Car rental--am I missing something?
 

I'm leaving for the Big Island and Kauai next week, traveling with a British friend who has (until now) been taking care of all of our bookings. Her last e-mail to me said that she'd reserved cars with Avis on both islands, five days on the first and eight days on the second. The prices she quoted were a rather astonishing £192 and £216 for the two rentals--yes, that's pounds, not dollars. I flipped, immediately went to Orbitz's website, and booked Alamo cars for the two destinations for $117 and $248 respectively. Alamo was by far the cheapest of all the companies, but even Avis's rates were less than what my friend had contracted for. Interestingly, I checked Expedia's website and the prices quoted there were far higher than on Orbitz (Alamo and National were not even listed).

My question is: is there some sinister reason why Alamo (via Orbitz) is so much cheaper--bad service, hidden fees, tendency to lose reservations, or anything like that? Are we going to show up and have no car, or get slammed with some unforeseen charges? I have rented cars from Alamo before with no problems whatsoever, but I've never used Orbitz to book a car before. Did I just make some fatal error?

I don't know what type of car you rented (interestingly I've been finding full-size cars are the cheapest to rent on the islands), but the rates you received look to be about right if you booked through Travelocity or Alamo directly (picking random dates from next week since I don't know your actual dates). I wouldn't be concerned. I've always found Alamo to be by far the least expensive company and my cars in Hawaii have never had more than a few thousand miles, usually much less.

[This message has been edited by letiole (edited Feb 19, 2004).]

I agree with letiole in that you should receive quality cars...

Perhaps, to lower the costs, next time book on Priceline? Just a thought.

aloha

OK, I feel better now. It just amazes me that the price differentials are so big among what are, in effect, identical products/services. Hm.

letiole, I reserved a compact car. Unless my friend went ahead and booked a Ferrari, I cannot imagine why her price was so much higher than mine. slippahs, I've never used Priceline for cars--didn't know they offered them. Maybe next time--right now I am paranoid enough about the reservation I did make!

travelmad478: I think I figured out what's going on with the rates. It looks like the rental agencies require all the insurances from renters from the UK (or at least the sites I looked at did) and that doubled the price. Be sure you bring your driver's license because if your friend plans on driving you may find you get stuck with a much bigger bill.

Priceline is sketchy for cars sometimes (in my experience). I remember a couple of years ago, I bid for weeks at all sorts of prices for a one-day rental in Ft Lauderdale and NEVER got anything.

A few months ago, I bid for 5 days in Kauai and did great.

I've struck on two different summers trying to get a mini van at LAX.

Now I've been bidding (albeit low) for Kona for a 10 day rental and can't seem to undercut the National rental I have already reserved (that included an advertised special and entertainment book coupon together).

Where are you staying in Kona? I am heading there next week too http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

We're just flying into Kona, then we'll be two days near Kawaihae and two days in Volcano. Both of these will be B&B stays, not hotels, and since my friend's done all the planning, I confess I have absolutely no idea where we'll be staying! (My job is to research restaurants.) Thereafter we fly to Kauai for a week. Fun fun.

(sorry, duplicate post)

[This message has been edited by travelmad478 (edited Feb 20, 2004).]

I have never ever had a problem with a priceline reservation car, vacation or hotel. I always call before (like their 800 number) to make sure they have my confirm # and bring my print out. I tend to think problems are the exception.

I wouldn't worry about Alamo being cheaper. I have them for half of my hawaii trip in a week and a half. Sometimes certain companies are just cheaper and having used them throughout America they are vey good.

Not to put words in ALadyNCal's mouth, but I don't think there's usually problems with Priceline's reservations and the cars being there. It's more that they seldom have the best rates.

Agree with letiole except once in a blue moon PL can be significantly cheaper (but watch the extra charges/service fees/taxes): For a 3-day trip to ITO I was getting rates of $35-60/day; Priceline got it for $20.

But ime this is the exception not the rule.

There is something behind the saying "remember the alamo". On the big island the line for alamo can be huge - I remember a 40min wait just to checkin. The office is away from the terminal so you just can't go to another car rental place easily. I think other rental offices are at the terminal.

At Lihue you need to take a shuttle as well but the other car rental offices (and cars) are right at the terminal. No problem with lines here.

One thing to watch is that alamo will charge you $5 a day for an additional driver. This is a rip and may offset any savings you may get if you pay this. However i've found that the costco rate with alamo is generally the best deal and does include an additional driver. And there is a 1 day free coupon in the costco travel booklet you can get at costco.

One other thought is if you used a condo company like suite paradise or aston is to get the car through them. They may have supprisingly cheap rates.

Alan

Thanks, alanwar. We're arriving on the last flight of the day into KOA so I'm hoping the lines will be whittled down by that time. As for the extra driver fee: since my UK-based travel companion is now barred from the wheel due to the cost of insuring her, that won't pose a problem!

the only car rental agency that is at the KOA terminal is Budget I believe. All the rest have shuttle busses. Even Budget probably requires a shuttle to where the car is parked.