Discount Hawaii Car Rental

[rifleman69]

I gave these guys a try for a bid on next December's Maui trip. It came back this morning for a mid-size(?) Corolla for $559 and change for a week! Can this be right?

Jim

Well you are in December, let me guess right around Christmas/New Years?

 

[Passepartout]

Well you are in December, let me guess right around Christmas/New Years?

Yeah. I think I can reduce the cost, but then I will be the only driver. I will get a price from Costco too.

Jim

 

[slip]

I've used Discounthawaiicarrental a few times now, always get a great price and
No problems. I still watch other sites for better prices but the only one that is
Usually close is Costco.

 

[RSchwartz]

Used Discount on Kauai for the first time for two weeks ending April 6. There fees were $200+ less than Costco and any other we looked at. First time we used Thrifty Car Rental......given a Ford Focus. We paid $472 for 14+ days. Only problem with Thrifty was that we we picked up the car, they had our rental fee $400 more than the written estimat we received from them. When I showed them their written estimate, they did honor their original quote but if I wasn't paying attention, I may have paid too much. Returning the car was easy with little fanfare from them. If you go with Thrifty Car Rental, make sure you join their frequent rental club.......it is free and it does speed up the process. I would definitely use Discount Hawaii again.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

I booked one week on Maui and one on Oahu through Costco and just called this Hawaii Discounts. They could not beat the price I received through Costco. The rep asked me where I got it and when I told her, she indicated that approximately 90% of the times that someone beats their price it is Costco.

Initially Costco prices were a bit more, but I continued to watch and rode the price down along the way.

I had the same experience. My quote for a 9 day SUV rental in Maui for late June was $175 higher with Hawaii Discounts than with Costco codes.

I personally don't like that, if you want to book online, Hawaii Discounts books the rental and you then have to cancel if you don't like the price. I usually re-price my rental every couple of days, so this adds to the hassle factor. -- Suzanne

 

[DeniseM]

I had the same experience. My quote for a 9 day SUV rental in Maui for late June was $175 higher with Hawaii Discounts than with Costco codes.

I personally don't like that, if you want to book online, Hawaii Discounts books the rental and you then have to cancel if you don't like the price. I usually re-price my rental every couple of days, so this adds to the hassle factor. -- Suzanne

To cancel - all you have to do is respond to their email - it's a 30 second deal.

 

[Liz Wolf-Spada]

We used Priceline last December for Maui and got Dollar, terrible car selection. Absolutely nothing I could drive, (DH had to do all the driving) and they wanted $35 a DAY for an extra driver!
Liz

 

[Ron98GT]

Thanks for the tip about Discounthawaiicarrental.com. $278 for a Mustang Convertible, for the last week of May, 2012. Neither Priceline, Costco, or anyone else could come close.

The Big Island, 3rd week of May, was another story. I got the best deal directly thru Thrifty. $168/week for a Premium car. I don't need a premium car, but couldn't beat the price.

The Discounthawaiicarrental iPhone app is really cool for showing availabilty and getting instant prices.

 

[jlr10]

We used them for our recent trip and they were quite a lot lower than the other car rental options. I also like that, unlike Hotwire, they tell you who the rental company is before you book it. There is one rental car company I will not use, but seems to the one Hotwire always provides. So for more choice and less money I am sticking with Discount Hawaii (which beat Costco for us.)

 

[Passepartout]

Well, I made a couple of modifications in my reservation. Still gawdawful expensive for mid-December, bridging Christmas, but what it is, it is. Discount Hawaii, using Alamo, came in $15 over Costco, also using Alamo, on the same full size car. I reserved with Costco for the points.

Lots can happen between now and December, so I'll keep an eye on rental prices.

Jim

 

[hypnotiq]

$350 for a week in Maui (Sept).

does this sound about right for Maui? I know everything is more exp. there. LOL

 

[craigrow]

This thread should be a sticky. I just got a quote from them for a week in Maui that is $100 less than the best deal I could find elsewhere.

