3 Hawaii Car Rental Changes Ahead
1. Hourly “green” car rentals being tested on Kauai
GreenCar Hawaii plans a fleet of “eco-friendly” SUV’s that rent by the hour instead of the day.
A pilot project is being launched shortly at the Grand Hyatt Kauai with six Ford Escape hybrids. An automated lobby kiosk will enable guests to reserve their vehicle at an hourly rate of $15. That’s the total price including fuel and insurance. Following the pilot, Green Car Hawaii will expand to the other islands, Maui being next.
While the idea is good I wonder why Kauai is the test site and not Oahu? Tourists on Kauai, without a rental car during their stay, are at a serious disadvantage. If you have an opinion be sure to weigh in.
GreenCar plans include an iPad application which will offer GPS based services and maps. They also hope to add electric cars to the mix in the future.
The GreenCar concept is similar to car-sharing giant Zipcar which has 6,000 vehicles in 49 U.S. cities. They’ll likely be watching along with all of us to see if Hawaii could contain a financially viable model for them.
You can follow GreenCar on Facebook or Twitter.
2. Dollar’s demise will impact Hawaii car rental pricing.
Despite Hertz CEO’s proclamation that their acquisition of Dollar/Thrifty Group will be “a non-event for Hawaii,” I believe we’re going to see car rental prices rise once the deal is consummated.
Dollar’s downfall has been widely anticipated for some time, and follows Avis’ acquisition of Budget and Enterprise’s acquisition of National/Alamo. Bad news for consumers as we see only a few players controlling the rental car market.
Hawaii car rental issues are somewhat different than on the mainland, in part because vehicles cannot easily be shifted between locations to meet changing demands. As a result, during peak periods, Hawaii car rentals have become very expensive. There are also times when rental cars are simply not available at any price as we saw last Christmas.
3. Hawaii’s new daily Car rental facility charge of $4.50 will go into effect starting September 1.
Suggestion:
Check car rental prices and make at least a tentative reservation prior to buying airline tickets. That is especially true during Summer, and at Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year’s holidays.
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Hourly green car rentals. You asked: ‘why Kauai is the test site and not Oahu?’ Perhaps due to the massive amount of cars on Oahu and amount of traffic at all times. Can you really get to your destination and back in Oahu within a 3 hour period?
I am about to embark on a trip to the islands and will be staying at the Waikiki Hyatt. I’d very much like this option there. As it stands now, we will occasionally rent from the in-hotel agencies (Budget or Hertz) for day trips – cheaper than keeping a car from the airport all week and paying for parking.