Things are changing. How to save money on your Hawaii car rentals throughout 2023..
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679 thoughts on “Savings Guide: 2023 Hawaii Car Rentals”
Things are changing. How to save money on your Hawaii car rentals throughout 2023..
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Is the public bus system on Kauai still functioning? We used it a couple of years ago to get from Princeville to Lihue and back. A dollar each way, I believe. Is Uber a recommended means of transport? Any idea of the cost of Uber from the airport in Lihue to Princeville?
We were looking forward to a trip to Maui, but with rental car prices this high we will wait another year
Yippee! 4 of us are going to Kona for 7 days mid May. In feb we were quoted $900 for a sub suv, then in April when we checked we were quoted $1220. Today the price was $526. Crazy! And we are happy. Now we want them to accept our vaccine cards.
I suggest you look at Hawaii-guude.com to see travel rules. If you rely only on your covid vaccine cards you’ll be sorry. Hawai’i, to any island, still requires covid testing through ONLY one of their trusted partners. Without this, & masks, they’ll quarantine you for your entire 7 days or send you back home. Have a great trip.
I really wanted to visit Hawaii again…..BUT….what with Covid testing, mask mandates, exorbitant rental car rates, etc., etc……count me out. Doesn’t EVEN sound like fun! Sad…..because I haven’t been there since 1987…..
We are coming to Kauai for the last week of May. We tried to reserve a U-Haul pick up truck and on the website it seemed that there was availability. However, later we received an email stating that they had to cancel our reservations due to not having any available vehicles. Now I wonder if they may have stopped renting them to tourist.
We actually do have a car reservation, but my nightmare is that we get there and there will be no vehicles available because of overbooking. Kauai is not a destination you can enjoy without a car. This is our first trip, so we would like to see the different sites. This whole situation is so stressful it keeps me awake. I wish I had known about it earlier, I would have canceled the trip. Now we have paid in full for the lodging, so we will go.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but if so, it’s worth saying again. Auto Slash will also track your rental for you, as long as it’s NOT prepaid. You just need to give them information about your rental, and they will email you if the rates go down.
I have rentals for September being tracked and trust that this service will save me a lot of time checking the rates myself!
Mahalo, BOH for all the great info you provide and interesting articles you publish!
Hi Janet.
Thanks for mentioning that.
Aloha.
For the last 20 years I’ve been renting from a small local company called Maui Car Rental ‘s. Luckily I booked my car for my May and July trips a few months ago. I’m only paying $22 a day. I see on their webpage that they still are offering cars in the 60s per day out the door. I like to support the local companies whenever possible.
I have a concern for when I arrive on Kauai July 2. We have a reservation and have had a reservation for a year. Has anyone experienced the car companies NOT having the car available that they have confirmed??
I was in Maui in March and we did get a car but had to wait at least 30 minutes for one. This was with Dollar/ Hertz. They were turning around returned vehicles as they came back after a quick cleaning, and the only cars sitting in the lot were 2 minivans. There were several people in line to get a car. Not sure how long the people behind us had to wait! It was obvious they had very little inventory, but we got a car. Hope this goes well for you !
I was able to reserve a full size car about 2 months ago when you first started reporting on this. Thanks for the early warning! $551.00 base rate, estimated total is $934.25. That’s $383.25 for taxes and fees. The rental car companies are not the only ones gouging!
This is more than a supply and demand issue.
It is cause for an anti-trust ivestigation and a monopoly investigation. It is a glaring example of corporate greed and what happens to consumers when industries are allowed to consolidate to this degree.
Our system of Capitalism requires competition and profit. It fails as a monopoly.
Just booked a car with Turo for Jan 2022 for $42/ day. Thanks for the suggestion!
The quoted rental car rate was way more than my airfare for a week. Those in frequent flyer programs should see if they can do a combination of miles and money to pay for cars. American does this and you can bring the rate way down if you are willing to kick in 25,000 or 30,000 miles. I don’t typically use my miles for flights so this is a good option.
Last week through Costco a five day rental mid June at HNL the lowest price was $3500. Yes you read that correctly.
