# Rental car Shock



## suzanne (Sep 26, 2012)

We have full size car reserved with Enterprise for 14 days. We reserved thru Costco, total cost $422.00. I went to check on prices today and that same car is now $637.00. YIKES, So glad I listened to you all and reserved when I did. I will keep checking to see if prices drop before our arrival on Big Island Nov. 3rd.But that was definately sticker shock.  

Suzanne


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## Eagle7304 (Sep 26, 2012)

Make sure to check back closer to your trip. Prices can go down dramatically if the demand is soft


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## klpca (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks for the reminder. I just rechecked our reservation for Maui (Nov 2). The cost is the same for the compact ($160 for the week) but the cost of a convertible has dropped from $350 to $200, so I made a new reservation!


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## suzanne (Sep 26, 2012)

Good deal. I need full size as there is 4 of us older (plumper) adults.  

Suzanne


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## Elli (Sep 26, 2012)

Suzanne, we had reserved a full size car through Costco at a very good rate - Budget was the cheapest - and got upgraded to an SUV.


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## Luanne (Sep 26, 2012)

Elli said:


> Suzanne, we had reserved a full size car through Costco at a very good rate - Budget was the cheapest - and got upgraded to an SUV.



It may depend on which rental car company you get.  I rented through Costco and got a car with Enterprise.  This was in Tampa.  I did get a very nice Camry, but I was offered an upgrade to an SUV......with an increase in the price.  I turned them down.


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## Bee (Sep 26, 2012)

I have a jeep reserved on Maui in mid October $200 w/tax for a week. Reserved with Thrifty about two months ago. 
Also on Maui, I have a mid size car reserved in  mid October for $101 w/tax. I booked through rentalcarsavers.com. This is the first time I used this site, it was posted about a week ago by a Tugger. I'm sure we'll keep the Jeep, but that $101 for the mid size car is a good price.

On Kauai I have a mid size SUV reserved through Costco for mid October, $168 w/tax. I made this reservation about 3 or 4 weeks ago. 

I always make rental car reservations early then look again when it gets close to departure date. Most of the time I find better prices. There have been a few exceptions, usually in high demand times and places.


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## daventrina (Sep 27, 2012)

What was shocking was that the taxes and charges were almost half of the cost :annoyed:


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## Kauai Kid (Sep 27, 2012)

Doesn't anyone use discount hawaii car rental.com any more?  Use to be unbeatable prices.

Sterling


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## suzanne (Sep 27, 2012)

I will continue checking prices right up til we leave because you just never know when a rate will drop.

Suzanne


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## Luanne (Sep 27, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> Doesn't anyone use discount hawaii car rental.com any more?  Use to be unbeatable prices.
> 
> Sterling



Each time I've checked them their price has been beaten either by my corporate discount, or by Costco.


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## Elli (Sep 27, 2012)

Luanne said:


> It may depend on which rental car company you get.  I rented through Costco and got a car with Enterprise.  This was in Tampa.  I did get a very nice Camry, but I was offered an upgrade to an SUV......with an increase in the price.  I turned them down.


We didn't get a price increase, otherwise I would have turned it down as well, but sure nice getting an SUV, as we drive one at home.


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## daventrina (Sep 28, 2012)

The best rate that we have found was by clicking on the add car on Hawaiian Air...  

15 days ($19.95 extra days) $469  mid-size SUV  $138.00/Week  (+ $90/week in fees and taxes :annoyed:  )


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## mjkaplan (Sep 29, 2012)

you can submit your rental info at Autoslash.com and they will continue to search for a better rate.


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## fern817 (Sep 29, 2012)

*Costo Car Rental Rates for Hawaii*

I have always found the best rates on Costco.com and I recommend checking it daily or at least every other day.  About 3 weeks ago I started pricing car rental on Oahu for 11 days in Nov. during Thanksgiving for both a Full size and intermediate SUV. I surprisingly found that pricing fluctuated up and down almost daily!  These are rates that I found for both over the past 3 weeks:

Full size:  $415  $274  $231  $175  $171
Int. SUV:  $507  $411  $397  $297

Whenever I saw the rate lower, I booked it and cancelled the previous reservation. As you can see, at some point the rates have dropped $200+ from my original reservation so it's definitely worth it to take 3 minutes every morning just to check the rates!  Almost all of these rates are from Alamo and include the spouse free as an addition driver. You can't always find that outside of Costco. Taxes and fees are included as well!

