Thrifty Car Rental Help at the Ports

[Bucky3]

Beachchick - I totally agree with everything you said.

 

Ridiculous!

[wasup254]

I booked thru a web site for car rentals in Hawaii and I emaield them and they are totally unaware of this new policy....he is going to get back to me.

He has been very quick to research and answer me and he has said that he has not heard of this extra charge...

 

Tonight I went on the Thrifty web site via the discount web site and there was the essage to pick cruise pick up or airport and the cruise was roughly 30 dollars more...

 

what other rental car companies are in Lihue? Lets all cancel Thrifty and go there....

 

Marlene

[wasup254]

Here is what I got on the web sites

 

Thrifty 52.48

National 49

Hertz 63

Budget 55

Dollar 53

 

Thrifty at the airport is 28.50,if you click on airport pick up

 

Marlene

[mtrue1174]

I booked my reservations on the Thrifty website using the Ship Piers as place of pickup and the cost was much more than the airport location. On

http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com they tell you to put in the airport locations for pickup. I was confused by all this so I decided to call the phone number on this website and I told them I wanted to rent cars and would be picking them up at the pier. They quoted me the cheaper airport location pickup prices. I asked more than once if they had me being picked up at the pier and the lady said yes. So I booked directly with her and canceled my original reservations I made directly on the Thrifty website. The price of my rental cars will be cut in half by going this route and she assured me it was pier pickup.

[wrahn2002]

I booked my reservations on the Thrifty website using the Ship Piers as place of pickup and the cost was much more than the airport location. On

http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com they tell you to put in the airport locations for pickup. I was confused by all this so I decided to call the phone number on this website and I told them I wanted to rent cars and would be picking them up at the pier. They quoted me the cheaper airport location pickup prices. I asked more than once if they had me being picked up at the pier and the lady said yes. So I booked directly with her and canceled my original reservations I made directly on the Thrifty website. The price of my rental cars will be cut in half by going this route and she assured me it was pier pickup.

 

Based on your post, I called 1 800 367-5238 which is the number indicated on the web site. It's just happens to be the number for the Thrifty office in Hawaii. I explained the confusion with the web site booking. The lady indicated I could make the reservation on the site for the airport location and then call them and they would manually post "pier pick up" on the reservation. When I called back later, the woman who answered the phone looked up my reservations on the computer and then made some notations on the reservations concerning pier pick up. Then she told me that when I arrived by ship at Maui and Kauai, to call 245-3411 and they would come from the airport to pick me up. That's not what I think your understanding is, of the way they will pick us up. I'm going to stay with what I've done and hope it all works out. I just have to remember to bring my cell phone to make the calls.

 

Wes

[seetosea]

We used Thrifty's at Hilo and Oahu in October and it was great. But when we got to Lahaina and called to be picked up, we were told they do not have PICK UP at the pier and that we would have to take a taxi to the airport. Went to the taxi stand and they confirmed Thrifty's had no pier pickup and the cost to the airport would be $72. We immediately called Thrifty's and cancelled the car. Fortunately, another rental company had a car for a decent price and we were still able to do our own thing.

 

We're having second thoughts about Thrifty altogether. Just rented from another company for next week.

[beachchick]

We used Thrifty's at Hilo and Oahu in October and it was great. But when we got to Lahaina and called to be picked up, we were told they do not have PICK UP at the pier and that we would have to take a taxi to the airport. Went to the taxi stand and they confirmed Thrifty's had no pier pickup and the cost to the airport would be $72. We immediately called Thrifty's and cancelled the car. Fortunately, another rental company had a car for a decent price and we were still able to do our own thing.

 

We're having second thoughts about Thrifty altogether. Just rented from another company for next week.

 

Based on the taxi cost you mention, I'm guessing you made your original rental at the Kahului airport (OGG)? If so, then it's true that the rental companies will NOT shuttle to and from the tender pier in Lahaina. It's almost an hour's drive one way and is simply cost-prohibitive in terms of time, fuel, and personnel (not to mention how much time pax would waste just getting to/from the rental location). I wish that the rental companies would mention this on their websites. It would be so easy to insert a little "For Lahaina cruise passengers, use X location" or something like that. For Lahaina, cruisers need to rent from the west-side locations. The West Maui Airport by Kapalua (designator JHM) is the location to use for Lahaina. Or you can rent from Hertz in Lahaina on Papalaua (rental location name: West Maui Rental Center--the "West Maui Airport" location for Hertz is actually up by JHM). The west airport locations are on a side road just a bit south of the airport (and even closer to Lahaina, maybe 10 minutes by shuttle, than the airport itself). Hertz and Enterprise both have locations at hotels on Ka'anapali beach, about 8 minutes by shuttle from the Lahaina tender pier.

 

I'm sorry you had such an issue. Please let me know if I'm mistaken in your original rental location. If you rented from the West Maui Airport location, there's no way in heck that a taxi ride should have cost $70+ one-way up to the rental location. That should have been $25 or so one-way. I'm sure glad you were able to salvage your day because another company had a car for you at a reasonable rate--Believe me when I say that it isn't always the case because they often sell out and walk-up rates in Hawaii can be outrageous.

 

beachchick

[Sally Forth]

I booked thru http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and they said to enter the OGG location for cruise ship passengers. I hope this means my quote includes the shuttle. Does anyone know if it would be a good idea to get a Thrify Blue Chip even if the rental is already arranged?

Hey, thanks. I'm a loyal Avis customer, but I'd rather walk across to the King Kam and get my rental car that pay a cab.

 

Viv