My rental car experience - Maui

[VegasBella]

I reserved a rental car through CostcoTravel about the same time as I booked the flights. I did not know about AutoSlash at the time so I didn't use that. I booked with Avis.

A few days before our trip I realized that I had booked the rental car for my own timezone not for Hawaii time and so we would have to wait 3 hours to get our car when we arrived. I did a new search to try to make a reservation earlier and ended up booking with Budget. I canceled my Avis reservation. It was $100 cheaper than when I first booked!

Then after we arrived and took the shuttle to Budget we noticed right away something was wrong. There were tons and tons of people waiting for their cars. It was super busy and taking forever. I put my name on the list and was told it was a 90 minute wait.

I could see Avis across the way and noticed it wasn't nearly as crowded. So I walked over there and on the way I booked a reservation with Avis through Costco that was EVEN CHEAPER than the budget reservation (by only a few bucks). At the Avis counter I explained I just booked it online but they found it right away. Then she said they did not have the car I reserved and offered me a free upgrade to a Mustang. And they gave it to me right away!

So we're driving around Maui in total 'look at me, the tourist' style

 

[DaveNV]

So we're driving around Maui in total 'look at me, the tourist' style

Kind of a "Happy Accident" (but not in a "slam on the brakes" kind of way.) Enjoy your trip!

Dave

 

[Luanne]

I have used Costco for our car rentals the past few years. I had always thought I'd found the best price about 6 months out. But on our trip this year I decided to check Costco again the day before we left for Maui. The price had dropped and we got a car with Budget. We did not have the issues you did picking up the car, but maybe that's because I am a FastBreak member with Budget. The only complaint I had was we had booked an intermediate SUV and got a Mazda 9, which is their largest. We should have asked for another car at the time we picked it up.

I am using Autoslash for our next three car rentals. They have beat Costco. Two of the rentals are with Hertz and one is with Budget. Since I know Autoslash will notify me when the rates go down I haven't continued to check the prices.

Good deal on getting the Mustang. Is it a convertible?

 

[VegasBella]

Good deal on getting the Mustang. Is it a convertible?

No, but it is still very nice. A convertible would be amazing

 

[TXTortoise]

We did not have the issues you did picking up the car, but maybe that's because I am a FastBreak member with Budget.

I generally book through Hertz direct, but used Costco one year for Hertz. Got there and line was a mile long and they said my Gold status didn't apply with Costco rental, at least for letting me use Gold line. They ended up accommodating me, but something to think about depending I suppose on how your company deals with Costco. I'm guessing it's more a systems thing, but wasn't fun.

 

[Luanne]

I generally book through Hertz direct, but used Costco one year for Hertz. Got there and line was a mile long and they said my Gold status didn't apply with Costco rental, at least for letting me use Gold line. They ended up accommodating me, but something to think about depending I suppose on how your company deals with Costco. I'm guessing it's more a systems thing, but wasn't fun.

We've never had a problem with getting status, as long as the airport is one that has a separate line, or whatever. At Alamo (I think) on the Big Island (I think) they had self serve kiosks for anyone who had booked through Priceline, Costco, or basically anything other than direct with Alamo. It made it really fast.

I've checked online and the reservations that were with Hertz are showing on my Hertz account. One is at Islip (which I'm guessing is a very small airport) and one on Maui.

 

[DaveNV]

I generally book through Hertz direct, but used Costco one year for Hertz. Got there and line was a mile long and they said my Gold status didn't apply with Costco rental, at least for letting me use Gold line. They ended up accommodating me, but something to think about depending I suppose on how your company deals with Costco. I'm guessing it's more a systems thing, but wasn't fun.

I'd have pushed for it. Whenever I get a Costco rental, (or from anyone), I take the car rental agency confirmation number and go to the company website to pre-check and prepay things on my account, to make sure I get my preferred-member status on the rental. You can't modify the rental terms, but you can make sure you get the frequent renter credit for it. I've used the Blue Chip and Fastbreak lines that way, as well as the Dollar Express and Alamo "go direct to the parking lot" prepaid option. I haven't stood in the regular rental line in years. The point of the accelerated lines is for frequent renters, not necessarily where the reservation came from. You are their customer, first and foremost.

Dave

 

[Luanne]

No, but it is still very nice. A convertible would be amazing

Some years back we were on Maui the same time as one of my co-workers. We planned to go to dinner with she and her husband one night. When they picked up their rental car they were talked into upgrading to a convertible. They had visions of a Mustang, but instead got a Pontiac Sunbird (which I don't think is even made any more). What was funny was we had also gotten a Sunbird, but the sedan. My dh called it a "piece of sh#t".

