hchang2017

yup...if it is limited, what are the likely odds of scoring high-end cars?

ginmqi

Well................you mean score a freebie high end car? Ahhh, well I wish it was that easy but from what I've read and experienced they are not giving up on the premium selections that easy.

I assume it may also be because at locations like HNL, they likely may have wealthier tourists who can afford to pay for an upgrade so maybe company policy has it to limit any complimentary upgrades.

Keep us updated though!!

qs933

Pretty good odds if you’re willing to pay the upgrade fee hanging from the mirror of the upgrade section.

Decent odds if you have a Luxury reservation. I’ve been upgraded to BMWs off the upgrade section with luxury reservations. However, if pickings are slim, you could also end up with a Cadillac XTS.

Lower odds if you have a Premium reservation — I got lucky once when a manager mistakenly offered me an X5 when we both thought it was an X3 (which had a promo earlier in the year for Exec).

Low odds, based on my own experience as just an Exec (not Elite), with a Full-size reservation.

ginmqi

Finally decided to get up off my lazy bum and head to HNL to exchange out of my beloved '17 CRV.

Thursday night at 6pm. I checked the incoming arrivals into HNL to specifically avoid congestion with big flight arrivals. Both rows were full and I was the only one there. I forgot to take a pic of the premium upgrade row.

Apologize for the couple of blurry pics but selections were decent.
One observation, there were 0 Camaros/Mustang/Challenger or anything sporty of that nature. And no Jeeps at all, which was surprising. Usually there's a handful of Patriots and maybe a Wrangler if you're lucky.

3+ Subaru Forresters
couple of Subaru sedans (Legacy? Impreza?....wasn't sure)
4+ Honda CRVs (one was a Special Edition, didn't seen an AWD badge on any of the CRV)
1 Honda HRV
1 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
2 Ford Fusion Titanium Hybrid (I was very tempted to take this one, might try it for next time)
1 Nissan Frontier
1 Toyota Sienna
Toyota Camrys
Toyota Corollas
2 Honda Civic
2 Honda Accord LX (not sport)
1 Toyota Prius (also tempted to try this one)
1 Audi Q3

Should be obvious which car I took. I had seen the Q3 when I first got here about 1mo ago but someone had reserved that class and they mistakenly parked in one of the EC stalls and I was told that was a reserved car.

Unfortuatenly it's not the AWD version, but still it was a definite upgrade from the CRV. Leather all around, HID (LED?) headlights, sound system is WAY better, and the power seats are a nice touch. The trans shifter is nicely designed.

The dash/console does look fairly cheap black plasticky though (maybe not surprising as it is a lower end Audi) and one major issue is the 12V outlet by the center armrest area seems to not be powering my phone/dash cam....so I'll need to look into that more.

qs933

I’m hoping for a Prius next time — I’d like to try the redesigned model. Same thing with the ‘18 Camry, even if it’s just an LE.

ginmqi

I'm with ya. Just like the baseline CRV that had a few nice upgrades, even base models can be worth to try if it's a brand new model.

I didn't see any 18 Camrys, and the Prius I glanced at I didn't know as I'm not up to date on their design to see if that was a 17 (most likely) or not.

One quick question. It's pretty obvious that many of the cars here (and I presume across many other rental locations as well) are the 2017 models and they are generally updated/current.

What time of the year does National usually update their fleet to get in 2018 models?

I don't think I've seen a 2018 model yet. Some vehicles I assume may be kept longer if say they are super popular I presume? (aka the Wrangler Unlimited I had the first few days here had over 20k miles......)

qs933

The 18 Camry just had its retail Hawaii launch a few weeks ago (a couple months behind the mainland). I’ve read that they hit the rental fleets on the mainland, but the Hawaii ones are sourced from the local distributor, so I think it’ll still be a few weeks at the earliest. The Prius was redesigned in 2016, so the ones in the fleet should be the newer model. They appear to be basic Twos.

I think it depends on the manufacturer. I had a 2018 Kia Soul in Vegas. Some models seem to cycle earlier in the year than others.

eric.paranoia

New to this forum - I have a probably stupid question here:

I'm trying to booking a car for my trip to HNL in December. I have Executive status, but on National website it says this location doesn't have Emerald Aisle service. However, everyone's talking about choices of cars, etc. in this thread. Normally when there is Emerald Aisle the website would tell me to book a full-size car, but for HNL what is the requirement if I want to choose from the aisle? Which kind of car do I book?

