iahphx

Do you absolutely NEED a minivan? I have a family of 5 and, when I travel with them, I'd PREFER a minivan, but the differential in rates everywhere in the USA has become staggering in recent years. In almost all cases, you can reserve 2 or 3 regular cars for the price of one minivan! So we make do with a car. Sometimes I can cajole a minivan from the rental agent for free or just a couple of extra bucks, but this only happens about 15 to 20% of the time.

It's pretty funny, but I always seem to get great car rental deals when gas is $4+/gallon. Probably half coincidence, half reduced demand. I find the rental actually costs me less money, but also makes me less happy because I'm inclined to reduce my driving. Like I remember getting a weekly rate in Alaska in the summer of 2008 for something like $135 (a crazy good rate for summer in Alaska). But with gas about $5.50 gallon then, I would think things like "is it worth driving 20 miles to that trailhead at $5.50 gallon"? Fortunately, in Hawaii, there's really not that far you can drive!

The USA car rental market has changed pretty dramatically in the past 15 years. In the old days, I remember ALWAYS renting a compact car and driving at least a midsize 90% of the time. Now, probably 80% of the time, you'd get the compact. I only book the smallest car I'm willing to drive. If you're just one or two people, you can take a chance with a compact or an intermediate (which these days is really what most folks would consider a compact). Unless the savings were breathtaking, I'd never reserve a compact for a family.

Priceline CAN be a good deal in Hawaii, but some of these Alamo rates beat the pants off the priceline deals. Like you ain't going to get a full-size car in Hawaii on priceline for $60+ a week. And priceline can add a hefty additional fee (at least $5/day, it seems). I'd only book with priceline a couple weeks before your arrival date, if you haven't found a good deal the conventional way.

Ancien Maestro

My wife prefers a minivan.. so I try and preshop and prebook a minivan when I can. Generally I pay around $375 per week with taxes in. I would like to get a better deal.. but the rate sounds fair.. I think it was $100 less in Houston.. so must be a better rate offered on continental US soil, as I usually pay $375 per week on BI and Maui.

iahphx

Yeah, Hawaii will be a few dollars more expensive than the mainland for minivans. I just rented a full-size car for 8 days for $155 all in. That's a great deal, but I'd bet you could do a week for under $200 all in without heroic effort. Only you can decide whether the minivan is worth twice the price.

Ancien Maestro

Chicken or the egg.. a minivan is what my wife wants.. and what my family feels most comfy in. We have tons of luggage, and we travel quite a bit around the islands, so makes it worthwhile in our minds.

Plus, we aren't privy to one rental company.. we shop for the lowest price available.. and if that's the lowest we can get, I'm pretty happy.

Sometimes minivans are twice the price I pay, but I seem to knock a few hundred dollars off.. If that's the market, we're stuck to it. Mainland seems reasonable though for minivans. Plus we like to rent out of the airport for convenience, so that's going add all sort of taxes onto our rentals.

Tony10s

May is a slower month for tourism in Hawaii
Most of the sno birds are gone, the whales are mostly gone,spring break is over and the high summer months are just around the corner
Great rental car prices should be taken advantage of!

Boraxo

As I noted on a rather comprehensive thread last year, we found that car rental rates tend to be very high well in advance of the travel dates. They started to drop a month or two before the rental date, and kept falling up to the last week. I think this is due to the fact that many people book well in advance for Hawaii vacations, and they figure most people don't bother to recheck rates once they are done booking air, hotels, car, etc. This was also true for Orlando.

Also consider that your leverage will be limited with priceline or hotwire. For example the last few non-priceline rentals they have tried to pawn small SUVs or convertibles or cars without trunks on us - which doesn't work if you plan to drive the road to hana and leave luggage in your car, as there are a lot of breakins. We usually decline the "upgrade." I think the rise in gas prices is also keeping the smaller cars in short supply.

ILuvParis

Rates have been so high the last couple of visits that I have used AA miles. My "free" rental of two weeks duration recently still cost me $147 in taxes and fees. That's a lot of money for a "free" rental.

Mary2e

The prices in Hawaii have become so ridiculously high, I'm grateful I was able to purchase 5k worth of Hertz points during the Discover America promo for $282. That got me 2 free weeks. Of course, the taxes are going to bring it up another $100 or so, but I still consider ~$400 for 2 weeks AI a decent price.

Ancien Maestro

LAX for a minivan was way more than what I paid in Maui and Big Island..

Wow!

Cblaisd showed me a minivan offsite LAX airport for almost half the price..

HOU was not bad for a minivan.. under $300 for the week

tdfxman

Looking at car rental threads here.

I am seeing huge increases in rental prices at both HNL in late Feb and MCO in Sept. I mean crazy prices.

We just got back from MCO and we were $220 all in for 9 days. We did the wildcard and got a mini-van. Perfect.

I am seeing rates in Hawaii and MCO at around $400. What am I missing.

I usually see the pattern of real cheap WAY in advance and then the big ramp up and then maybe a decline.

But I can't find any month that is "good" for MCO. I am shocked. I have $245 for a wildcard with Thrifty in Feb in HNL. Prices now are $400 all in. Crazy. I tried to book for MCO and nothing is CLOSE to the $220 I just paid.

Anyone else seeing a BIG increase here in Fall '11?

Ancien Maestro

Hawaii will be more expensive than MCO.. even LAX is more expensive than MCO..

Try www.autoslash.com .. perfectly cancellable reservations, and will apply all available coupons automatically and get you into the cheapest rental amongst 9 companies.. and if www.autoslash.com finds a lower rate, the website will automatically cancel your reservation and make a new one at the lower price..

Find a lower price yourself, then simply cancel the Auto Slash reservation and you're on your way..

ILuvParis

FWIW, Autoslash.com, in my experience, doesn't compare with http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/

During Christmas week, for example, the deal they found is several hundred dollars more than Discount Hawaii. For the week after New Year's when everyone has left and I'll be staying on by myself, I decided to switch to an economy car. Discount Hawaii quoted me $199 all in., Auto Slash $375. And ultimately, Priceline will usually beat Discount Hawaii with a little bidding patience.

All that said, it certainly doesn't hurt to reserve with Auto Slash. If they find something lower and rebook you, so much the better. If not, you still have the preferable options.

piyush

I tried using both www.autoslash.com & http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com.

Using coupons on National's website I was able to find rates that were lower than both!

Ancien Maestro

I've used both.. the last vacation to the islands I used www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and got a good rate, but didn't know about AutoSlash until my next vacation..

The beautiful thing about AutoSlash is that its completely cancellable.. and does the work for you.. so doesn't hurt to use it and save time..

Find a lower rate elsewhere, simply press cancel reservation button on AutoSlash and move on.. Something you can't do if you use a website auction that requires prepayment..

piyush

For some reason the rates I was getting on Autoslah were way higher than what I could get booking directly on National's website. I'm guessing it's because Autoslash doesn't offer National.

www.discounthawaiicarrental.com was quite a bit cheaper than Autoslash but still more expensive that directly booking on National's website!

I'll check Autoslash again to make sure I'm not missing anything.