At LIH Avis this week, the line was 50 ppl long and the preferred line was 9 ppl long. After another airport shuttle arrived, the preferred line grew to 15. There were about 30 cars in the lot, but on close inspection, they were damaged. One car didn't need close inspection, it was trashed.

In any case, it took me 2 1/2 hours to move to #1 in line, The poor ppl in the bigger line had an even longer wait, as they moved faster than we did but their line was longer. Those that did get cars were at the mercy of whatever happened to pull up in a return, It was down to that.

My car was dinged all over, but no major dents. The gas tank was one notch short of full, the inside of the windshield was covered in a film that took me 10 min to clean, and the front tires look to be at 2.5 mm, just beyond the wear bars-illegal, I believe, but I wanted to get the heck out of there, so I said nothing and, after I took a few videos of it all, I left,

The management there had little choice but to make people wait until a return came in, or to offer a select few (about 7 ppl when I was there) a ride to the Poipu area, where they would have to spend the next morning taking a taxi back to LIH Avis and start over again (they said come at 8 AM to be sure you can get a car in a timely fashion--I passed on that option), so I get that this wasn't their individual fault. But the management made no announcements, they did not put up any helpful signs, they did not bring out seats for the elderly who were on their feet for hours and starting to look dehydrated, and overall they handled the crisis poorly. Shame on them.

This shortage is now the way, I guess. Our hotel's Avis desk said they were booked until September. The local U-Haul was sold out. Turo had no options. Craigslist had 10 year old cars for $180/day but those were sold out through July. It was certainly worth the wait in line for me, but during that wait, it was quite difficult, as I wondered if I would even get a car that night (or at all). I feel very sorry for those that might have not fared as well as I had, given the circumstances.