BelmontRef

If all goes well, we will be on Kauai for three weeks late this year. I noticed that for airport rentals, a $9.50/day "state and customer facility charge" is added. There is a HLE location near where we will be staying. Is there any reason I can't book a one-day OW from the airport to the HLE location, then book a 20-day OW from the HLE back to the airport and when we get there, drop off the one-day and immediately get the 20-day (maybe even in the same car). I qualify for a rate that gets me the one-way and the rental at the HLE location for the same rate as the airport. I think I'd end up paying for an extra day as the 20-day OW would be charged for three weeks but that extra day will be much less than the $190 I'd save in that $9.50/day charge.

jtav559

In theory, yes.

But the HLE location might not re-rent you the same car you brought them from the airport.
You might be stuck with a pre-assigned vehicle depending on the reservation you made for the 20 day @ HLE. If you have some sort of Hertz status, I would wager that would help the odds. But you never know how it would pan out.

I guess the other factor would be if you were able to select something from the PC / 5* area at the airport that was above and beyond the original 1 day 1 way reservation. Perhaps even spring for a paid upgrade @ the airport and that might help your odds at getting the same vehicle re-rented @ HLE - as they might not want a luxury vehicle sitting on their lot waiting for a potential renter, and they just send it with you back to the airport (@ your normal reservation rate). Again, roll of the dice.

BelmontRef

Thanks. I’m not really worried about getting the same car. The car is for convenience and we don’t care what particular car we get.

Our Kauai trip is an annual trip and we spend a lot of time just sitting around relaxing. It’s not unusual for us to not even use the car at all some days. The HLE location (a nearby hotel) is about a 15 minute walk (we try to walk an hour everyday so not a problem) which even has me wondering if we should just do a one-way on arrival day (which always includes a ton of grocery shopping) and then rent for a day from the HLE location as needed. I suppose finding out something about their close-in availability there would be useful.

AutoSlash

If you rent off-airport on Kauai, you will save $4.50 per day for the Customer Facility Charge, but you will still pay $5.00 per day for the Rental Tax Surcharge. The surcharge is assessed on all rentals on the island regardless of location.

Dave Noble

Absolutely no reason that you cannot do what you suggest and have done so myself numerous times

I have also found that it can be cheaper not only in surcharges but also base rate being lower too - I would suggest pricing out both a single airport rental and doing 2 x 1 way rentals and doing a 1 way rental to non airport location, a rental picking up and returning to that location and then finally a 1 way to the airport

Mwenenzi

Could book a different brand (Avis etc) for the one-day OW from the airport to the HLE location. The $4.50 per day may be worth booking another brand.($4.50 x 20days = $90)
I also note "we" in your post. Have 1 person book the OW from the airport to the HLE location and the second person book the main ~3 week rental.
But as noted renting a car to park your hotel and not drive many days could be poor value for money.

Often1

There is nothing wrong with doing this. The longer the stay and the less particular you are about the vehicle, the better.

Heck, there are people who only use a vehicle for a couple of says during their stay, yet pay for 10-12 days. No reason for that at all because you save the taxes, fees and base rental.

BelmontRef

I see that. OTOH, there is an 11.11% Airport Concession fee charged at the airport but not at the HLE location.

AutoSlash

Yes, that is another significant difference. Renting off-airport is clearly a better deal in this area. Other places, not so much. It really depends on the location and situation.

Dave Noble

What would the price be ( total price including taxes and other disguised rate costs ) for
(a) rental airport - airport for whole time
(b) rental airport to location near hotel (1 day) + rental location near hotel to airport (remaining period)
(c) rental airport to location near hotel (1 day) + rental location near hotel (return to same location) until day before departure + rental one way to airport

Also compare against just taking taxi from airport to hotel and hotel to airport and just renting at local location for the rest of period

If you can get those quotes, then likely easy to see which is the best way to go - it doesn't really matter what taxes n fees are in themselves, total price is what matters ($100 + 11% woudl still be better than $112 ) - base rates may not be the same

Of course, then also consider how much it would be just for days needed - which probably would work out the best if needing it less than 5 days a week

BelmontRef

Just to follow up now that I have experience, we did do this although the savings is not as good. The off-airport "customer contract fee" is now up to $10/day compared to the $9.50 (may be going to $10) facility charge at the airport. So the only savings is the airport concession fee.

I talked to the Hertz hotel location manager who said lots of people do that and it was no problem. You keep the same car (didn't even bring the car since it was in walking distance). Did it both for our trip in late 2021 as well as our current trip.

OTOH, I am not impressed with the Hertz LIH airport location. Despite being PC (credit card eligibility - I really don't rent enough to be PC), neither time was a car waiting for me (no pick your own car at LIH). The Gold board is gone; a gold rep is standing by the bus drop-off with contracts but neither time did the rep have mine (although my name was on the list the rep was holding). In both cases, I did get a car quickly (avoiding the long line yesterday for the non-status people) but not as quickly as it was supposed to work. Also, just one shuttle bus running; almost walked over rather than wait for the bus.