I can only say this it sucks .they got you now coming n going.you have to play by there new rules,u had to be tested by their affiliates or it’s no go. There quarenteens were over priced resorts with where given kick backs to the board now the rental car issue and it’s going to come downto something else they will find to cost u more money . On Kauai if u don’t live there n u do rent a car with plans to go to the beach every day it’s goig to cost you 50 dollars a day to park by permit if u are lucky to get one everyday , and also each non resident has to get a permit for 5dollars a person each day to use the park ares if u want to set up a little camp to sunbathe n relax. With all these restrictions I will go elsewhere where it all- inclusive n enjoy myself n have a wonderfull holiday n u guessed it it’s not going to be kauai
If you work for a large company, check to see if they have a negotiated rate for personal travel with any of the big three rental companies. Using my company’s corporate discount number, I cut my 5 day rental from $600 to just under $300 for the same car/time (June 2021 rental)
Great idea!
I was so pleased with Auto Slash! I have yet to pick up my car rental so I’ll see how smoothly it goes but I have my confirmation email from Priceline for half the rate they were publishing on their site just for being a usaa member. Amazing savings that I wouldn’t have thought to search for. Total price gouging going on in Maui.
I recently saw cheaper car rentals, from individuals on Maui Craigslist from $65 day. May give a price break for a week.
I live here & am having work done on my car. Have been checking the rates & they are unbelievable! Do yourself a favor & go around them if you can.
We just landed in Maui. OGG, Kahului Airport. Before our trip we researched prices to rent a subcompact for 14 days. The cheapest was Dollar at 1,500. So we figured that amout was to increase.
We came in went to Dollar and picked up our car, the total is going to increase by $380 after denying insurances. Total will be close to 1,600 for 2 weeks.
I was shocked, when we went to pick up our car, we saw close to 150 new Chevrolet Spark LT right over on the next row…
In visiting Hawaii for the last 20 years, we gave never seen that many car overage ever…
There is absolutely no reason, no matter what the rental cars are telling the media they have no reason to charge 100% to 150% extra for rentals because the pandemic.
Knowing state politics, there will be no investigation nor the amount of money they will punish them with. The money recovered will never get to the hands of us visitors. We all Californians know after we got gouged by the Electrical power managers. And the states managing to get back money from them. We consumers never saw any refunds or price lowering.
No matter any individuals or companies should be punished according to FEDERAL LAWS.
Hawaiian Politicians should remember that they are part of the USA. No matter the cry of some Hawaiian to leave the United States of America. They must follow Federal Law until that happens… which it will never happen.
“The cry of some Hawaiian to leave the United States of America?” What does that have to do with rental car prices. You’re complaining about the price of a 14 day car rental on Maui? Yeah, it’s going to be expensive pal, deal with it.
Thanks so much for your recommendation of AutoSlash. We had no idea of the situation with car rentals in Maui until after we booked our flights and condo. I was shocked when I went to book a car. The cheapest rate I found on my own was $187 a day! In desperation I googled info on rental cars and came across your article. I saw your link for AutoSlash and they came back with a rate of $407 for the week on Priceline which I immediately booked. Your article saved our vacation!
Hi Tammy.
Thanks. We appreciate you letting us know and are glad to hear it worked out well.
Aloha.
Hi Guys: Talked today (Easter) with son in Sacto area CA. They quoted $400/day on Kauai & were applying for Passports so they plan going to Cabo MX instead. With Covid concerns, I don’t care for that choice. Instead of my reading yr article & comments to them, can they go to your website & access it themselves? As he says I’m “elderly” & I don’t know my way around computers much so for me there are no stupid questions!!! LOL
Hi Mary.
Sorry to perhaps not understand your question. But happy to have you send them our way. Tell them to say Mary sent me.
Aloha.
We have our summer car reservations to OGG and HNL already made. Is there a chance the car rental companies won’t honor the reservations? If yes, what would our options be when we are at the rental company itself, luggage in hand?
