ORLANDO, Fla. – During peak travel periods, on-site parking garages and surface lots at the Orlando International Airport are often filled to capacity.
Now the airport has a solution that should put a dent in the parking problem: A single-site Consolidated Rental Car Facility (ConRAC) to house all rental cars and free up precious parking spaces in all three parking garages.
But it comes at the expense of rental car customers. News 6 discovered MCO is about to charge the highest Customer Facility Fee (CFC) in Florida and among the highest in the country.
If you’ve ever rented a car at MCO, and a lot of people have – Orlando is the world’s largest car rental market, according to the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) – you know car pickup is conveniently located in the garages across from the terminals.
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But that convenience comes at a price. It eats up thousands of parking spaces inside the garage, spaces where passengers could park.
Angela Starke, GOAA Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Community Relations, said the future car rental facility will be located at the south end of the airport, near Terminal C, and open up 5,000 parking garage spaces.
“MCO is the largest rental car market in the world, and GOAA plans to streamline services and make car rental more efficient with the creation of the ConRAC,” Starke said. “The facility would instantly open up about 5,000 parking spaces in the existing A, B and C garages, where rental cars are currently housed. With the opening of a ConRAC, all rental cars would be located there and this would help to reduce any customer confusion. Additionally, the facility would help decrease curb congestion and prevent circling by drivers - ultimately increasing road safety.”
Customers will have to be shuttled to the new ConRAC from the terminals either by bus or train.
“This is a long-term project of an enormous size, and there are several supporting projects that need to be in place before construction begins,” Starke said. “With that said, and depending on funding, the ConRAC is expected to be completed by 2032.”
But rental car customers will begin paying for the facility beginning Nov. 1.
The GOAA Board of Directors voted to raise the Customer Facility Charge from $6 to $9 daily with a maximum collection period of seven days.
Besides a CFC, an airport car rental includes several additional fees like a Concession Recovery Fee, Energy Recovery Fee, Florida Surcharge, Vehicle License Fee and Waste Tire & Battery Fee. Fees alone for a weeklong rental of an SUV from MCO can total more than $150.
When MCO’s daily CFC fee soars 50% on November 1, it will tie only LAX.
For comparison, here’s a list of Customer Facility Fees around the country according to Budget Car Rental:
- TPA: Customer Facility Fee - $5.95/day
- MIA: Customer Facility Fee - 5.10/day
- FLL: Customer Facility Fee - 3.95/day
- PBI: None
- JAX: Customer Facility Fee - 4.00/day
- SFB: Customer Facility Fee - 3.25/day
- DAB: Customer Facility Charge - 2.50/day
- MEL: Customer Facility Charge - 4.00/day
- SRQ: Customer Facility Fee - 5.50/day
- EWR: Customer Facility Fee - 7.73/day
- ORD: Customer Facility Charge - 8.00/day
- LAX: Customer Facility Fee - 9.00/day
- SF: Customer Facility Fee 10.00 total
- HNL: Customer Facility Charge - 4.50/day
- LGA: None
- JFK: None
Starke said until the ConRAC opens in 2032 or sooner, “near-term parking solutions” have been implemented or are underway.
“Through re-envisioning existing land and space, more than 2,000 additional parking spaces have been created on the airport complex,” Starke said. “These spaces include the three surface parking lots near the train station that opened last year (2023). Using technology, a new parking reservation system has been added with the possibility of expansion throughout the airport parking system. Currently the program is available in garage c, level 4. Passengers can use the MCO app or website to make a reservation. Expanded cooperation with Lynx bus system to offer enhanced bus service to tourists. Installation of a new high-tech parking space identification system. This system will use technology to help identify exactly where the empty parking spaces are located in the garages and keeps a running total of how many spaces are open to assist drivers, prevent circling, roadway congestion and saving time.”
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