Car rentals Honolulu airport

[lovetotraveltx]

Need to rent a car in August for a week at the Honolulu airport. Prices are very high! Has anyone gotten a deal or have any hints for lower prices?

Thank you!

 

[DVCismyhappyplace]

I always have luck renting through Costco. You have to be a member though. You don't pre-pay so keep checking and if the price goes down (which is usually does), you can cancel and re-book for no cancellation fees.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

I always have luck renting through Costco. You have to be a member though. You don't pre-pay so keep checking and if the price goes down (which is usually does), you can cancel and re-book for no cancellation fees.

Right now we only have a sam's club but Costco is being built

 

[amym2]

I rented a car from HNL for our October trip months beforehand at a high price, but as we got closer to the trip, the price went way down. I found that it was lowest about 3 weeks before our travel dates. I'd reserve something now (assuming it can be canceled) but keep an eye out a couple of months before your trip.

I originally booked through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals (google it) but ended up getting a better deal directly through Enterprise in the end. We don't have a Costco close enough for it to be worth it to buy a membership.

 

[Cinderpamela]

A few months ago there was a thread with some great coupon codes listed ...
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3179180

I originally had my car all reserved through Costco (in the past they have always had the best price), but when I tried some of the codes they were a significant savings over the Costco price I had gotten. So I switched my reservation and wound up saving about $300!!

Try out some of the codes and see for yourself they are all in the link above.

 

[BCV2003]

I used Costco and rented a 4 door Jeep Wrangler for $280 in October. The rate started at $400 and I kept checking the price droped twice. This was through Enterprise. Hertz want $700 for the same rental.

 

[ccsuwxman]

I rented a car from HNL for our October trip months beforehand at a high price, but as we got closer to the trip, the price went way down. I found that it was lowest about 3 weeks before our travel dates. I'd reserve something now (assuming it can be canceled) but keep an eye out a couple of months before your trip.

I originally booked through Discount Hawaii Car Rentals (google it) but ended up getting a better deal directly through Enterprise in the end. We don't have a Costco close enough for it to be worth it to buy a membership.

We recently spent a week in Aulani for our 40th wedding anniversary. We decided beforehand to splurge on a convertible for the week. Cheapest price we could find was $435 for the week through Costco, so we booked it. The rental turned out to be from Enterprise.

As the time got closer for us to go, I kept checking Hotwire for deals. Lo and behold, they were offering a convertible for $230 per week. They don't tell you the rental car company until after you book, and you have to pay upfront (and it's not refundable). We knew we were going, so we cancelled the Costco rental and went with Hotwire. Wouldn't you know it! The rental was from Enterprise! So we got the same car we would have gotten from Costco at a savings of over $200. If you don't mind the conditions, Hotwire can save you a lot of money, if you catch a deal, as we did.

 

[funhouse8]

I just rented a minivan for the week though discount Hawaii car rental and I'm paying 327.82 complete with extra driver june 28th - july 5th.. Car from Alamo. I was happy with this rate but will keep checking. Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[amypetecar]

I usually just use kayak and check it nightly on my ipad. You get a good sense of he rates, and will quickly realize when they drop. And it takes 9 seconds to search.

This strategy snagged me a convertible for $275 over a holiday week. Now listing at $550 minimum for the same dates.

 

[lovetotraveltx]

Thanks everyone! I'll keep you posted!

 

[Dean]

Need to rent a car in August for a week at the Honolulu airport. Prices are very high! Has anyone gotten a deal or have any hints for lower prices?

Thank you!

I've had great success with http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com and with Costco. You can join costco now to get the discounts if you want. Unfortunately Sam's closed their travel department a couple of years ago. The thing about rental car rates is they change more often and to a larger degree than do even airline rates. We had 3 weeks of rental 18 months ago all around $200 per week. 2 weeks reserved full size (one upgraded for free) and the last week in standard and was $188 on Kauai.

I just changed a rental car rate for Williamsburg that has fluctuated dramatically. I had a great rate but then on Thursday the rate was even lower. My rate for a subcompact for 5 days was $165 (after rebooking then canceling from higher) and had gone up until recently where I was able to get it for $109 or $119 for the next size. I ended up getting 6 nights in the higher category for $120.

 

[ramkam]

Find the best deal you can and make a reservation, then go to autoslash and register your reservation. They will monitor deals and send you an email whenever they find a better deal. Then you can make a new reservation and cancel the old one.

 

[ludari]

I would have to say that Costco had the best deal/price. I typically use my corporate discount when I rent a cars but Costco had the better price when I compared the two.

 

[Anal Annie]

I had some luck booking a car thru Priceline for Aulani last August. I searched regularly on Costco and discounthawaiirentals along with directly thru various rental sites but I never did find a super good low rate for August like some people have found for other times of the year. The "deal" I found was $192 incl. all taxes & fees for a standard size car for 7 days - and this was literally the lowest I ever found and was the ONLY one I found for under $200. (The rental ended up being thru National.)

I was hesitant about pre-paying but was determined to get it under $200. In the end we had to cancel the trip 8 days out and I thought I would be screwed on the rental but I called them anyway. Once I explained it was due to a medical emergency they held back a $15 penalty and refunded the other $177. So I would use Priceline again because they treated me fairly IMO.

 

[gonzalj1]

We found our best deal through discounthawaiicarrental.com. We also checked mousesavers.com and went through every code. We noticed the deals got better as the date got closer. None of our reservations were prepaid so there was no penalty for canceling and re-booking at the new rate. At the end we ended up with good rates.

 

[luv2boys]

Anyone use Advantage Car Rental?