 

[VegasBella]

Update: We returned the car no problem and didn't have any unexpected upcharges. We were very glad to have a car that performs so well along the Road to Hana. It was fun. Though, kiddo had a pretty awful view of things from the tiny back seat. He didn't mind as he was on his tablet most of the time anyway. But it's something to think about if you have kids.

THEN we spent 3 days in Oahu (two were travel days). We were not going to rent a car at all but last minute decided to change our plans and rent a car the one day and do a driving tour. At the rental car agency when I went to get the car I walked by a Tesla and asked about it. They offered it to me at a reasonable price so we upgraded to a Tesla for a day! It was SO MUCH FUN!

Again, no unexpected upcharges. All went well. No accidents or issues. It was great!

 

[BJRSanDiego]

A few years ago we were on Kauai. They offered us a brand new red Mustang convertible with a white racing stripe. They said that they liked giving their sports cars to older folks who won't wreck them or abuse them.

But we had some issues: (1) My wife's large hardside suitcase wouldn't fit in the trunk (even just by itself). I tried putting it in the back seat and even after sliding the front seat forward and flopping it over there was "no joy". I ended up having to drop the top to put the suitcase in. ha ha. (2) Most of Kauai has a 25 mph speed limit. So even though the car was powerful and sounded great, it was a shame driving it so slow. Surprisingly the gas mileage was only around 15 mpg.

So, now, when they offer us a Mustang we thank them but politely decline.

 

[sfwilshire]

We use Costco to rent cars for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta every year. I am super paranoid that we'll get there sometime and have a problem since there is so much demand for that event, so I keep the two cheapest reservations I find searching Costco. They tend to go down for a while and then stop when the companies get booked up. I pickup the cheapest car reserved and then cancel the "backup" reservation on the way to my hotel. I don't feel badly because I know the rental companies charge a fortune for those who book late.​

 

[BJRSanDiego]

My recent Maui rental car experience:

Through Costco I rented an Alamo car. I was told that the small SUV would be an Equinox or Terrain (or equiv.). When I got to the lot, I had the choice of either a Ford Escape or a Jeep Compass. I climbed into the Ford and turned on the wipers (it was raining) and the wipers wouldn't work. So I took the Jeep Compass. Of all of the rental cars that I've driven in the past 10 years or so, this left the worst impression. I hated the gauges. Sluggish, cheap interior, road noise, no bluetooth. I nick named the car a Jeep Com-P.O.S.

On the second day of the rental we noticed that someone in a parking lot had hit the car and left without leaving any note. The damage was small (like $660). I have my own insurance but it has a $500 deductible. My own insurance declined paying the $50 processing fee and the $100 loss of use. So, my insurance company paid only around $10. Luckily, the VISA card that I was using covers the deductible charges. It took a little over 2 months and I had to provide 32 pages of documentation but eventually they paid in full.

My reason for posting this is to remind people who get a rental car banged up to check their credit card company to see if they cover the deductible.

 

[Luanne]

So I took the Jeep Compass. Of all of the rental cars that I've driven in the past 10 years or so, this left the worst impression. I hated the gauges. Sluggish, cheap interior, road noise, no bluetooth. I nick named the car a Jeep Com-P.O.S.

The Jeep we had a few years back was one of the worst rentals we've ever had. My dh would agree with your assessment. In addition to what you wrote he found it very uncomfortable.

 

[klpca]

The Jeep we had a few years back was one of the worst rentals we've ever had. My dh would agree with your assessment. In addition to what you wrote he found it very uncomfortable.

Our worst car ever was coincidentally on Maui. It was a Nissan Versa. Total gutless wonder. At one point I even thought that I had forgotten to release the parking brake while I was driving - it was that bad, lol.

 

[Luanne]

Our worst car ever was coincidentally on Maui. It was a Nissan Versa. Total gutless wonder. At one point I even thought that I had forgotten to release the parking brake while I was driving - it was that bad, lol.

Since we go to Maui (and the Big Island) a lot, it has to figure that our "worst" car rental experiences are there. We had a minivan one time (don't remember the make) where the dash area was so large it acted like a green house. But the worst car rental experience wasn't ours, but my bil's. They joined us on Maui for a week, and bil being thrifty (you can read that as cheap) went with some no name company. The car he got was cheap, and you can say you get what you pay for. We ended up taking it a lot of places as we could get all of us into it. But he'd have to go out ahead of time to get it started up. And the biggest thing I remember was when he went to adjust the rear view mirror, the whole thing came off in his hand.