Costco Rental Car rates for Hawaii dropped

[alwysonvac]

Check your rental car rates.
Weekly rates have dropped significantly since the last time I checked. I was able to book a compact car for April 2024 for $383.

 

[Luanne]

Have you registered your rental with Autoslash so they can monitor rates for you?

 

[crf450x]

It's definitely cheaper than the past few years. Have a full-size truck for 10 days over the 4th of July for just under $600. Full size cars are under $400. When I started looking on costco several months ago a standard suv was close to $1k. Funny thing is a tesla for the same 10 days is $3k...

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[alwysonvac]

Have you registered your rental with Autoslash so they can monitor rates for you?

Rates were over $700/week so I didn't reserve anything.

I've refreshed my original Autoslash quote from time to time. I just requested a refresh of the old quote this morning and the new email link didn't show the Costco rate.
I created a new quote this morning and the new quote still does not show the Costco rate. It's showing the Priceline rate for $564/week as the lowest.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

They've shipped a lot of new vehicles to the islands. When we were on Maui a month ago, there were car lots of new vehicles by the OGG airport. Not sure if these were for rentals or purchase but the supply has definitely increased. Sounds like many of these vehicles were put into service.

Our weekly rental rate for a minivan started at $1800 a year prior to arrival, then dropped to around $1100 and $800 a few months prior. Then few days prior it dropped to $450/week. with our van on Kauai dropping day of to $420 (which I rebooked on my phone on the way to our outbound flight). All reductions thanks to Autoslash. I always compared to Costco and Autoslash always had better rate except for one rental out of 5 this year. Saved a bundle.

Worst case the Autoslash reminders are a prompt to check Costco rates and compare.

 

[dioxide45]

Have you registered your rental with Autoslash so they can monitor rates for you?

Rates were over $700/week so I didn't reserve anything.

I've refreshed my original Autoslash quote from time to time. I just requested a refresh of the old quote this morning and the new email link didn't show the Costco rate.
I created a new quote this morning and the new quote still does not show the Costco rate. It's showing the Priceline rate for $564/week as the lowest.

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From what I understand, Autoslash doesn't monitor Costco rates for you. They will check to see if they have rates that are better than your currently reserved Costco rate, but they don't check for cheaper rates available through Costco. Autoslash works on commissions from the rental agencies and there would be no commissions paid out on a Costco rate.

 

[DaveNV]

Worst case the Autoslash reminders are a prompt to check Costco rates and compare.

That's what I do. Usually on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. I've found that's when quoted rates tend to be lower. On weekends, the quoted rates seem to be higher. I figure that's because most people are making plans on weekends and booking future trips.

For my current reservations, I've been checking often, and also logging into rental company websites directly. I found better rates with Thrifty (as a Blue Chip member) directly at their site. Costco doesn't quote Thrifty rates, and Autoslash does't always seem to catch the better deals Thrifty has sometimes. It's not a perfect science.

Dave

 

[Luanne]

From what I understand, Autoslash doesn't monitor Costco rates for you. They will check to see if they have rates that are better than your currently reserved Costco rate, but they don't check for cheaper rates available through Costco. Autoslash works on commissions from the rental agencies and there would be no commissions paid out on a Costco rate.

No Autoslash doesn't monitor Costco rates. They work with the car agencies to find the best discounts they can. I did check Costco and for our March 2024 they came in about $20 cheaper with Enterprise than the reservation I currently had with Avis that was made through Autoslash. So I reserved that, and then registered the rental with Autoslash. I'm expecting the rates to drop more by the time we go.

 

[frank808]

It's definitely cheaper than the past few years. Have a full-size truck for 10 days over the 4th of July for just under $600. Full size cars are under $400. When I started looking on costco several months ago a standard suv was close to $1k. Funny thing is a tesla for the same 10 days is $3k...

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But think on how much you will save on gas with free charging at MKO

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[Ken555]

It's definitely cheaper than the past few years. Have a full-size truck for 10 days over the 4th of July for just under $600. Full size cars are under $400. When I started looking on costco several months ago a standard suv was close to $1k. Funny thing is a tesla for the same 10 days is $3k...

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That may be in Hawaii, but in other regions EVs are the cheapest option available. In particular, I’ve been searching for a rental in Germany and EVs are much less. Even so, I’ve decided not to rent one due to concern of charging availability on my route.

