mander

Indeed. I just checked our holiday dates and cars are now available (see my previous post in this thread). Weekly rates north of 800 though!

GadgetKen

North of $800/wk sounds really steep(unless it's for an exotic car rental)! Rate I've got for 12/11-1/5 on Kauai is $50/day with all taxes and fees included for an Alamo Mustang convertible toy. Hard-top cars should be $10-$20/day less than that. Best discount rates I've found have been using warehouse club cards and the promo codes they have directly on the rental car company website (and am registered on the Alamo website as a Quicksilver member; not sure if that also gives a preferential rate). Used Costco, but BJ's and Sam's Club should offer comparable discounts. Granted Kauai and Maui may have slightly different holiday rates, but there shouldn't be that much of a difference.

cordelli

Budget has a truck for $433 total those days, they call it a premium truck. No clue if that works for you or not. Through Kayak.

If I were you I would reserve something at some rate, and change it if you need to, but don't be locked out.

mktozd

Same problem on the Big Island. Any ideas?

Coconut Travel Hawaii

Folks, PLEASE HELP!

I am looking for a rental car for one week in January in OGG (Maui). The best I could find so far is about $235 total for 7 days. After reading how some fellow flyertalkers manage to find rentals for $344 total for 16 days, $235 for 7 days seems really steep. (And no, I don't want to ride the Maui bus )

Any suggestions? Codes? Etc? Any suggestions would be MOST APPRECIATED

PLEASE HELP.

slippahs

Can get it down to $191 if you combine an entertainment book coupon and the kama`aina rate on National. PM for more details.

beckoa

Have had some luck with http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/index.shtml

$210.66 for 7 days on OGG with Thrifty- and one gets 2 extra drivers too (not sure if you are solo or not) - Their under 25 deal is decent too (not as great as last year's where it was waived, but @$10 a day, not bad...)

There are some other rates that are lower the Thrifty's too on that website, but haven't tried them out...

And I hear some ft'ers have decent luck with priceline too...

Good Luck!

philemer

You didn't give your exact dates but hotwire shows $188, all in, for a full size.
$166 for a compact, 1/8>1/15.

GadgetKen

Just got back into BDL from LIH this afternoon. Rate with Alamo for a Ford Mustang convertible was $663.17 all inclusive for 3 weeks 4 days. Fine print on the rental agreement was this was an internet rental rate with an EIGHT day minimum keep and a 28 day maximum keep. Just tried an experiment on Alamo and the rate actually goes down when you change 7 to 8 days. Even if a few hours over 7 days probably trips this rate.

Suggestions for what it's worth:

Book something immediately at the best rate you can find if you want to go with a major rental company. Use warehouse club (I used Costco but others work just as well), airline, hotel, AAA, AARP, corporate discount, or whatever percent discount codes plus dollar or free day off coupon code, and don't forget to add in your FF number. You can always go back to an internet booking that is not prepaid and modify it for a better rate code (my convertible rental dropped by nearly half to the rate I mentioned above a couple of days before I left). But if you wait too long, rates can either get ludicrous, or the vehicle type you want can get rented out.

See if the place you are staying at has a special discount rate at a preferred rental place (they are generally eager to do this because they get a commission at no additional cost to you).

Try off-airport and independent rental car places. If on a tight budget, a clean, well maintained older vehicle at a Rent-A-Wreck sort of place gets you a safe set of wheels at a decent rate. No need to make a fashion statement Try Word of Mouth Rent-a-Used-Car in Kahalui, (800-533-5929), AA Rent-A-Dent in Makawao (808-573-1722) or LTAR in Kihei (808-874-4800)...info from a 10 year old Frommer's I have, so you may want to look at a newer copy for current deals. Do ask questions like standard or auto transmission, does it have A/C, etc. Used an independent on Molokai once because they were the only ones with a convertible, rates were good, and didn't nickel and dime for extra hours, etc.

bbbb

You might get better help if you post you dates of travel.

philemer

I just booked a full-size car for 1/8>1/29, on the B.I., for $382, all in ($11.95/day + taxes & fees). This is the lowest rental, per day, I've ever had in Hawaii. This was through Hotwire. Travel to Hawaii is definitely down.

lharris816

I just booked on Priceline bidding 1/17-2/2 standard car 288.25. Bid 10 dollars per day and it went thru. National is the company, taxes and fees included.

Coconut Travel Hawaii

THANKS to everyone for help and suggestions!!! So much appreciated!

WOW. What did you folks figure re credit card insurance if booked through Priceline and Hotwire? I've rented through Priceline before and it didn't cross my mind. But now I am concerned. I've tried to research this but didn't get any answer yet. I wish there was a way to get an answer from the credit card in writing (and not just ... on the phone). Maybe I am overly concerned, but this type of things worries me.

lharris816

I just gave a post in Hawaii condo deals on Ebay. Credit card company says it is okay to do this bidding on Priceline just use the same card for the deposit . I think I will have them state somewhere that this contract was prepaid with priceline using this credit card. I also have the receipt from Priceline showing the card number with car rental info. The woman on the phone talked to her manager while on the phone with me and they have my convo in their notes. They gave it a green light so I hope so. Got her name anyways.

Coconut Travel Hawaii

Makes sense. I would feel comfortable with this arrangement. The credit cards and rental companies have been dealing with Priceline for some time already....

I will take same steps with my credit card and most likely go ahead with Priceline for my reservation.