Premium Location Charge

What is a Premium Location Charge?

A premium location charge (PLC) is an additional fee that car rental companies apply when a vehicle is picked up at a high-demand, high-cost location. Airports are the most common trigger, but downtown branches near major train stations, convention centers, and tourist destinations also frequently carry PLCs.

The fee exists because operating at these locations costs significantly more than running a suburban or off-highway branch. Airport-based rental operators pay concession fees to the airport authority for the right to do business on airport property, fund consolidated rental car facilities, maintain shuttle bus fleets, and staff counters during extended hours. These costs are passed through to the renter as line items on the final bill.

PLCs matter for business travel budgets because they can add a meaningful percentage to the base rental rate. A five-day rental at a major airport might carry $30-$60 in location-related surcharges alone, an amount that compounds across dozens or hundreds of employee trips per year.

How Do Premium Location Charges Work?

Understanding how PLCs are structured helps finance teams anticipate costs and set accurate expense categories for ground transportation.

PLCs typically appear as one or more separate line items on the rental invoice. The two most common components at U.S. airports are:

A concession recovery fee scales with the total rental amount: adding GPS, insurance, or upgrading the vehicle class increases the surcharge proportionally. A CFC, by contrast, is a fixed daily charge regardless of the rental rate. Some airports apply both simultaneously.

Internationally, premium location structures vary. European airports may bundle location fees into the quoted rate rather than itemizing them, while Middle Eastern and Asian hub airports often apply facility fees as a flat per-rental charge.

Strategies to Reduce Premium Location Costs

For companies with significant ground transportation spend, premium location charges represent a controllable cost category. Several approaches can reduce their impact without sacrificing traveler convenience.

Compare on-airport vs. off-airport locations. Off-airport branches, often just a few miles from the terminal, typically carry lower or zero location surcharges. The trade-off is shuttle time and potentially limited hours, but for planned trips where arrival timing is flexible, the savings are meaningful.

Book through a platform that shows total cost. Many booking interfaces display the daily base rate prominently while burying surcharges in the fine print. Platforms that surface the all-in checkout price, including PLCs, airport fees, and taxes, allow travelers to make apples-to-apples comparisons across locations and providers.

Leverage corporate rate agreements. Negotiated corporate rates sometimes include reduced or waived location surcharges. Travel managers should confirm whether their car rental agreement covers PLC reductions and ensure employees book through the contracted channel.

Consider timing and seasonality. PLC structures are fixed, but base rates fluctuate with demand. Booking during off-peak periods can reduce the overall rental cost, making the proportional impact of percentage-based surcharges smaller.

Evaluate alternative ground transportation. For short trips or urban meetings, ride-hailing or rail may be cheaper than a rental with premium location fees. A quick cost comparison is especially worthwhile for single-day rentals where the per-day CFC represents a large percentage of the total.

Premium Location Charge vs. Other Car Rental Fees

Car rental invoices often include multiple surcharges beyond the PLC. Understanding the distinctions helps travelers and finance teams categorize expenses correctly.

The airport access fee and PLC are closely related and sometimes overlap. At certain airports, the concession recovery fee and airport access fee are the same charge under different names. At others, they appear as separate line items. Checking the itemized invoice clarifies which fees apply.

For trips involving a one-way car rental, travelers may face both a premium location charge at pickup and a drop-off fee for returning to a different location. Combined, these can significantly inflate the total cost compared to a round-trip rental from a non-airport branch.

Best Practices for Travel Policy and PLCs

Travel managers can address premium location charges at the policy level rather than relying on individual travelers to optimize each booking.

Set location-aware guidelines. Rather than blanket rules, create guidelines that distinguish between airport and off-airport rentals. For example, require off-airport pickup for trips where the traveler arrives more than two hours before needing the vehicle.

Track PLC spend as a separate category. Tagging location surcharges in expense reports provides visibility into how much the company spends on premium location fees annually. This data supports renegotiation of corporate rental agreements.

Benchmark against per diem or flat allowances. Some organizations set a daily ground transportation allowance. When PLC-inclusive rental costs exceed the allowance, travelers can be nudged toward alternatives.

Related Terms

• Airport Access Fee: The concession-based fee rental companies pay to airport authorities for operating on airport property, typically passed through to renters as a separate invoice line item.
• Car Rental Agreement: The contract between the renter and the rental company that specifies rates, fees, insurance coverage, and return conditions for the vehicle.
• Dynamic Pricing: The practice of adjusting prices in real time based on demand, seasonality, and availability, which affects base rental rates that percentage-based PLCs are calculated against.

Sources

[1] DWU Consulting, "Airport Non-Aeronautical Revenue: CFC Survey of 95 U.S. Airports," March 2026, https://dwuconsulting.com/dwu-ai/non-aeronautical-revenue-benchmarking

[2] Hola Car Rentals, "Premium Location Surcharge on Airport Car Hire Quotes," 2026. https://holacarrentals.com/blogs/car-rental-united-states/what-is-a-premium-location-surcharge-on-airport-car-hire-quotes-in-los-angeles