Car Rentals in Hawaii

My cruise ship will be docking at these ports - HILO, KAILUA KONA, LAHAINA MAUI, KAUAI (NAWILIWILI) in May. Thinking of renting a car on one or more islands. I usually rent from Avis and National, with no experiences with the other companies. I tend to stay away from smaller companies since they sometimes try to sell you additional insurance. My auto insurance and credit card cover car rental.

Want to know if Avis or National are available at the 4 ports. If not, which other companies did you rent from? I'm thinking of Budget or Enterprise.

If you read down the board there are MANY threads on car rentals in Hawaii. You will also find a source like "discounthawaiirentals" or something similar, that is a car broker, and is highly recommended for the best rates.

By the way, you will not be docking in Lahaina or Kona. They are tender ports.

Sitting on the beach last week in Princeville we were startled to see a cruise ship a mile or so out to sea. Thankfully they didn't tender them to our beach!

90% of the cars on the roads will be rentals! Any rental place will be fine. You are not obligated to purchase their insurance..ever!

90%? Really????? I doubt it.

We found Alamo was good.

One other one, we cant recall, bumped the price way up from the original online quote.

Dont expect to get a very small car if that is what you pick online!

Think its an american thing! :-)

I don't know what percentage of cars are rentals, but according to the Hawaii State Gov., approximately 2.6 million people visited Maui in 2007, a year in which tourism was down about 10%, so I can only imagine the number now. And probably many of them do rent cars, so it's gotta be a lot of people. That said, we found the driving to be very easy, except around Honolulu.

Many recommend Discount Hawaii Car Rentals website. They are brokers for all the car rental companies and have negotiated rates with them. You tell them your needs and they match you up. On their website, click on Cruise Ship Info and Reservation Page, so you will be set up for shuttle service from the dock. You pay no money nor present any credit card info until you show up at the rental desk, so no risk if you change your mind. We were never pressured into any add ons.

Join the loyalty club for anyone you rent with if you are not already a member. When you get to the office, it will get you in the fast track line.

We did not rent in Kona but I have seen that the recommendation is different there as the airport location is several miles from the dock and there are much closer and cheaper walk up offices, I believe at some of the hotels, but you'd have to do more research on that. I know the info was discussed here in the past few months.

We found Alamo was good.

 

One other one, we cant recall, bumped the price way up from the original online quote.

 

Dont expect to get a very small car if that is what you pick online!

Think its an american thing! :-)

Just back from Hawaii and we saw lots of Chevy Sparks at the rental company parking lot, so there are small cars available.

Loved my Dodge Charger, though!

I don't know what percentage of cars are rentals, but according to the Hawaii State Gov., approximately 2.6 million people visited Maui in 2007, a year in which tourism was down about 10%, so I can only imagine the number now. And probably many of them do rent cars, so it's gotta be a lot of people. That said, we found the driving to be very easy, except around Honolulu.

 

Lets imagine the lost 10% of tourism returns, and we will round up to 3 million visitors. The US Census estimates Maui's 2013 population at about 160,000. So if everyone of those 3 million visitors were there on one day, and rented a car, then 95% of the drivers would be tourists.

But we know that 3 million visitors is spread across 365 days. If we say everyone spends a week, that is almost 58,000 people per week, or a little over one third of the drivers will be tourists.

90% was not a rational statement by any stretch of the imagination. We have been to Maui over a dozen times. It is very easy to drive.

I don't really care about the percentage of rental cars on the roads, I just care about mine. And...I think in some parts of the islands 90% is a pretty accurate figure. I usually go to Discount Hawaii Car Rental, as mentioned by punkincc, check their rates for various rental companies, then go to the actual company website and see what the difference in rates are. I have found more than once that DHCR rates often include a second driver at no charge. The OP should not have trouble finding rental cars from any of the 4 companies they mention. I have not found Enterprise to be as competitive but that probably just depends on the date. Cherie

OP here, made reservations with Avis for Hilo Airport, Kaanapali Airport, and Lihue Airport. Does Avis offer shuttle buses from the cruise ports to the rental offices?

