Car Rental Lines - Maui

[Luanne]

We had about a 90 minute wait in line at Budget last January.

Are you a Budget Fastbreak member?

 

[sun starved Gayle]

I am now ! Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Rick doesn't like renting from Budget at all. He had to wait 3 hours for a car on Maui. I was waiting at the airport with the luggage for those 3 hours as well, but it was pretty and breezy, and I sat there and watched people as they arrived and left in their rental cars. So Budget is out of the question for us after that happened. Alamo has never been a wait, not even once, and we go to Maui twice a year. Rick uses the automated kiosk.

 

[geist1223]

I remember once on Maui the Desk tried real hard to get us to upgrade to an SUV from a sedan. We said no. We discovered why out on the lot. The Gal in the Lot said we do not have what you reserved so pick from any of these 4 vehicles at the same price. They were all medium to large SUV's.

 

[Luanne]

Rick doesn't like renting from Budget at all. He had to wait 3 hours for a car on Maui. I was waiting at the airport with the luggage for those 3 hours as well, but it was pretty and breezy, and I sat there and watched people as they arrived and left in their rental cars. So Budget is out of the question for us after that happened. Alamo has never been a wait, not even once, and we go to Maui twice a year. Rick uses the automated kiosk.

Cindy, maybe you'll have the option to check in online with Alamo like I did this year. Eliminated the kiosk as well. Went right outside to get our car.

We've used Budget in the past with no issues. Since they are part of the group that also owns Avis, one time we got to pick from the Avis cars available.

 

[Luanne]

I remember once on Maui the Desk tried real hard to get us to upgrade to an SUV from a sedan. We said no. We discovered why out on the lot. The Gal in the Lot said we do not have what you reserved so pick from any of these 4 vehicles at the same price. They were all medium to large SUV's.

On our March trip to Maui we rented with Alamo. When we got to the lot (bypassing ALL lines) we found there was only one midsize SUV available. We were offered an upgrade to a Jeep at no extra fee, which I turned down, as our one and only Jeep rental in the past was so uncomfortable. Luckily we had no major issues with the SUV. Dh did mention something about the tres when he returned the car and Alamo gave us a $30 credit saying that most likely we had needed more gas than normal.

 

[JIMinNC]

Rick doesn't like renting from Budget at all. He had to wait 3 hours for a car on Maui. I was waiting at the airport with the luggage for those 3 hours as well, but it was pretty and breezy, and I sat there and watched people as they arrived and left in their rental cars. So Budget is out of the question for us after that happened.

That's only because you were not Budget Fastbreak. With Fastbreak, you will have little to no wait. Fastbreak is free to sign up, so no reason to knock Budget off the list because of the bad experience as a non-Fastbreak member. If you become a Fastbreak member and make your reservation using that number, your car will be waiting for you when you arrive.

 

[controller1]

It appears no one is talking about National at OGG. My longest wait in March was 12 minutes for the shuttle bus. Once on the lot, I picked my car out and was exiting less than five minutes later.

 

[mauitraveler]

We arrived last Thursday, May2, and there was no line at the Dollar counter. We were in and out within minutes!

 

[Luanne]

It appears no one is talking about National at OGG. My longest wait in March was 12 minutes for the shuttle bus. Once on the lot, I picked my car out and was exiting less than five minutes later.

I haven't rented from Enterprise, their rates usually aren't competitive.

 

[pspercy]

Never had a long wait since I enrolled in Alamo's Quicksilver plan. Usually find a good rate with them. It'll be interesting to see how the new set up at OGG works out. Right now I'm sitting on a 14dy rental from Thrifty at $550 total, best I've found so far for October this year

 

[luvgoldns]

Anyone have any current info with regard to car rental lines in Maui? I currently have a reservation with Alamo. Thinking of switching to Budget.

In the past I've heard that the lines/wait are longer with Avis/Budget but not so much with Alamo. I just signed up for Budget Fastbreak.

We booked two weeks in a convertible with Alamo through Costo...(booked and canceled twice because the rate went down from $700 to $460)....Joined "Alamo Insiders"...checked in online the day before my flight and skipped the counter. Arrived at OGG at 2pm, luggage was on the carousel before we got to it, grabbed the luggage, hopped on the Alamo bus...got off the bus and went straight to cars, employee who was outside w/the cars checked my name off her list and told us to choose whichever convertible we wanted. Drove to the exit gate, showed them my license and credit card...all done. Very easy.

 

[Carlsbadguy]

I had Hertz gold so no wait this past Sunday. There were an email and text with my car and spot number by the time i landed. The longest wait was for the luggage so if you see there are multiple flights coming in at the same time I would advise one person in the party to go and get the car.

 

[MOXJO7282]

Just checked. Not opening until May 15.

This is what I'm interested in, the new system. I don't recall ever having a major problem in Maui for rental car pick-ups in the 7 trips we've made so hoping some how they haven't complicated things but initial media reports sound promising and it is far more "green" that is for sure.

 

[Luanne]

This is what I'm interested in, the new system. I don't recall ever having a major problem in Maui for rental car pick-ups in the 7 trips we've made so hoping some how they haven't complicated things but initial media reports sound promising and it is far more "green" that is for sure.

As I've said before, we haven't had problems with getting a car once we got to the rental car location (Alamo), it was getting the shuttle that took the time. I hope the new location and system will help with this. I'm imagining it will be like others that are already set up with way with numerous shuttles running to the facility.

 

[taffy19]

We were on Maui in March and rented with Alamo. I am an Alamo preferred (or whatever their club is called) so there was NO wait once we got to the car rental site, we went directly outside to get our car. Our longest wait was for the shuttle bus.

