679 thoughts on “Savings Guide: 2023 Hawaii Car Rentals”
Larry F
No mater where you rent, register the terms of your rental with Autoslash. They will continually check your rate Versus current market rates. I have rebooked many times using their free service.
The reason for the sudden rise is rental prices is because the rental car on the island shipped out or sold off most of their fleets. They had days where only 30 customers showed up all day during the lockdown and initial mandatory quarantine. They had no choice but to reduce the size off their fleets. When the numbers of arrivals suddenly increased the rental car companies haven’t yet responded with increasing the size of their fleets to keep up with demand. This is only a temporary anomaly that will be corrected as supply (larger fleets) return.
for many years, my wife and I returned to the 4 major Islands—2-3 weeks each Island— Jan; Feb/Mar; Apr/May; Sept-Oct. Did NOT go at peak times !!! Mainly started our “long” Hawaii vacations in the late “70”s through the mid 2016’s when my wife couldn’t travel anymore. She passed in Dec 2019. With all of the B.S. the state of Hawaii has now instituted, I feel that ai will no longer go to your beautiful state.
Tony, I’m sorry about your wife’s passing. I hope you guys enjoyed some wonderful memories here in Hawai’i during your travels. Yes, it’s a tough time to travel to Hawai’i, and yes, there’s a lot of BS going on within our local government. I hope things get back to normal in the next few years and perhaps you can come back when it’s a better time to visit. aloha
I use Discount Hawai’i Car Rental nearly everytime we visit. In September 2020 I started looking for our Feb. 2021 trip & when I found a $384,full price,car I reserved, because cheapest at the time. They allow cancellations so I keep checking daily. I follow other company alerts but find Discount Hawai’i Car Rental to be great;no secret charges. One day in Dec. I found a larger car price of $234,full price,per 7 days with Discount Hawai’i Car Rental. Mahalo!
Great rental car tips! I rent often in Hawaii and have a few more. Check to see if your employer has a contract with one of the big players. We have a set negotiated daily and weekly rate at National Car. I once used Hotwire while there off season for two day rentals at KOA and OOG and received a Convertible and a Jeep for an insanely low price – beware, they will do their best to upsell you insurance. During peak times at HNL, send the driver to the rental counter in the parking garage to wait in line while the rest of the group collect the luggage. Especially helpful when they are at capacity and “your” car was just returned, being checked in, and waiting in line to be washed. If your employer has a contract, make sure the number is in the reservation – With a dozen people ahead of me waiting for washed cars, the agent gave my contract to the supervisor who took me to the premium cars and said “Pick one”.
We’ve used Hawaii Discount Car Rental several tines on Kauai, but probably no more. Yes they have good rates but be prepared to waste 1-2 hours in Lihue. They cannot handle the volume when flights arrive. It’s brutally slow. Simply not worth the aggravation.
Hmmmm… we have used Discount USA
Car Rentals for the last 5 trips to Hawaii
They get you the best deal from the big rental companies that offer car rentals in Hawaii
Discount USA Car Rentals is not a rental company
but is an online booking agent. They do not have a
counter/kiosk at the airport or on the islands
Last time we went to Maui (Nov/Dec 2019) I kept checking the price weekly. I was able to book
cancel and rebook at a better price 3 times!
Upon pick up of our vehicle the agent at Dollar
Rent a Ca was surprised at the price of our
rental. This was a saving of hundreds of Canadian $…. so do your homework, spend some time research your options and save some money.
and best of all book early and keep checking your
rental on line!
Mahalo!!
Just used auto slash for a trip in May.
Was looking at over $1000 on my own and they found a deal on Priceline I couldn’t access myself and got it for $650!
Travelers(and residents) should start considering local public Bus transportation for some of their vacation,and ride sharing apps-reduce your carbon footprint ,save money,decrease traffic and congestion
I booked my rental car a month ago for big island Hilo through Costco when we first started thinking we would go for the holidays. I also reserved some hotel rooms. We don’t have our plane tickets yet but I am pretty sure hotels and rental cars do not get less expensive or more available as your date approaches. Thank you for your tip to check last minute; I wouldn’t have thought to do that,
No mater where you rent, register the terms of your rental with Autoslash. They will continually check your rate Versus current market rates. I have rebooked many times using their free service.
