We love National but pricing has always been higher than Costco Alamo, every time I have checked. For tmrw's pickup, rate is almost double for National vs Alamo for me (800+ vs 400+)... Love National but don't like their prices, hence do Alamo (same Co, similar service, cheaper price, inn my experience)...
Love it!
It must be the dates I need a rental. One thing to watch out for: If you have Emerald Executive status (I have it from an Amex card), the price is always higher than regular Emerald status, so you need to uncheck that.
Yup; already did that...
? Avis/Budget
Yes Avis/Budget.
We always go with locally owned rental car companies. The cars are a little older but it's way cheaper and you are supporting local business.
You do know that even the big car rental chains are local business? They employ locals, pay taxes to the state, etc.
I think they are talking about locals owning the business, not just working there.
They probably were. But I just wanted to point out that companies like Avis, and the other car companies, are a part of the Hawaiian economy. It's nice to frequent locally owned businesses when possible, but don't forget that the Avises (and others) are contributing to the local economy through wages paid to employees, local taxes, and partnerships with local businesses.
Of course they do, but so do the truly locally owned businesses, and pretty much all businesses operating there. The differentiation is where the profits go. The true locally owned businesses are more likely to keep them in HI, adding even more to the economy.
To carry this one step further does that mean you (and that is the universal you) don't frequent any of the businesses that aren't local to Hawaii? The hotel and restaurant chains? I should have addressed this to @triangulum33 . When we visit we spend our money at both locally owned and non locally owned businesses. Both support the local economy.
No, but as you note it was @triangulum33's point not mine. We did try a local outfit for car rental on Maui and the car lived up to the name of the business, it was a real wreck.
Must be the same company my brother in law used.
That is odd, because every time I use Costco car rental, the company instantly gives Costco their reservation number, and I can look it up and add to my account on the car rental company site. Clearly the car rental company is writing the check, not Costco. Sounds like an old wives' tale related to your bitterness toward Costco.
+ we can do accelerated check-in &/or skip the counter for many (to skip the lines & faster exit & hopefully greater likelihood of getting a car before the busloads of fellow pax from the flights get their cars)....
I just checked the rates at Kihei Rent A Car, which is one of the companies that gets mentioned a lot on the Trip Advisor Forum for Maui. Currently my price with Enterprise booked through Costco is less than any of their prices. And for the same size SUV we have rented they want $700 more for the 3 week period we have booked. So no savings. I do keep checking the small local companies but as I stated in an earlier post they have never come in cheaper for the type of car we want. And the smaller sedans with Kihei Rent A Car were all more than what we've booked for an SUV. So booking through Costco floats my boat.
I have a 12 day midsized car reserved for Thanksgiving from Makoa Rental in Maui for $600. We have used Aloha Maui a couple times and liked them. Some of our past trips we've Uber'd the entire time.