Discount Hawaii Car Rental (DCHR) found me a full size for $403, then emailed back a lower rate for $353 but has not emailed back since in 3 weeks. In that same time I've found a full size rate that dropped to $171!!! :whoopie: 

Just trying to decide if the SUV is worth the extra $120. But either are great rates!


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## ronandjoan (Sep 29, 2012)

fern817 said:


> I have always found the best rates on Costco.com and I recommend checking it daily or at least every other day.  About 3 weeks ago I started pricing car rental on Oahu for 11 days in Nov. during Thanksgiving for both a Full size and intermediate SUV. I surprisingly found that pricing fluctuated up and down almost daily!  These are rates that I found for both over the past 3 weeks:
> 
> Full size:  $415  $274  $231  $175  $171
> Int. SUV:  $507  $411  $397  $297
> ...



WOW , how great.  I don;t check that often, I should .  Good advice, and I will now!

I need a month in December and just one day saw $904 (taxes/fees  included) for the entire month.....both before and after when I checked they were much more.


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## Kauai Kid (Sep 30, 2012)

A compact thru Costco for 3 weeks in Mar 2013 $950.70

Thru Discount Hawaii Car Rental compact for same 3 weeks $651.59

I'm not a member of Costco maybe that is why their price is so much more.

If I was a member what would the rate be for 10-30 Mar 2013?

Sterling


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## Luanne (Sep 30, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> A compact thru Costco for 3 weeks in Mar 2013 $950.70
> 
> Thru Discount Hawaii Car Rental compact for same 3 weeks $651.59
> 
> ...



Sterling, I'm not sure if you have to be a member of Costco to see their discounted price.  Maybe you do.  I know I'm asked for my number at some point during the reservation process.  I'm going to go check and see what I come up with.

You didn't say which island.  I assumed Kauai.  It didn't ask me for my Costco number up front and the best price I'm getting for those dates is $986.00.  That's today.  If you keep checking as it gets closer to the date I bet those Costco rates will go down dramatically.  At least that's what I've found.


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## suzanne (Oct 1, 2012)

I did not need to give my Costco Member number to check the rates. I had to give it when confirming the reservation. It also states in the fine print that you have to show your Costco Card when picking up the vehicle.

Suzanne


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## Luanne (Oct 1, 2012)

suzanne said:


> I did not need to give my Costco Member number to check the rates. I had to give it when confirming the reservation. It also states in the fine print that you have to show your Costco Card when picking up the vehicle.
> 
> Suzanne



So far we've never had to show our Costco card when picking up the car.


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## Fisch (Oct 1, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> Doesn't anyone use discount hawaii car rental.com any more?  Use to be unbeatable prices.
> 
> Sterling



I always get a quote from them.  We leave on Wednesday to Kauai.  Back in April I booked a standard car for 10 days through discount hawaii.  It was $350(costco was $450).  That was by far the best price at that time.  Last week, I checked again and got the rate at $295.
I then checked Costco.  $235 for the standard car, $250 for an SUV. So we booked the SUV at costco and cancelled the Discount Hawaii.


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## Kauai Kid (Oct 1, 2012)

Sounds like I better get a Costco card then.

Sterling


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## Luanne (Oct 1, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> Sounds like I better get a Costco card then.
> 
> Sterling



And if the island has a Costco with gas that's the cheapest place to buy it.


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## Kauai Kid (Oct 4, 2012)

*Costco*

I couldn't rent a car from their site without a $55 costco membership.

Savings was $139.57-$55 for the card=$84.57 savings for two weeks

Discount Hawaii $432.32 Costco $ 292.75

Mahalo, Sterling


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## winger (Oct 6, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> I couldn't rent a car from their site without a $55 costco membership.
> 
> Savings was $139.57-$55 for the card=$84.57 savings for two weeks
> 
> ...



Ha! I am sitting exactly at $292.75 for my upcoming 2 weeks in Kauai (Nov).  Lol I'm still trying to get a load in that. Do you think I'll have any luck with that?


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## MichaelColey (Oct 6, 2012)

It's good to check rates as often as you can and rebook when prices drop, but it's especially helpful in the last week (and often in the last 2-3 days) before your trip.  I can't count how many times I've been able to drop my rates in half or more then final week before a trip.  We had three separate weeks of rentals in Hawaii last month (all reserved as midsize and ended up in Minivans or SUVs thanks to my status with National), and they all ended up being about $200/week after taxes.  They were considerably more when originally booked.


