Best Place To Buy Gas?

[kristinar]

I'm renting a car on every Island and am wondering if there is any advice to be had re: "decent" gas prices (their version of an Arco?) and/or best places proximity wise.

Thanks!

[Astro Flyer]

I'm renting a car on every Island and am wondering if there is any advice to be had re: "decent" gas prices (their version of an Arco?) and/or best places proximity wise.

Thanks!

If you're a Costco member & near one of their stores, Costco has the absolutely best prices in Hawaii & they can be as much as $.75 to $1 less per gallon. :)

 

There are several smartphone apps that show prices & the one I use is from MapQuest but there are many other ones also.

[cb at sea]

Look at your guidebook...it will tell you all the places close to where you need to return the car. What? You don't HAVE a guidebook? Silly you! Get one!

[kristinar]

Look at your guidebook...it will tell you all the places close to where you need to return the car. What? You don't HAVE a guidebook? Silly you! Get one!

Checked out three guidebooks actually, but not the app (thanks Astro Flyer!).... thought maybe someone had a little tip to add.

[Astro Flyer]

Checked out three guidebooks actually, but not the app (thanks Astro Flyer!).... thought maybe someone had a little tip to add.

 

Unfortunately there is little price competition in Hawaii although the cheapest gas prices are always on Oahu.

 

Even the more expensive outer islands are currently cheaper than in CA which has always been much cheaper than in Hawaii. Somehow oil companies in CA have figured out a way to gouge us to pay more than in HI.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[kapoho2]

I wouldn't worry too much about the price of gas. The islands are not that big, so you will not be using too much gas in a day. The Big Island is really the only place you could drive a long distance, but during a cruise port day, you will not be driving across the island and back. Just find a gas station that is convenient as the price difference will not amount to much more than a couple of dollars.

[cccole]

We live in Southern California where gas prices are often the highest in the nation so we found prices in Hawaii just fine. It was interesting though that Costco prices on Kona side were the same as prices at most gas stations on the Hilo side.

 

Make sure that you know if your rental car company will be asking to see a receipt from a gas station within 10 miles of their return location. Thrifty requires this but did not verbally let us know. I had not opened my rental agreement envelope when leaving the rental office so didn't see this. We returned the car full to the brim but were charged because we did not have the receipt. No big deal, $7.34, but we know they could not have put that much fuel into the tank. Live and learn. We have previously, when realizing that we had filled up at a station out of the 10 mile range, stopped at an acceptable station and picked up a receipt on the ground. Dollar Rental Car in Kahului did not seem to have this requirement, they did not ask for a receipt.

 

Also make sure you join the loyalty program for car rental agencies you will be using because it saves a lot of time. Cherie

[kristinar]

We live in Southern California where gas prices are often the highest in the nation so we found prices in Hawaii just fine. It was interesting though that Costco prices on Kona side were the same as prices at most gas stations on the Hilo side.

 

Make sure that you know if your rental car company will be asking to see a receipt from a gas station within 10 miles of their return location. Thrifty requires this but did not verbally let us know. I had not opened my rental agreement envelope when leaving the rental office so didn't see this. We returned the car full to the brim but were charged because we did not have the receipt. No big deal, $7.34, but we know they could not have put that much fuel into the tank. Live and learn. We have previously, when realizing that we had filled up at a station out of the 10 mile range, stopped at an acceptable station and picked up a receipt on the ground. Dollar Rental Car in Kahului did not seem to have this requirement, they did not ask for a receipt.

 

Also make sure you join the loyalty program for car rental agencies you will be using because it saves a lot of time. Cherie

 

Thanks so much for the tip....I'm renting through Dollar but now that I know about the receipt, I will be sure to double-check. That would have annoyed me! I drive a super gas guzzling Escalade and live in So Cal as well...good to hear I won't be shocked. The way some people were talking, I thought gas was like $8 a gallon ($4ish I'm used to:)

[azappraiser]

Another good smartphone app is "Gas Buddy"... you can type in city or zip code to find the nearest gas & prices.

 

Tesero stations are everywhere. I went online and contacted them about purchasing a pre-paid gift card for our upcoming trip in August. We'll have the car for a week on Oahu & I figured a $75.00 gift card should cover the gas we'll use and still have enough on the card to fill it up before dropping it off.

 

As for Costco; while their gas may be cheaper, the lines were horrendous. I'll spend a few pennies more per gallon to save some of my precious vacation time.

 

Another good app is "Rental Pics"... although not FREE, I think it's worth the $1.99 cost to cover myself if needed. With the app, you take several pictures of your rental car when you pick it up, enabling you to document any dings or defects before driving off the lot. (photos are geo-tagged to prove where they taken, along with date & time) The app also has a place for you to add notes. When I dropped my car off in Kauai, the dude that checked it in fixated on a rather large scratch on the passenger side. Immediately, I pulled out my phone, opened the pertinent folder and showed him the pic (of the scratch) I took that morning when I picked up the car... he made a few notes & I never heard anything more about it.

 

BTW - I used Discount Hawaii Car Rental to make all my reservations... no hassle whatsoever... highly recommended!

Edited June 18, 2015 by azappraiser