"Carmaggedon" on the Big Island

1,453 Views | 12 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Old Ag 74
Old Ag 74
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AG
Just saw this on a travel forum. Apparently getting a rental car on the Big Island is impossible at this time. Everything is booked, and if you're "lucky" enough to find a car, daily rates are running as high as $400. Rental car inventory was depleted during the covid shutdown because rental companies sold off cars that were sitting idle to raise cash. Now that Hawaii is opening back up, the demand is far greater than the supply. I've got a reservation for a 10 day trip in mid May for the Big Island for a jeep with Thrifty Car Rental. I wonder if my reservation is secure or if I could possibly get bumped and travel all that way and have no transportation and no recourse.

Anyone run into something like this before?

https://bigislandnow.com/2021/03/29/carmageddon-crashes-into-big-island-as-rental-industry-swallowed-by-mass-demand/
JMac03
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AG
I'm seeing this right now too just about anywhere.

Look into Turo and see if they have anything. Kind of like AirBnB for cars.


Just looked at random dates in May and even Turo is high.

You aren't a TAMU employee are you? Or work at a corporate job? Many times they have codes you can use to get a cheaper car rental.
txam92
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AG
Was just there about 3 weeks ago and they had a car for my reservation (National) and others in our group had no issues either (one Hertz, one Avis).. The rental bus driver did talk about on the drive to the lot. He said that most of the people not getting cars are ones who showed up without a reservation expecting cars to be there. He did say people at Budget were waiting over an hour to get a car because they essentially had to turn around the car as soon as it came in. Take that info from one rental car agency for whatever it's worth.
The Lost
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I booked mine in like January for our March trip and got lucky it was before the boom price wise. When I picked up at hertz the agent said they tried to raise my rate, but that he was going to honor what I booked. It did take like an hour on that Saturday to get the car though. Unless you rented a huge van or something odd, they were cleaning and passing back out.

We're wanting to do Maui in November and the prices are insane.
Old Ag 74
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AG
I booked my jeep in January of this year and got a great rate for a jeep ($650 for 10 days). Nervous that they might decide to stiff me on on the reservation since they can get probably three or four times that by taking a more current request.
Old Ag 74
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AG
JMac03 said:

I'm seeing this right now too just about anywhere.

Look into Turo and see if they have anything. Kind of like AirBnB for cars.


Just looked at random dates in May and even Turo is high.

You aren't a TAMU employee are you? Or work at a corporate job? Many times they have codes you can use to get a cheaper car rental.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm retired, so no corporate rate to look for. Hope Thrifty honors their reservation.
gindaloon
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gindaloon
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AG
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hertz-avis-enterprise-rental-car-shortage-11618335385
Pignorant
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AG
Ran into this same problem for a trip to Montana in June.

Booked through Turo. Was very easy.
OasisMan
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AG
I got burned thru turo once

Rented a caddy

Drove it to parents house, it sat there for a few days, drove back to airport

He said I scratched the side up,
Turo sided with him,
I had to pay for a fix up

First time using turo, love the concept, but can't go back now
agdaddy04
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AG
Just checked National and it looks like normal pricing to me.
Dr.Rumack
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Charge to American Express? Surely they'll bend over backwards is something goes awry.
nosoupforyou
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AG
This page on Facebook is a great way to get advice from locals and other lovers of Big Island

https://www.facebook.com/365Kona

Consider asking them for their thoughts - it's also a way to remember the wonderful trip we took to Big Island a few years ago
Old Ag 74
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AG
Thanks for the link! - I'll definitely check it out.
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