How much do you expect to pay for car rental in Hawaii?

[Luanne]

Whenever I book with Autoslash, I check with Costco and if Costco is about the same I’ll book with Costco. That said, I've booked several times in the last year or two with Autoslash. Obviously, your experience has been different.

As I said, up until a couple of years ago I was getting the best prices through AutoSlash. I usually book first with Costco, then set up an AutoSlash tracking. Lately they haven't come up with anything cheaper, or if they have it's for a prepay or with a company I don't want to use.

 

[Luanne]

My latest rental is with Dollar, booked via Autoslash. I have an account with Dollar and was not able to link the reservation, so I won't have rapid pickup, skip the line, etc. Oh, well.

See, I won't rent with Dollar. That may be why you are getting cheaper rates through AutoSlash.

 

[easyrider]

For us, skip the line only seems to work about 50% of the time when we rent through Avis. We have been doing a lot of Avis rentals lately with a few Budget and Alamo. We like Alamo as their skip the line is really more of just online checkin or a kiosk. We have Avis Preferred when we book through a corportate code and it has worked okay but still results in me having to go to the kiosk in the garage about 50% of the time. We always rent mini vans and sometimes they just don't work. They don't have stowaway rear seats, they have damage I need to report that you can't easily report at the exit kiosk where you just scan a QR code. Or something else doesn't work in them like an accessory power port. Then another time we took a car only to later discover that there was damage underneath that resulted in us scraping as we went over speed bumps. We took that back to swap out. In fact, recently we've had to return cars twice due to issues. When waiting in line for that, we learned that a lot of people were having to do the same due to problems with their car.

I have the best luck with Avis, especially in Mexico.

Bill

 

[Ken555]

See, I won't rent with Dollar. That may be why you are getting cheaper rates through AutoSlash.

All the majors are about the same. Dollar is essentially Hertz.

I guess you just want to spend more than I.

And I don't think I'm saving because you specifically aren't renting from Dollar!

 

[JIMinNC]

To me the shopping and hunting is part of the fun of planning a trip. It's not unfor me to rebook car rentals numerous times as the prices drop, and I will do the same with hotels.

A couple who are good friends of ours are the same way. They are deal hunters and the chase is a lot of fun for them. I just want to get it booked and move on.

 

[Luanne]

All the majors are about the same. Dollar is essentially Hertz.

I guess you just want to spend more than I.

And I don't think I'm saving because you specifically aren't renting from Dollar!

What I meant was you are probably getting a cheaper rate through Dollar than what I'm seeing with Alamo, Avis or Enterprise. And it's not that I want to spend more than you (and I doubt if I am) but that I don't like to rent from companies where I've had a bad experience, like Dollar and Budget. To each their own.

 

[Ken555]

What I meant was you are probably getting a cheaper rate through Dollar than what I'm seeing with Alamo, Avis or Enterprise. And it's not that I want to spend more than you (and I doubt if I am) but that I don't like to rent from companies where I've had a bad experience, like Dollar and Budget. To each their own.

Costco is about $125 more than Autoslash/Dollar for my upcoming trip. But out of curiosity, I checked a few others direct at their sites and found the following:

Alamo: $132 more than Dollar
Avis: $147 more than Dollar (and this is for their mystery car using my corp discount, could be gas or electric, or a small compact - and I reserved a midsize from Dollar)
Enterprise: $310 more than Dollar

So yeah, I suspect you are paying more than I.

 

[Luanne]

Costco is about $125 more than Autoslash/Dollar for my upcoming trip. But out of curiosity, I checked a few others direct at their sites and found the following:

Alamo: $132 more than Dollar
Avis: $147 more than Dollar (and this is for their mystery car using my corp discount, could be gas or electric, or a small compact - and I reserved a midsize from Dollar)
Enterprise: $310 more than Dollar

So yeah, I suspect you are paying more than I.

That is comparing apples to oranges since I assume our dates and car choices are different.

For the dates I am renting right now Enterprise is the least expensive. Alamo is $10 more, Avis is $189 more and Budget in $106 more. So if you were renting for the same time period and same type vehicle with Budget you would be paying more than I am paying with Enterprise. And for an intermediate or standard car Budget is still more than Enterprise or Alamo. Again, for my dates. And I need to add that I have AutoSlash tracking for this rental and so far they have not found any cheaper rates with Dollar.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We have a car for exactly three weeks here on Maui. I kept watching prices and finally the price went down about two weeks before our arrival. We have the Capital One Venture X and were able to book the car for $677 total with taxes and fees, 21 days, a bargain compared to Costco for a full-sized car.

The Capital One portal has been a bargain for our last 4 car rentals, especially since we pay with our miles and points.

The rental is through Hertz. I still don't know why anyone would think a Nissan Altima is a full-size car, but that is what we got. Nice car, new, only 1,000 miles on it. I am trying to figure out how we will get luggage in that trunk when all four of us go back to the airport together on the 31st of August. We will soon know if that's possible. Maybe our friends will use an Uber.