Aloha, I checked for a rental car a few weeks ago and found the cost way high. Thought about it so may take a shuttle from airport to
Property and rent a few days instead of a week especially since we don’t use a car daily. Boh – great info
Thank you to the state for the investigation.
Mahalo
Hi Marilyn.
Thanks. Keep checking back on car rentals. It could change.
Aloha.
I just recently booked a rental car and the price was a month long rental for 2022 was within $200 of a price I paid for the same amount of time for 2020. I feel this is reasonable though I’m going to keep checking back for lower pricing. Airlines on the other hand I feel are price gouging as their prices have doubled. I know they had very tough times in 2020 but haven’t we all? I would love to get back to flying but I don’t feel this is the way what airlines are doing. Please maybe investigate the airlines.
This is the most absurd rental pricing I’ve ever seen in Hawaii or anywhere in the USA. I’m a visitor almost yearly since 1993 and this year the rentals are 400-500% higher than last years pricing. The years before, typical Mustang or keep covert has been $60-70 per day this year $250-300 Per Day. What the Hell people. Are you for real. Is this planned scarcity of available cars caused from civic leaders or just plan greed or a partnership of both. Is it possible that municipalities are trying to control their traffic now. Are you providing buses now to resort cores, have you released more taxi and limo/urber permits. Seems like 3 day old mahi mahi to me.
Yes we know that tourist and employee traffic in tourist towns is difficult to manage at peak hours and I’m sure some important people got stuck in traffic on the way to the airport or dinner reservation but that’s all part of planning your time. As a resident in a tourist town and a tourist in you town I believe this could be controlling powers compensating rental companies for less vehicles on the road.
If that’s not correct please explain.
Btw my ocean view May rental front and center to the ocean is less than the possible car rental this year. Might be a driver limo this year but that will impact day trips and daily spending to local businesses. Not very good for local economy.
Who’s should we blame for this mess Is your guess.
Mahala my friends.
I’ve been reading comments on FB where people renting with Turo in particular were getting their car rental reservation cancelled before they got here. Seems like some people renting through Turo saw an opportunity to gouge people/get a lot more money from someone else when the daily rates became extrenely high. There was even one local guy suggesting that people charge more than double to tourists because they could. Where’s the Aloha spirit in that?
I discovered Discount Hawaii Car Rental 10 or 12 years ago and it is the best resource for finding a car. We use them every time and have always been happy. They don’t require a deposit and you can check back to see if the rates have dropped as you get close to your trip. I have memberships with other car rental companies, but they never were able to match the great rates we got at DHCR (nor was Costco).
Aloha Diana, I too have used Discount Hawaiian for many trips and always got a great price. I checked on a purposed trip to Kauai for Aug.2 thru Aug.12 and the cheapest I could find was $1054 total. I read a posting that mentioned AUTOSLASH so I checked with them and AutoSlash which I had never heard of gave me a confirmed quote from HERTZ for a similar car for $679.53 total with no prepay and a free cancellation up to the time of rental.
You might check them out!
I think you’ll Thank me.
Thanks, I will definitely check them out. I hadn’t heard of Autoslash until this article. It’s good to know you had a successful experience. BTW, I would go back to Discount Hawaii 2-3 weeks before our trip and see if the rates have dropped from when I made my initial reservation—they often do, very significantly. That being said I never cancel a reservation until I have secured a new one. Enjoy your trip in August—we have to wait til May 2022.
Diana, when I started looking on Discount Hawai’i car rental in September 2020 for February 2021 I placed my initial rental for $384. I would check daily, hoping for lower, & sometime in late December I found the next larger car for $234, Chev. Malibu. I always comparative shop rental companies but since about 12 year’s ago I find Discount Hawai’i car rental to be the place to go. Make your checks daily. After I found my $234 deal the prices were near & over $400. Good searching.
While price gouging is illegal, this seems to be more an issue of supply and demand. Are available vehicles being held back to force people to pay higher prices, or are there just not enough vehicles to meet the demand? 10k fewer cars in the islands would seem to point to just not enough cars, and they can’t just be brought in from somewhere else on flatbeds or a train. One could forgive the rental companies for not wanting to maintain a year-around fleet to satisfy the 4-month peak demand. Would I want to pay so much for a rental car? No, but just like hotel rooms and airplane seats, there is a finite number of vehicles available, and companies are allowed to set the price to reflect the supply and demand equation.
