Truth or Consequences Municipal Airport (TCS) serves the small New Mexico town of the same name, known for its hot springs and its position along the Rio Grande near Elephant Butte Lake, but it is a modest general-aviation field with essentially no scheduled commercial service and no reliable car rental presence on site. Anyone searching for car rental at TCS should plan on picking up a car elsewhere and driving in, rather than expecting a working counter at this small municipal airport in the New Mexico desert, since the terminal itself sees only occasional charter and private traffic.
The realistic starting points are Albuquerque, roughly two hours north along Interstate 25, and El Paso, Texas, a similar distance south along the same interstate corridor, both genuine hubs with a full range of rental companies and regular flight connections. Either city makes for a straightforward highway drive down or up I-25 through New Mexico's high desert landscape, passing through smaller towns before reaching Truth or Consequences itself, with Elephant Butte Lake and its state park just north of town along the way, a popular stop for boating and fishing.
Driving is on the right throughout the United States, and I-25 through this stretch of New Mexico is a fast, well-maintained interstate with no tolls, though distances are considerable and services thin out between the two cities and the smaller towns in between them. Summer heat in this part of the high desert is intense, so carrying extra water and checking the vehicle's cooling system before a long stretch of highway driving is a sensible habit rather than an afterthought, particularly in the peak of the season. Fuel stations are reasonably spaced along I-25 itself, though it is worth topping up before any side trips off the interstate around Elephant Butte or into the surrounding desert backcountry away from the main highway.