auntgingy

Concerning the rental car situation, we booked a car for October this year and were wondering about anyone's experience when they picked up their rental. Were you able to get the car you have a reservation for? If not, did they charge more than your confirmed reservation price?

tracilee

We were there in late April, so not too recent. We rented our Alamo car through Costco and had no problem. We had booked well in advance, January I think, and I had read rumors that reservations and/or prices were not being honored but that didn’t happen to us. We got the car we reserved at the price quoted. Hope you have the same luck!

janisj

" Were you able to get the car you have a reservation for?"

Sorry, but no one is ever 'guaranteed' a specific model (whether in Kona, or Phoenix or Orlando or anywhere in the world -- during covid circumstances or not). Rental contracts always have wording like "Mid size or similar". And actually, if no cars are available you really have no recourse except a refund if you've pre-paid. What someone experienced last year or last month, or yesterday has little bearing on what it will be in October. The chances are you'll probably get what you booked (or similar), but it won't be guaranteed.

If they upsize you, whether you have to pay extra depends on the individual agency/franchise policies. Over the years, when I've been upgraded it usually hasn't cost more but a couple of times I have had to pay extra. (Most of the times when I've been upgraded I REALLY wanted the smaller/more economical model so being up sized AND paying more was really annoying)

auntgingy

Thank you so much, we're hoping for the best.

auntgingy

Thank you so much, we just wanted to see what experiences others had. We know we may not get what we reserved, just are hoping they have a car available and that we don't get charged the now going rate which is much more than what I reserved the car for. Thanks again.

suze

auntgingy ~ If you haven't yet you might want to read the Big Island (Island of Hawaii) forum over at Trip Advisor. It is a format similar to this (not the reviews section but the Destination Forums) with many regular Hawaii visitors and residents posting daily. aloha, suze

kureiff

We were on the BI in late May. We had reserved a midsize car through Costco/Alamo. When we landed, Alamo was behind in cleaning and turning around cars. They had a mini van available so we took that instead of waiting a couple more hours for a mid size to become available.