Exactly our experience too. Alamo always gives you a low mileage car but this time the car was practically brand new!

 

[GaryDouglas]

This was the third day of operation of the new rental location. https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/maui-airport-opens-340m-facility-car-rental-companies

All rental companies looked good except Budget. 90 minutes!!! They were undermanned and not up to the new location changes. If you reserve via Budget (not Costco) and are FastBreak members, count on 30 minutes because you side step two major lines. I’d stay away until they clean up their act!

 

[Luanne]

This was the third day of operation of the new rental location. https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/maui-airport-opens-340m-facility-car-rental-companies

All rental companies looked good except Budget. 90 minutes!!! They were undermanned and not up to the new location changes. If you reserve via Budget (not Costco) and are FastBreak members, count on 30 minutes because you side step two major lines. I’d stay away until they clean up their act!

Hopefully by the time we're back next year everything will be working smoothly. Haven't rented with Budget in awhile. Alamo has been coming in the cheapest for us the past few years.

 

[Passepartout]

Because of this thread, I re-checked out Costco rental through Avid next week. Not to worry. The rate today was about 1/3 higher than when I booked it. Starting to get excited to go. Rainy at home all this week.

Jim

 

[GaryDouglas]

I was talking to someone else who also came in today (Saturday) and also had a 90 minute wait, but with a different company.

If you already have an existing account such a Avis Preferred or Budget FastBreak that May lessen the pain by jumping the line, but as I said, this transition period is going to be a gamble.

There are other things that are going on that lead me to believe they are looking at every penny and changing their rules accordingly, at least on Maui. Example: They (Budget) now require a refill receipt within 3 miles of the rental facility just prior to the return if you choose the fill up the gas on return.

How many hundreds of millions of $s did the new facility cost?

 

[Xan]

Anyone have any current info with regard to car rental lines in Maui? I currently have a reservation with Alamo. Thinking of switching to Budget.

In the past I've heard that the lines/wait are longer with Avis/Budget but not so much with Alamo. I just signed up for Budget Fastbreak.

In the past when I always used Alamo on Kaua’i, the wait was always over an hour, but the prices the best. We are currently on Kaua’i and originally had Enterprise, but saw an article on a travel sight that talked about “Auto Slash”.
In less than 24 hrs after inputting our current booking info, we got offered a few choices, but Hertz was the same comparison wise and if you pay immediately on that website (you cannot use “reward” cards), we were able to save $200!
(I think it was about $150 savings if we waited to pay at the car rental place.)
Everything went extremely smooth and they hold the car for 48 hours, so you don’t have to worry about inputting your flight information.

Check them out!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Luanne]

In the past when I always used Alamo on Kaua’i, the wait was always over an hour, but the prices the best. We are currently on Kaua’i and originally had Enterprise, but saw an article on a travel sight that talked about “Auto Slash”.
In less than 24 hrs after inputting our current booking info, we got offered a few choices, but Hertz was the same comparison wise and if you pay immediately on that website (you cannot use “reward” cards), we were able to save $200!
(I think it was about $150 savings if we waited to pay at the car rental place.)
Everything went extremely smooth and they hold the car for 48 hours, so you don’t have to worry about inputting your flight information.

Check them out!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AutoSlash has been recommended numerous times on this site.

 

[Carlsbadguy]

Finishing up a trip on Maui. Flying home tomorrow. Rented thru Hertz. Spoke to some people who rented thru Budget and Fox and both said had really long waits- over an hour. Through II you can get free Hertz Five Star so when I landed I had a text with my car and spot number. No waiting. If you have a Platinum American Express card there is a code that gives a discount, you get a free upgrade and a 4 hour grace period. AAA also has Hertz codes with discounts. I booked an intermediate car for 8 days, was given a Chevy Impala and the total cost was around $210.
Will see how returns go with the new rental facility.

 

[Carlsbadguy]

Returned my car yesterday to the new rental facility and it was easy. It is a little bit of a walk to the tram stop from where you drop off the car so if you have a lot of luggage it may be challenging. I do foresee that during busy times there will be a wait for the tram as they are small and fill quickly. There are 2 cars that run about every 3 minutes. The drop point for departures is across the street from Hawaiian airlines check-in. The car rental desks are located right across a courtyard from where the tram drops you off.

Beware the traffic to and from the airport if coming from Kaanapali. When we arrived on Sunday, May 12 around 11:00 am there was little traffic and I commented less traffic than previous visits. Coming back to the airport was a nightmare. It took more than 90 minutes to get to the airport. The bellman at the hotel said there was an accident earlier but I did not see anything and maybe that was part of the problem. Traffic was bumper to bumper from before the merge of the bypass and old road to Maalaea Harbor. There was also bumper to bumper traffic at least halfway from the airport. I left about 2 hours and 30 minutes before our flight and got to the airport about 45 minutes before the flight. There were people at the Alaska ticket counter and at the security line I overheard that missed their flight. Luckily we had TSA precheck and by the time we got to the gate they had already started boarding.

Check google maps before you leave as it showed the old road was quicker than the Lahaina bypass and when I could see the bypass from the old road it looked like the bumper to bumper traffic started earlier.

If you don't stop at Costco for gas when returning the car the closest station is at the home depot shopping center across from Walmart. Gas was cheaper than in California at $3.83 a gallon, Costco was probably 20 cents less.

 

[Luanne]

Returned my car yesterday to the new rental facility and it was easy. It is a little bit of a walk to the tram stop from where you drop off the car so if you have a lot of luggage it may be challenging.

Dh will drop me, and the luggage, at the airport, then return the rental car.