A better question may be, “was the suddenly very high demand foreseeable?” Did the rental companies recognize that and decline to increase the Hawaii inventory to get higher prices (and irritate lots and lots of tourists, giving themselves a black eye), or was it more of a surprise that takes time to respond to given how long it takes to move a car from California to Hawaii? If rental companies get a better shipping rate because they move hundreds of cars at a time, they still probably pay $500/car from Long Beach to Honolulu for a vehicle that may arrive too late to do any good and then will sit idle, not generating any revenue but incurring expense for days at a time.
It is not as simple as, “Hertz is screwing us”.
I agree it is a supply versus demand issue. The islands sent back a lot of their car rentals last year because there were no tourists. They just need to rebuild their inventory back up. No sane person would intentionally gouge customers unless they are sadistic and enjoy having angry customers.
We are spending 3 months on the BI next winter and the car I just reserved was not priced any higher than it was a month ago. I assume that means they anticipate inventory will be back to “normal” by February 2022.
Mahalo.
Hi Mary.
Thanks for the feedback on your 2022 car rental.
Aloha.
Would these inflated prices be considered price gouging during the pandemic which against the law?
Thanks for the info. It is too bad that rates have skyrocketed. I was planning a 3 week trip with my family and touring the island. Now we will be coming for 1 week and not renting a car. We will take a shuttle to our resort. This will definitely impact local businesses that are away from resorts since more people will choose not to rent cars at these prices.
I was shocked by the rates when I checked yesterday. The prices on Maui were about 136 for a 2 door Speck…tiniest cars.I thought there might be collusion. Why have two cars rented for $50 a day when you can rent one for more than twice the amount.
Thank you valuable imformation!!!
Hi Rox.
Thanks. Glad it was useful.
Aloha.
This is going to be a big boost for Turo, many locals will be willing to rent out their cars there at these rates.
We should expect a big PR push from the car rental companies to declare Turo somehow bad for Hawaiian residents, push for tighter regulations of it, etc.
Very short-sighted and greedy and certainly not Aloha!
Discount Hawaii Car Rental had best rate for us. Found same quotes on Aloha Rents. Thanks a ton, saved us hundreds on the 2 week rental.
Hi Carol.
Thanks for the feedback on your car rental experience.
Aloha.
While Discount Hawaii Car Rental has good rates, our experience at Lihue was very disappointing. When the planes arrive, they are not staffed to handle the volume. Plan 2 hours ( not kidding) in line to get a car. We’ll pay more.
Remember Discount Hawai’i car rental is like a broker, not the rental car company themselves. It’s the direct rental car company that has the long lines.
After reading your travel tips on car rentals I clicked on Kayak for a purposed trip to Kauai Aug.2 thru Aug.12,the cheapest rental shown was $1054.
Shown in your story you mentioned AutoSlash which I had never heard of so I gave them a try and they gave me a confirmed quote from HERTZ for a similar car for $679.53 total with a free cancellation up to the time of rental.
No one else even came close to this price.
Thanks for the tip!
Great tips, thank you! Planning a trip to Oahu and Maui in October. This is helpful!
Hi Patty.
Glad that the Hawaii car rental tips were useful to you.
Aloha.
Check on AutoAuto Slash above from Lee Mi. He is correct in the reduced price.
Thank you for all the great info you always provide! Have the islands all cancelled 4th of July celebrations and fireworks?
Mahalo!
Hi Linda.
Thanks. We haven’t heard anything about July 4 celebrations this year. Good question. Not sure anyone knows quite yet.
Aloha.
I live on Maui and if you google “local boy car rental” there are several alternative car rental companies to do business with that will appreciate it more than the big corporations will.
Thank you,
Terri
I didn’t see it mentioned, but many people have access to a corporate rate via their company travel programs. Worth checking if there is a company rate code and if it is permissible to use for personal travel.