On Maui we used Go Rent Car. It was great! Super easy and very reasonable!
The reason for the sudden rise is rental prices is because the rental car on the island shipped out or sold off most of their fleets. They had days where only 30 customers showed up all day during the lockdown and initial mandatory quarantine. They had no choice but to reduce the size off their fleets. When the numbers of arrivals suddenly increased the rental car companies haven’t yet responded with increasing the size of their fleets to keep up with demand. This is only a temporary anomaly that will be corrected as supply (larger fleets) return.
Following.
for many years, my wife and I returned to the 4 major Islands—2-3 weeks each Island— Jan; Feb/Mar; Apr/May; Sept-Oct. Did NOT go at peak times !!! Mainly started our “long” Hawaii vacations in the late “70”s through the mid 2016’s when my wife couldn’t travel anymore. She passed in Dec 2019. With all of the B.S. the state of Hawaii has now instituted, I feel that ai will no longer go to your beautiful state.
Tony
Tony, I’m sorry about your wife’s passing. I hope you guys enjoyed some wonderful memories here in Hawai’i during your travels. Yes, it’s a tough time to travel to Hawai’i, and yes, there’s a lot of BS going on within our local government. I hope things get back to normal in the next few years and perhaps you can come back when it’s a better time to visit. aloha
I use Discount Hawai’i Car Rental nearly everytime we visit. In September 2020 I started looking for our Feb. 2021 trip & when I found a $384,full price,car I reserved, because cheapest at the time. They allow cancellations so I keep checking daily. I follow other company alerts but find Discount Hawai’i Car Rental to be great;no secret charges. One day in Dec. I found a larger car price of $234,full price,per 7 days with Discount Hawai’i Car Rental. Mahalo!
Great rental car tips! I rent often in Hawaii and have a few more. Check to see if your employer has a contract with one of the big players. We have a set negotiated daily and weekly rate at National Car. I once used Hotwire while there off season for two day rentals at KOA and OOG and received a Convertible and a Jeep for an insanely low price – beware, they will do their best to upsell you insurance. During peak times at HNL, send the driver to the rental counter in the parking garage to wait in line while the rest of the group collect the luggage. Especially helpful when they are at capacity and “your” car was just returned, being checked in, and waiting in line to be washed. If your employer has a contract, make sure the number is in the reservation – With a dozen people ahead of me waiting for washed cars, the agent gave my contract to the supervisor who took me to the premium cars and said “Pick one”.
Hi Michael.
Thanks for your first-time comment and for the good car rental tips.
Aloha.
We’ve used Hawaii Discount Car Rental several tines on Kauai, but probably no more. Yes they have good rates but be prepared to waste 1-2 hours in Lihue. They cannot handle the volume when flights arrive. It’s brutally slow. Simply not worth the aggravation.
Hmmmm… we have used Discount USA
Car Rentals for the last 5 trips to Hawaii
They get you the best deal from the big rental companies that offer car rentals in Hawaii
Discount USA Car Rentals is not a rental company
but is an online booking agent. They do not have a
counter/kiosk at the airport or on the islands
Last time we went to Maui (Nov/Dec 2019) I kept checking the price weekly. I was able to book
cancel and rebook at a better price 3 times!
Upon pick up of our vehicle the agent at Dollar
Rent a Ca was surprised at the price of our
rental. This was a saving of hundreds of Canadian $…. so do your homework, spend some time research your options and save some money.
and best of all book early and keep checking your
rental on line!
Mahalo!!
Just used auto slash for a trip in May.
Was looking at over $1000 on my own and they found a deal on Priceline I couldn’t access myself and got it for $650!
Hi Cameron.
Thanks. We appreciate you sharing your car rental experience.
Aloha.
Travelers(and residents) should start considering local public Bus transportation for some of their vacation,and ride sharing apps-reduce your carbon footprint ,save money,decrease traffic and congestion
I booked my rental car a month ago for big island Hilo through Costco when we first started thinking we would go for the holidays. I also reserved some hotel rooms. We don’t have our plane tickets yet but I am pretty sure hotels and rental cars do not get less expensive or more available as your date approaches. Thank you for your tip to check last minute; I wouldn’t have thought to do that,