood or downtown branch. You'll skip the trip to the airport and only pay for the days you drive. Compare prices, though. City branches sometimes cost more than the airport for the same car, keep shorter hours, and have smaller fleets, so book ahead for a weekend.

Why the tax line on your quote is so big

Chicago stacks taxes on car rentals, and they add up fast. On top of the base rate you'll see these.

Airport pickups also carry the rental companies' own airport fees, which vary by company. Look at the total price, not the daily rate, when you compare.

Parking

This is where a car in Chicago really hurts. Most downtown hotels charge a nightly fee to park, so check before you book. Garages and valet operators also collect the city's parking tax, which is 23.25% as of 2025.

Street meters are run by ParkChicago. In the Loop they cost $7 an hour from 8am to 9pm and $3.50 an hour overnight. Elsewhere downtown it's $4.75, and in the neighborhoods $2.50. Use the ParkChicago app to pay and top up from your phone, and read every sign on the block. Rush-hour tow zones, residential permit streets and street-cleaning days catch visitors all the time.

For garages, SpotHero and ParkWhiz let you reserve a spot ahead, which beats the drive-up rate at most garages near Millennium Park, Navy Pier and Wrigley Field on game days. If you're headed to a Cubs game, take the Red Line instead.

In winter, watch for the overnight parking ban. From December 1 to April 1, you can't park on 107 miles of main streets from 3am to 7am, snow or no snow. The city tows, and last winter that meant a $150 tow fee, a $60 ticket and $25 a day in storage.

Divvy instead of a car

For short hops and the lakefront, Divvy, the city's bike share, is the better deal. A classic bike costs $1 to unlock plus 20 cents a minute. E-bikes and scooters are $1 plus 44 cents a minute. A day pass is $19.90 and covers three hours of classic-bike riding, then 20 cents a minute after that. Riding the Lakefront Trail from Navy Pier to the Museum Campus on a summer morning is one of the best things you can do in this city, and you don't have to find parking at the end.

If you do rent

  • Get quotes from several companies and at both airports. Prices for the same car and dates can be far apart.
  • Fill up before you return it. Chicago has its own vehicle fuel tax on top of the state's, so filling up out in the suburbs usually costs less.
  • Check your credit card and your own auto policy before you buy the rental company's coverage. If you'll be parking on the street overnight, where scraped bumpers and side mirrors are routine, make sure something covers you.
  • Ask at the counter how tolls get billed. The Illinois Tollway doesn't take cash, and rental company toll programs add their own fees on top of the tolls. If you bring your own I-PASS or E-ZPass, or decline the program, the Tollway's Pay By Plate lets you pay online within 14 days of driving.