Car Rental on Hilton Head Island

Renting a car on Hilton Head Island mostly means renting at an airport, because the big brands keep their counters there. The island’s own airport, on Beach City Road, has eight of them, with counters in baggage claim and the lot a few steps away. If you fly into Savannah instead, you collect the car there and drive about 50 minutes to the bridges: the choice is made by your flight, so look at both airports when you price a trip. Closest airport to Hilton Head compares them.

The stars on each card are that desk’s own Google rating, not the brand’s, so the same name can rate differently here and at Savannah. Tap the stars for what renters say. The island airport is small, so reserve as soon as your flights are booked for summer and holiday weeks, and call the desk if your flight lands late: hours follow the flights and change with the season.

Enterprise also has a second island branch at 140-A Beach City Road, close to the airport terminal, useful for a car for part of a stay. Call before you go for its hours. See Hilton Head airport for flights, parking and taxis.

Savannah has more flights and a bigger fleet, and every counter is in baggage claim with the cars in a covered garage beside the terminal. The drive to the island is about 50 minutes without traffic. Most brands are at both airports, so you can pick up in Savannah and return on the island, or the reverse: ask about the one-way charge when you book.

Turo is an app where owners rent out their own cars. You arrange the pickup with the owner, and some hosts deliver to an airport, so read each listing for where the car is and how it is handed over. The insurance and rules come from Turo and the host, not from a rental brand, so read the protection plan before you book rather than assume your credit card covers it.

For a Jeep or an open-air car, ask a brand’s counter for an SUV or a Wrangler when you book; it is a car class, not a promise. On the island, the open-air alternative is a golf cart or a Moke, which are rented separately: see golf cart rentals. The island’s exotic car rental is below.

If you are staying near the beach, you may need a car for the airport run and little else. A golf cart covers short trips inside a community, the free trolley runs to Coligny Beach Park in summer, and 64 miles of pathways make bikes the visitor favorite. Carts are banned from the pathways, so a cart and a bike do different jobs. Everything is compared on getting around Hilton Head.

A rental car needs a space at your house or hotel. The Town’s short-term rental rules cap outside parking at six spaces, and the beach lots fill by mid-morning in July, so see Hilton Head parking for every beach lot, its rates and the overnight rules before you drive to the sand.

Gated communities add their own rules. Sea Pines charges drivers who are not staying or living inside a daily gate fee, and a rental home inside has its own way of getting guests through, so ask your host or rental company how a guest’s car gets its pass before you arrive. The same goes for any other gated community your rental home is in.

Most visitors do rent a car, because the island’s shops, restaurants and beaches are spread along two main roads. William Hilton Parkway loops the island from the bridges to Sea Pines Circle, and the Cross Island Parkway cuts across to the south end. Summer Saturdays, when rentals turn over, are the slowest days on both. You can skip the car if you stay in one place near the beach, use the trolley, bikes and carts, and take a car service from the airport; the traffic cameras show the roads before you set out.