advice on renting a car in hawaii

[stewman]

Looking to rent a car in Hawaii. I have checked all of the sites, expedia, hawaiicarrentals, etc but for 2 weeks the best prices I can find are around $700 all in with 200+ just in taxes/fee's. Wondering if anyone has any tips on getting lower than that. almost 50% extra for taxes/fee's seems a bit extreme.

thanks

[jcon]

Do you have a Costco membership? There are deals through Costco.com.

Taxes and fees will be fixed but perhaps you can lower the vehicle rental cost.

[parry]

I believe Alamo comes out to be the cheapest using costco. give it a shot and report back please..

[doberman_baby]

Use Costco.com (promo code, just google it) and book directly through Alamo.
Good pricing.

[webworm]

Looking to rent a car in Hawaii. I have checked all of the sites, expedia, hawaiicarrentals, etc but for 2 weeks the best prices I can find are around $700 all in with 200+ just in taxes/fee's. Wondering if anyone has any tips on getting lower than that. almost 50% extra for taxes/fee's seems a bit extreme.

thanks

I agree Costco is usually pretty good but often depends on your dates. What dates were you looking at?

[itIsI]

Yes taxes on a Hawaii car rental will be high. The owner of the B&B that we stayed in said that they are used to fund the school system. Don't know whether he was totally serious but a lot of money is going to the state.

For Maui rented at the airport, I had

$7.50 a day 'Rent Tax Surcharge' - over 2 weeks this alone will be $105 no matter how low the actual rental cost.
4.17% sales tax
11.11% Concession Recovery fee

[overboost]

Check alamo.com They regularly have discounts for Hawaii. Just a note, renting a minivan/suv will be costly in Hawaii. If you have many people in your group, it's usually cheaper to rent 2 compact/economy cars to drive all the people vs renting a minivan.

Another money saver is to pick up at the airport, instead of the neighborhood location in whatever city you're going to. For example, picking up a car in Waikiki is about 20% more expensive than picking up at the airport.

Which island are you going to? You're renting a car for two weeks continuously for one island?

Looking to rent a car in Hawaii. I have checked all of the sites, expedia, hawaiicarrentals, etc but for 2 weeks the best prices I can find are around $700 all in with 200+ just in taxes/fee's. Wondering if anyone has any tips on getting lower than that. almost 50% extra for taxes/fee's seems a bit extreme.

thanks

[yipee96]

Hello all! New here. Thanks for all the valuable info! I just wanted to check about Costco travel. When I go to their car rental section, they clearly say that you must have a valid US address to purchase travel from their site. As well, I tried going to just the Enterprise site directly, and pasting in the Costco code, and they clearly link it to Costco travel, and want you to input your Membership number there as well. I have a membership, but if I book this, will they ask for proof of residence at the rental agency? Or is there a different place to get Costco coupon codes that are valid for Canadians? Thanks for any help.

[ryanmission]

I have a rental booked from Feb 26th to March 7th for ~$370 (10 days) for a Ford Focus or similar from Thrifty. 2 Drivers both 25+, were adding myself for $100 extra (10/day for under 25).

That's the cheapest, to date, that we've found for Maui during that time.

Edit: Should also note, we used a corporate code / promo code at the time...but the rates are relatively similar anyways.

[dealguy2]

Costco.com now has a lowest rental car price finder on their site that will find which code is the best to use. I've booked directly through them and had no problems at all. In terms of prices I've paid $100 for a week in Honolulu before. $700 seems way high.

[overboost]

You can book through the Costco.com website no problem. Usually it'll bring you to the rental company's website, then just enter the code. It doesnt matter whether you have a US or Canadian Costco card. No proof of residency is required either. Don't worry, they won't even ask for your Costco card when you pick up the rental.

[doberman_baby]

^ Agreed that I have never been asked for Costco membership or proof of US address when picking up the car.

[stewman]

Wow, thanks for all the replies.
To answer some of the questions. Yes 2 weeks on Maui. We might day trip onto another island, but really just lokoing for a car for Maui, and don't want the hastle of renting for just select days.

I tried costcotravel and they were the best prices I had found...until today. Expedia has Budget for 14 days today, 387 for economy taxes in, which is by far the cheapest I have seen. Must just be a random sale. Costco was around 630. Alamo.com was 8-900.

[fantom]

Dude, just go to www.thrifty.com

I compared Budget, Avis and everyone else - couldn't beat this price.

Here is my rental in Hawaii last year, and I got a big freakin' Jeep too, $199 + $23 in taxes for a whole week:



And if they have them in Maui, they should have shuttles to the rental office or the office itself should be right in the Airport.

[asc72]

You might want to consider a priceline name your own price bid. I have had found pretty good deals on recent trips to Hawaii. I had a fullsize car (which ended up being a free upgrade to a minivan, due to a shortage of fullsize vehicles) for $14 a day ($356 total for 2 weeks). I also had a midsize on Oahu for $13 a day for 10 days ($181 after taxes, etc).

The downside is that you will likley have to pay if you want an extra driver and you can't cancel.