Thanks in advance!

Qwkynuf

While they don't have a "get in it and go" aisle like you normally see, they will let you pick a car. When you get off of the elevator in the parking garage, there is a desk to the right and the cars are parked down the hill to your left. As you walk down, the Executive cars are on the left side (closest to the airport), and Emerald on the right.

Just walk down and make a note of the model and license plate number and go back to the counter & they will give you the keys. I think this is because there isn't an exit gate.

Also note that at least when I was there earlier this year (Jan, May, & Aug), convertibles and Jeeps were separate reservable classes and couldn't be selected from the aisle.

All that said, I have found the car selection to be kind of crappy. In January I had a Fusion Hybrid for the "work" portion of my trip, and then traded it in for a Mustang Convertible for a couple of days of vacation. In May it was a Malibu (LT, I think), and in August it was a clapped out Honda Accord which smelled like it had last been rented to the heirs of the RJ Reynolds fortune. Luckily, I only had that one for a day.

Anyway, good luck with it!

ginmqi

I'm in HNL for a 6mo work assignment and has a long-term rental with this location. I've switched out my car 4 times at the location.

There are definitely Mustang/Camaro convertibles and the occasional Wrangler (usually there's lots of Compass/Patriots?) as well in the Exec aisle. But these are not there all the time. And you'll have to get lucky to score one of those. I had a Wrangler the first couple weeks I got there and I must say it was just a novel experience and unless you know/can actually do off-road, it's not required for Oahu at all. (Big Island is much more useful to have 4WD) Talking to the agents they say all the National Jeep Wranglers are basic trim levels...as is evident in the interior with the basic radio and no bluetooth/screen/navigation. Bring a head phone or one of those old school 3.5mm aux cables if you want to listen to music on phone.

Busy times per staff are Sat - Wed. They say Thur and Fri are when more cars are available.

But in general yes the selection is not as great, the lot is smaller than the other locations and if there's a big flight unloading, the line can be long and you are scrambling to run and up and the aisle trying to remember cars to get.

Was the Accord a greay colored sport edition? I had that and it reeked like an ash tray, I had to switch that out after just 1 day and told them of the smoking. I haven't seen that grey sport there since.

ginmqi

Very very interesting to see a Tesla in the upgrade row.

I just reserved LCAR for this weekend (rate was great, Fri evening to Sun evening) and gonna go see what they can offer me.

qs933, I read several of your post history and it seems sometimes they reserve a specific car for you if you have LCAR reserved and other times they've offered you (free?) upgrades from the premium selection?

I'll see what they got once I arrive this friday but hopefully it'll be something nice. Maybe even the Tesla? (though I've never seen the Tesla yet at this location.....)

qs933

I saw that Tesla once. If I remember correctly, it was a 2015 model, so maybe it cycled out of the fleet.

I’ve booked Luxury a couple of times, and only because the price for Premium was a few bucks more than Full size and Intermediate. Once they had a BMW assigned (I didn’t ask for other choices) and once they offered the BMWs from the upgrade section — X3, X5, or 4-series convertible. It was interesting because I asked about the Infiniti QX70 in that section and was initially told no — I could only pick from the BMWs.

BMWs seem to be their go-to vehicles for upgrades — maybe they have an ample supply of them.

ginmqi

Ah I see. Looks like the Tesla may be gone then.

Thanks for your experiential insight! Yes I was looking on the national website and to my shock a weekend LCAR reservation was quite low (less than $40/day....^) and so I went ahead and splurged it for this weekend. Gonna do some more Oahu driving/touring this weekend (was on Big Island last weekend).

So looks like BMW may be a likely choice then. I think I do see a 4-series, I think, white BMW parked in the upgrade section fairly often. I see the QX70 before as well as that other giant Infiniti SUV and also I've seen Land Rover/Range Rover there one time as well....I'll see and definitely give an update on this Friday evening.

qs933

I think the agent was surprised when I asked about the Infiniti instead of the X5 or 4-series. I explained that I needed to carry 4 people + luggage, so the 4-series convertible wouldn’t work, and I had already driven the X5. I mentioned that it was more about driving something different, even though the BMWs are all nice vehicles and I appreciated that they were offering them to me.

My next rentals will be full size, so back to the Exec and Emerald selections for me.

Good luck on Friday! Hope you get something interesting!

hchang2017

what is the better time of the day to get rental at this place? morning or afternoon?