 

[Luanne]

We have a car for exactly three weeks here on Maui. I kept watching prices and finally the price went down about two weeks before our arrival. We have the Capital One Venture X and were able to book the car for $677 total with taxes and fees, 21 days, a bargain compared to Costco for a full-sized car.

The Capital One portal has been a bargain for our last 4 car rentals, especially since we pay with our miles and points.

The rental is through Hertz. I still don't know why anyone would think a Nissan Altima is a full-size car, but that is what we got. Nice car, new, only 1,000 miles on it. I am trying to figure out how we will get luggage in that trunk when all four of us go back to the airport together on the 31st of August. We will soon know if that's possible. Maybe our friends will use an Uber.

We barely got luggage for 4 in a midsize SUV last year. We ended up with one suitcase and a couple of duffels in the back seat. It didn't help that we also had two walkers, but even without those it was a tight fit for the luggage.

 

[davidvel]

For us, skip the line only seems to work about 50% of the time when we rent through Avis. We have been doing a lot of Avis rentals lately with a few Budget and Alamo. We like Alamo as their skip the line is really more of just online checkin or a kiosk. We have Avis Preferred when we book through a corportate code and it has worked okay but still results in me having to go to the kiosk in the garage about 50% of the time. We always rent mini vans and sometimes they just don't work. They don't have stowaway rear seats, they have damage I need to report that you can't easily report at the exit kiosk where you just scan a QR code. Or something else doesn't work in them like an accessory power port. Then another time we took a car only to later discover that there was damage underneath that resulted in us scraping as we went over speed bumps. We took that back to swap out. In fact, recently we've had to return cars twice due to issues. When waiting in line for that, we learned that a lot of people were having to do the same due to problems with their car.

It seems that the issues you had with the cars had nothing to do with skipping the line. They would have existed if you waited in line. You just get to wait in line twice instead of once.

 

[rickandcindy23]

We barely got luggage for 4 in a midsize SUV last year. We ended up with one suitcase and a couple of duffels in the back seat. It didn't help that we also had two walkers, but even without those it was a tight fit for the luggage.

Rick suggested we just drop them off at the airport and leave our luggage at the Westin for pick up a couple of hours later.

 

[Luanne]

Rick suggested we just drop them off at the airport and leave our luggage at the Westin for pick up a couple of hours later.

That would work. When we changed condos during our last trip we left my husband and younger daughter and their walkers at the old unit. My older daughter and I took the luggage, and groceries to Maui Hill. They will always hold the luggage for us and when our unit is ready they will deliver it to the unit. After we dropped all that off we went back to the old unit and picked up husband, daughter, two walkers and the beach chairs we had bought.

My older daughter said her game playing, especially Jenja, helped with loading the car.

 

[Ken555]

That is comparing apples to oranges since I assume our dates and car choices are different.

For the dates I am renting right now Enterprise is the least expensive. Alamo is $10 more, Avis is $189 more and Budget in $106 more. So if you were renting for the same time period and same type vehicle with Budget you would be paying more than I am paying with Enterprise. And for an intermediate or standard car Budget is still more than Enterprise or Alamo. Again, for my dates. And I need to add that I have AutoSlash tracking for this rental and so far they have not found any cheaper rates with Dollar.

Happy for you.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't like to rent from companies where I've had a bad experience, like Dollar and Budget.

Unfortunately, at some point in time you will run out of companies and options. As Ken had noted, all the majors are really the same. There are only three big conglomerates now. If you don't want to rent from Budget, then you probably should skip Avis as they are owned by the same parent corp. The same employees help renters of both companies. They just need to swtich from one system to another. The same is really true of Dollar, skip Thrifty and Hertz. If you have a bad experience with Alamo, forget about National and Enterprise.

I can understand the principle, perhaps from an emotional standpoint, but for us it really comes down to price because at some point or another they are all going to screw us over in some way. They are all equally incompetent with employees that don't really give a crap and are just taking a paycheck.

 

[Ken555]

[…]it really comes down to price because at some point or another they are all going to screw us over in some way. They are all equally incompetent with employees that don't really give a crap and are just taking a paycheck.

Exactly.

The only exceptions for me are that I won't consider some of the off off brands, such as Nu.

 

[Luanne]

Unfortunately, at some point in time you will run out of companies and options. As Ken had noted, all the majors are really the same. There are only three big conglomerates now. If you don't want to rent from Budget, then you probably should skip Avis as they are owned by the same parent corp. The same employees help renters of both companies. They just need to swtich from one system to another. The same is really true of Dollar, skip Thrifty and Hertz. If you have a bad experience with Alamo, forget about National and Enterprise.

I can understand the principle, perhaps from an emotional standpoint, but for us it really comes down to price because at some point or another they are all going to screw us over in some way. They are all equally incompetent with employees that don't really give a crap and are just taking a paycheck.

And luckily for me the rental companies I prefer to rent from have been coming in with the lowest prices.