Rental car shortage???

[Dave Mck]

I'm on POA now and had no luck renting a last minute car in Maui. There were none available. I heard there was a shortage of rental cars because a bunch were sent to New York and New Jersey for all the people who's cars were destroyed in the storm. I looked into renting in Hilo and it was over $200 for a Nissan Sentra for one day. I also heard the cars that are available are very expensive. $200 did seem like a lot for one day but I'm not sure what the normal price should be. This is just what I heard from people on the ship. Not sure if its true or not.

[Appygirl]

I'd say that's pretty true. I booked our car rentals a couple of months in advance and in Maui Enterprise was already fully booked for all categories that day. Fortunately I got a car with Dollar. However when we were at the Dollar rental a woman walked in to speak with the agents and said a friend of hers was returning their rental car in a couple of days and they wanted to take the rental of that car for the one day. The clerks checked and said the car was already booked and there was nothing else left.

 

In Hilo when we got on the Thrifty shuttle to the car rental the driver checked our reservation against her list when she let us on the shuttle. Other people came up to the door and tried to get on. She asked if they had a reservation and they said no. She told them they were fully booked. And she wouldn't drive them to the airport either so they could walk around and try to book a car from the competition.

 

Pretty much everyone who vacations in the Hawaiian Islands books a car rental, maybe not so much people staying in a hotel in Waikiki, but all the other islands yes. Add in a cruise ship or two in town for the day and the cars get snapped up really fast.

 

$200 for a Nissan Sentra is crazy. That was the car we got in Maui for $29. This was the most uncomfortable car we rented.

[Susan-M]

Thrifty has some in Hilo for tomorrow at around $100/day all in ... click on "Brand C" in this link, which takes you to Thrifty's website, and includes the discount code: http://discounthawaiicarrental.com/cruiseshipreservation.shtml

[Susan-M]

Dave ... do you have a car booked for Kauai?

[Kartgv]

I'm on POA now and had no luck renting a last minute car in Maui. There were none available. I heard there was a shortage of rental cars because a bunch were sent to New York and New Jersey for all the people who's cars were destroyed in the storm. . . . .

 

There's always a shortage of cars in Hawaii for ship port days and for major events and holiday periods. If you don't book early, you probably won't get a car. It has nothing to do with shipping cars from Hawaii to New York. While they might divert shipments of new cars to New York, they would not ship cars that are already in Hawaii. The transport costs and time, by cargo ship, would be very impractical.

[CRUZBUDS]

There are a hell of a lot of cars closer to the east coast than Hawaii!

 

We agree -- most of the times we've rented in Hawaii (dozens of times) -- the shuttle driver will not take you if you don't have a reservation. We always book way in advance, there is no cost, so even if we're not sure of our plans, we book a car anyway.

 

Hilo is usually more expensive, but $200 is crazy.

 

I'm sorry you're having problems --- I didn't mean to lecture you about booking early, but to assist other cruisers.

 

Try Harpers Car Rental in Hilo -- They are a local company - you may have missed them while shopping

 

Aloha!

[DMRick]

I just booked all my cars..3 were $3 more this year (total for economy $40), one was $3 less ($33). In Maui Alamo had no available cars, so we went with Dollar, Thrifty in Hilo, Honolulu and Kauai.

Glad I saw this and got this done.

[beachchick]

I cannot believe they would ship cars from Hawaii to the east coast. It would be absurdly expensive to fly them over and shipping takes many days. There's just no way I can see that happening.

 

It's true that last minute car rentals can be quite difficult because there are a finite number of cars on the islands and cruise passengers are competing with other visitors for them. Because there are not ships in port all the time, the rental companies stock for the typical number of non-cruise visitors. It's not cost effective to keep "extras" on hand for the cruise days.

 

beachchick

[fabby50]

I just booked through the Thrifty Blue Chip on-line reservations for our trip in May 2013. Booked Maui for 2 days, Hilo and Kauai for 1 day each. We wanted mid-size cars, all three were between $40 and $45 a day with unlimited mileage.

[Cruzn2some]

We have reserved cars on all four islands through Hawaii Discount Car Rental. They use either Dollar or Thirfty. Booked a mid-size car for $32.00 + taxes per day. Used the same company two years ago in Hilo. Hawaii can be difficult for cars. We leave on the 11-24 Sapphire Princess. The best thing is you don't have to pre-pay, you don't have to use the reservation, if plans change.

[Susan-M]

.... you don't have to use the reservation, if plans change.

 

... but they do ask that you cancel the reservation if you don't need it.

[DMRick]

We booked direct for the same price as HDCR. The good part of booking ourselves, was we were able to use our blue chip, and whatever it is that Alamo has, which has sometimes put us in the front of the line for signing in which in a couple of places saved us a long time in line.

 

We have reserved cars on all four islands through Hawaii Discount Car Rental. They use either Dollar or Thirfty. Booked a mid-size car for $32.00 + taxes per day. Used the same company two years ago in Hilo. Hawaii can be difficult for cars. We leave on the 11-24 Sapphire Princess. The best thing is you don't have to pre-pay, you don't have to use the reservation, if plans change.

[Zeno]

I'm on POA now and had no luck renting a last minute car in Maui. There were none available. I heard there was a shortage of rental cars because a bunch were sent to New York and New Jersey for all the people who's cars were destroyed in the storm. I looked into renting in Hilo and it was over $200 for a Nissan Sentra for one day. I also heard the cars that are available are very expensive. $200 did seem like a lot for one day but I'm not sure what the normal price should be. This is just what I heard from people on the ship. Not sure if its true or not.

 

1. you must book in advance

2. IF you book in advance you will get VERY reasonable rates.

 

The 'normal' price IF you book in advance is less than $50 per day (incl taxes)