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## daventrina (Oct 6, 2012)

Kauai Kid said:


> Savings was $139.57-$55 for the card=$84.57 savings for two weeks
> Mahalo, Sterling


Interesting that Costco is still $300 more for 2 weeks for our mid-SUV than Alamo through Hawaiian Air


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## UWSurfer (Oct 6, 2012)

As noted before, check Costco often.  

I'm in Maui now and we booked our rental through them for 15 days here back in December, full size car for $680.   Checked occasionally and found it dropped to $390.  Then 6 weeks prior to the trip I began checking it twice a day, once in the morning, once in the evening and found the price bouncing around by $20 - $50.  Every time it dropped I would rebook and cancel the old reservation.  Got it down to $337 about 22 weeks prior and then the prices shot up.

The other thing of real note on a trip two weeks or longer, check both in a 2 week block and then break it down into 1 week rentals.  At one point the difference in price was over $100.


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## ronandjoan (Oct 7, 2012)

UWSurfer said:


> As noted before, check Costco often.
> 
> I'm in Maui now and we booked our rental through them for 15 days here back in December, full size car for $680.   .  Got it down to $337 about 22 weeks prior and then the prices shot up.
> 
> .



Do you mean 22 days or 22 weeks ?


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## daventrina (Oct 7, 2012)

UWSurfer said:


> ... Got it down to $337 about 22 weeks prior and then the prices shot up.


Wonder if that is because the figured out that Ironman was coming to town?


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## Luanne (Oct 7, 2012)

daventrina said:


> Wonder if that is because the figured out that Ironman was coming to town?



Didn't she say this was for Maui?  Ironman only impacts the Big Island.


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## petertdavis (Oct 7, 2012)

With Enterprise, (and maybe others) it might help to check other locations too.  A few months back I saved $300 on a ten day rental just by getting the car from a location fifteen miles away.


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## Luanne (Oct 7, 2012)

petertdavis said:


> With Enterprise, (and maybe others) it might help to check other locations too.  A few months back I saved $300 on a ten day rental just by getting the car from a location fifteen miles away.



How much extra time do you think this took to get the car, and then to return it?  I agree that's a chunk of money.  We did this when we rented on Molokai.  I would never do it again. Took way too much time and hassle to get the car, I wish we'd just done it at the airport.


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## UWSurfer (Oct 7, 2012)

ronandjoan said:


> Do you mean 22 days or 22 weeks ?



Err...meant two weeks prior.   (Darn studdering finger.)


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## petertdavis (Oct 8, 2012)

Luanne said:


> How much extra time do you think this took to get the car, and then to return it?  I agree that's a chunk of money.  We did this when we rented on Molokai.  I would never do it again. Took way too much time and hassle to get the car, I wish we'd just done it at the airport.



It didn't take any extra time for me, but I would agree that it really depends on each person's circumstances.  It happened by chance that the cheaper Enterprise location was next to somewhere I needed to go anyway.  Just saying it's something to take into consideration.


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## PClapham (Oct 8, 2012)

Current price on Costco for car rental Dec. 27-Jan.11 is $1675.

Anita


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## Luanne (Oct 8, 2012)

I've been finding that many times Costco's price starts out higher than others, but as you get closer to the date of travel drops tremendously.


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## geoand (Oct 11, 2012)

I just rebooked thru costco travel for the Big Island and saved a little over $200.  Alamo is the provider both times.  Avis and Budget were over $4000 for the 4 weeks.  Alamo for economy car was $906.00.  Enterprise was $8.00 cheaper.  This was 10 minutes ago.


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## Luanne (Oct 11, 2012)

geoand said:


> I just rebooked thru costco travel for the Big Island and saved a little over $200.  Alamo is the provider both times.  Avis and Budget were over $4000 for the 4 weeks.  Alamo for economy car was $906.00.  Enterprise was $8.00 cheaper.  This was 10 minutes ago.



Check again in another 10 minutes.  It will probably have changed again.


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## Smiff (Oct 14, 2012)

*HTSE rates*

Check rates when booking through Hawaii Time Share Exchange. They got me the best deal with Thrifty: four weeks on Oahu for $720 including all taxes and fees for a Ford Focus 4 door.


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