 

[Luanne]

$350 for a week in Maui (Sept).

does this sound about right for Maui? I know everything is more exp. there. LOL

We just paid about that same amount for two weeks on Maui (end of March, beginning April). We reserved a midsize, but were upgraded to a full size at no additional cost. We rented through Costco and ended up with Alamo. It could be prices have gone up since we rented.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

To cancel - all you have to do is respond to their email - it's a 30 second deal.

Yes, but I also have to manually delete the reservation from my TripIt itinerary, which collects every confirmation e-mail I receive. Probably not a big deal for most people, but I thought I would point it out for those for whom it might be an issue.

I probably would be more willing to continue to use them if my first quote back wasn't more than 50% higher than my existing rate (which is an okay rate, but not a great one). -- Suzanne

 

[Ron98GT]

$350 for a week in Maui (Sept).

does this sound about right for Maui? I know everything is more exp. there. LOL

Your too far out. You'll see better prices in August. When your in the 30/45 day window, they know what their inventory will be and start to offer specials.

 

[hypnotiq]

So is it best to wait? or make a reservation and then cancel/rebook inside of that window if its cheaper?

 

[Passepartout]

So is it best to wait? or make a reservation and then cancel/rebook inside of that window if its cheaper?

Doesn't cost anything to book. I have been known to book & rebook several times.

 

[classiclincoln]

Just booked our week 51 rental for a Tahoe with National for $876.61, taxes & fees included. Sent off a request for discounthawaiicarrental.com to see what they come back with; can always cancel the National one. Lots of places were sold out.

 

[Luanne]

So is it best to wait? or make a reservation and then cancel/rebook inside of that window if its cheaper?

I always book the car as soon as I have my flights made. Then I keep checking to see if I can find something cheaper. Many times, close to the travel date, I'll try priceline also.

 

[SmithOp]

Another option that you may have is if you get a corp discount at work it may extend to personal travel. I have one and it was the best last Xmas on BI, none of the discounters could come close.

 

[Luanne]

Another option that you may have is if you get a corp discount at work it may extend to personal travel. I have one and it was the best last Xmas on BI, none of the discounters could come close.

My corp discount usually gets me the best price as well. But not this March on Maui. I got the best price, by far with Costco. But as you can see by these posts, YMMV.

 

[barefootnAR]

So is it best to wait? or make a reservation and then cancel/rebook inside of that window if its cheaper?

As other have said reserve now and check back. last year the prices fell alot the last week of Aug for our Sept dates. I ended up with a full size for half the original quote. Both DiscountHawaii and Alamo (we are Insider Club..loyalty members) dropped at the same time. Only a $10 difference for two week rental between the two..

 

[Luanne]

One thing we found at the Alamo rental location on Maui was they had about 4 or 5 computer kiosks set up for those who had rented through Priceline, Hotwire and Costco. You could enter your rental information, get a print out of the contract and be on your way outside to get your car. No need to wait in line. It was a very nice feature. Not so nice was the long wait to get on a shuttle bus from the airport to the rental car location.

 

[classiclincoln]

Heard back from discounthawaiicarrental.com. Came in almost $300 lower.

Yaayy

And I thought National was good because others came back at $1,800!

 

[DaveNV]

One thing we found at the Alamo rental location on Maui was they had about 4 or 5 computer kiosks set up for those who had rented through Priceline, Hotwire and Costco. You could enter your rental information, get a print out of the contract and be on your way outside to get your car. No need to wait in line. It was a very nice feature. Not so nice was the long wait to get on a shuttle bus from the airport to the rental car location.

Luanne, if you take your Alamo Confirmation code to the Alamo website, they have a "Save Time" link. You can pre-enter your information and get a barcode to scan at the Alamo kiosk. All you need to do there is verify the info is correct. You'll be out the door even faster. Whenever I rent from Alamo I use this option. It saves a TON of time.

I'm told the Blue Chip program at Thrifty is similar.

Dave