I have an all in rate of ~$780 for two weeks in an intermediate in Kauai in Feb. I expect (and hope) it will be less by the time I go. I have similar prices for Maui in Dec and again later next year. I remember with fondness the days of $250/wk rentals.


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[Luanne]

I recently read about someone's experience renting an EV on Maui. Basically it was a disaster due to the problems finding charging stations.

Here, I found the post I was referring to. This was posted on May 20, 2023.

"Just did an EV rental in Maui and it was very stressful initially. I went to 3 different charge locations on the first full day of vacation and they were all failures - 2 were broken and one was in a hotel lot that charged exorbitant fees for non-guests.

The next day I tried again to find charging, and after 30 minutes on the phone with support I finally got the Aquatic Center fast charger working. The support person had to reset the machine 3 times! Then an aggressive local pulled up in her Nissan leaf and sort of demanded that she be given the charger. Something about she was late for work, only needed it for 10minutes, tourists taking the chargers, etc.

Next we tried a level2 charger in a random shopping center parking lot and again spent 20min on the phone with support because the requisite phone app was unable to complete my new account verification (huge eyeroll at some of the low effort EV apps). This finally worked but I only charged maybe 10% in an hour.

The next day we miraculously we found a fast charger that worked in Piilani shopping center. No broken parts, no aggressive locals, no calls to support for system reboots. I honestly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders as we charged up to ~80% in under an hour.

The next day we tried Maui Brew co., hearing good things about their chargers. I shouldn’t have been surprised that all 4 were broken, with 2 of them apparently down for multiple years.

The short of it is the anxiety and inconvenience was absolutely not worth it. I had heard maui has committed to EV support in the last few years but boy is it still struggling."

 

[rickandcindy23]

Costco's rates are very high for our Maui trip in February. I was able to get Sixt through autorentals.com for a great price. Even so, I am tracking a better price with Autoslash.

I check every day for car rentals, sometimes twice a day, and Kona is way more than OGG, MCO is ridiculous, when it used to be cheaper than any other location for cars. I am not happy at all with Orlando car rentals, which is why we have been driving, but the next two trips, we were going to fly via Southwest and use points. The car rental rates are making me rethink our October trip. We may drive that one as well.

 

[Luanne]

Costco's rates are very high for our Maui trip in February. I was able to get Sixt through autorentals.com for a great price. Even so, I am tracking a better price with Autoslash.

I check every day for car rentals, sometimes twice a day, and Kona is way more than OGG, MCO is ridiculous, when it used to be cheaper than any other location for cars. I am not happy at all with Orlando car rentals, which is why we have been driving, but the next two trips, we were going to fly via Southwest and use points. The car rental rates are making me rethink our October trip. We may drive that one as well.

Cindy I'd never heard of autorentals.com. I did a search for our dates on Maui in March. For the class of car we want (an intermediate SUV) their rates are way higher than Costco, or Autoslash.

 

[altiste1]

I recently read about someone's experience renting an EV on Maui. Basically it was a disaster due to the problems finding charging stations.

Here, I found the post I was referring to. This was posted on May 20, 2023.

"Just did an EV rental in Maui and it was very stressful initially. I went to 3 different charge locations on the first full day of vacation and they were all failures - 2 were broken and one was in a hotel lot that charged exorbitant fees for non-guests.

The next day I tried again to find charging, and after 30 minutes on the phone with support I finally got the Aquatic Center fast charger working. The support person had to reset the machine 3 times! Then an aggressive local pulled up in her Nissan leaf and sort of demanded that she be given the charger. Something about she was late for work, only needed it for 10minutes, tourists taking the chargers, etc.

Next we tried a level2 charger in a random shopping center parking lot and again spent 20min on the phone with support because the requisite phone app was unable to complete my new account verification (huge eyeroll at some of the low effort EV apps). This finally worked but I only charged maybe 10% in an hour.

The next day we miraculously we found a fast charger that worked in Piilani shopping center. No broken parts, no aggressive locals, no calls to support for system reboots. I honestly felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders as we charged up to ~80% in under an hour.

The next day we tried Maui Brew co., hearing good things about their chargers. I shouldn’t have been surprised that all 4 were broken, with 2 of them apparently down for multiple years.

The short of it is the anxiety and inconvenience was absolutely not worth it. I had heard maui has committed to EV support in the last few years but boy is it still struggling."