OP here, made reservations with Avis for Hilo Airport, Kaanapali Airport, and Lihue Airport. Does Avis offer shuttle buses from the cruise ports to the rental offices?

Hilo and Lihue is a definite yes. Don't know about Kaanapali.

If you read down the board there are MANY threads on car rentals in Hawaii. You will also find a source like "discounthawaiirentals" or something similar, that is a car broker, and is highly recommended for the best rates.

 

By the way, you will not be docking in Lahaina or Kona. They are tender ports.

i agree; discount Hawaii Car Rentals uses all the Standard car rental companies such as Avis, Hertz and Enterprise and brokers some great rates! You won't know which car rental company until your reservation is confirmed. But the good news is, you aren't committed to a deposit, and there is no charge for changing or canceling your reservation. In theory, you could set up several reservations per island and cancel all but the ones you wish to keep. Wouldn't be good Aloha, though.

We have rented from them twice and had no problems.

Just smile at the rental car counter person and say, "no, thank you" to additional insurance or anything you don't wish to add. Have a great cruise!

All ports have car rental possibilities. If you are on the Pride of America you will enjoy having a car on Maui and Kauai. There is over night parking at and around the pier if you choose to rent for 2 days. We usually do 2 days on Maui and 1 for Kauai. On the second day is Kauai the ship sails around 2 so you need to get the car back noonish .

I always got great deals online at major rental agencies but will try Discount Hawaii Car Rentals this time because of the positive posts on this site.

Enjoy Hawaii!

Regarding discount Hawaii car rental perhaps it is a new redesign on their site, but when we booked with them for our cruise earlier this month it showed me the rates for all the companies up front so I knew who I was renting with before reserving or even choosing which rate to go with.

~Katy

my experience with Enterprise and Budget was very good. In Kauai peer, we saw Budget's shuttle at least 2 times before a Dollar shuttle showed up. In HOnolulu, we saw Enterprise's van at least 4 times before Dollar's shuttle.

In Kona there are only 2 choices for rental companies without having to take a taxi to airport. King Kam which in my opinion is way too high a price to pay and Enterprise. The only drawback with enterprise is that it is closed on Sunday which is when Miracle is scheduled to port on their 15 day. In 2013 our itinerary was changed so we came in on another day which was great. Our 2015 is still scheduled Sunday so we'll take a taxi to airport. Still cheaper by far with cost factored in than King Kam. We use discounthawaiirentalcars for each port and even in 2013 we were shown where we were renting before purchase.

Car rentals in Hawaii are easy-peasy! I generally find the best rates for car rentals in Hawaii at either http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com or Costco Travel (you must be a member). I do always check the rates on individual car company's sites as well.

If anyone is sailing in whale season (Dec-Mar) , I would HIGHLY recommend booking a car for Maui as far in advance as possible. We love Maui and have a TS there, spending a good month there every couple of years. Cars can and do sell out at this super busy season and the prices can skyrocket.

All the major car companies are on all the islands and I have found the folks at the counter most helpful. Hawaii is gorgeous and for the most part very easy to navigate. Oahu is far & away the most populated island and traffic at rush hours can be brutal there.

Lots of talk on this thread about the percentage of rental cars on the road at any given time. The point I would like to make is that there are a TON of visitors driving rental cars every day, every island. So PLEASE remember that there are folks on the road that live and work there, and they have to drive roads FULL of us visitors. My heart goes out to them. I live in one of the most touristy areas in the U.S. and I KNOW what a pain it can be when people don't know where they're going, aren't accustomed to the roads, and gawking at the sites rather than paying attention to their driving. Hawaii's situation is worse in the fact that Hawaii has very large mountains, making alternate routes almost non-existent in many cases. IOW, there may be only ONE road to a destination. Please remember to show some aloha if you're driving/sightseeing and if someone is "on your tail", pull over to let them pass as soon as you may safely do so. Give a wave of thanks if someone lets you into traffic, etc. I don't mean to sound preachy, but I have found that a little consideration and thoughtfulness has reaped me SO much in return. I love Hawaii and it's peoples. I count it a huge blessing to be able to spend time there on a regular basis and want to be viewed by residents as a blessing in return. :)