This is very much like my experience renting a Tesla on Oahu early this year. Tried several chargers, couldn’t get any of them to work, and eventually returned the car empty of charge. Total waste of time and energy. And yes, the rental rate was higher than gas cars.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Cindy I'd never heard of autorentals.com. I did a search for our dates on Maui in March. For the class of car we want (an intermediate SUV) their rates are way higher than Costco, or Autoslash.

You searched autorentals.com for all rental car types and couldn't find a better price than Costco?

We are on Maui almost six weeks Feb-March, and our rate is $2,200 for a full-sized car at SixT, and we had a truly wonderful experience with them for the same time in 2023. A full-sized car with Costco for the same dates is $3,100. I had Thrifty but Delta changed our flight. Now we fly in two days sooner, so I needed to book another rate.

I would take an intermediate or bigger. I don't want a compact or a tiny little car. We have luggage we need to haul to/from the airport.

 

[Luanne]

You searched autorentals.com for all rental car types and couldn't find a better price than Costco?

We are on Maui almost six weeks Feb-March, and our rate is $2,200 for a full-sized car at SixT, and we had a truly wonderful experience with them for the same time in 2023. A full-sized car with Costco for the same dates is $3,100. I had Thrifty but Delta changed our flight. Now we fly in two days sooner, so I needed to book another rate.

I would take an intermediate or bigger. I don't want a compact or a tiny little car. We have luggage we need to haul to/from the airport.

Only better price for the car we wanted was with Turo. I thought I said that in my last post.

 

[dioxide45]

Not Hawaii, but we have a 35 day reservation out of PHX in August and prices haven't come down at all. They are higher. We could save about $500 if we prepay. We have been resisting so far but temptations are getting the better of us. Last year we paid a little under $1000 for the same rental a month earlier but this year it is nearly $2200.

 

[Ken555]

Not Hawaii, but we have a 35 day reservation out of PHX in August and prices haven't come down at all. They are higher. We could save about $500 if we prepay. We have been resisting so far but temptations are getting the better of us. Last year we paid a little under $1000 for the same rental a month earlier but this year it is nearly $2200.

If you’re using a credit card for insurance protection, be sure to check the fine print. Many only cover rentals up to 30 days.


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[dioxide45]

If you’re using a credit card for insurance protection, be sure to check the fine print. Many only cover rentals up to 30 days.


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I know. We had the same last year and the year before. For the first year the agency actually broke it up into two separate reservations, one for 30 days and the other for the remainder. Last year I recall it was all just one. For a rental this long we figure we would probably end up having to rely on our personal auto and pay any deductible. Breaking the rental up on our own as two rentals made the prices even more astronomical.

 

[geist1223]

Doubled checked my Costco Car Rental (intermediate SUV) for 3 weeks January/February 2024. It had come down $300 in the last month. Canceled and rebooked.

 

[alwysonvac]

From what I understand, Autoslash doesn't monitor Costco rates for you. They will check to see if they have rates that are better than your currently reserved Costco rate, but they don't check for cheaper rates available through Costco. Autoslash works on commissions from the rental agencies and there would be no commissions paid out on a Costco rate.

Thanks for calling that out. I just started using Autoslash due to the ridiculously high rental rates I found earlier this year on various sites for LIH and KOA.

For future reference, is any of the additional information they collect (credit card type and membership) used for finding a better rate?

 

[Luanne]

I don't know if any of those will help you find a better rate, but if you have a Costco membership check that as it will get you all of the benefits, like a second driver free.

 

[DaveNV]

Not Hawaii, but we have a 35 day reservation out of PHX in August and prices haven't come down at all. They are higher. We could save about $500 if we prepay. We have been resisting so far but temptations are getting the better of us. Last year we paid a little under $1000 for the same rental a month earlier but this year it is nearly $2200.

You may also want to check about renting off-airport. PHX airport has really high car rental rates due to surcharges.

Several years ago we were planning a one-way driving trip from Phoenix to Denver, with flights into and out of the airports on either end. We discovered by flipping the trip around, and flying into Denver and ending in Phoenix, the car rental rates were cut by more than half. Since it was a meandering driving trip, the direction we went didn't matter. It worked out just fine.

Dave

 

[heitmullerj02]

Just checked Costco for April ’24 and booked in Maui. However not as cheap as AARP for Orlando in October. Just have to shop it all!

 

[Luanne]

Just got a cheaper quote through AutoSlash for our Maui 2024 trip. Saves an additional $130 over the reservation made with Enterprise through Costco. This rental is with Budget.