Anyone rented a car from Hotwire for Maui?
 

Just curious, their rates are really low, like $30 for SUVs and 26 for a full size car, only downside of course is you dont know which company and car you will get until AFTER you pay for it, anyone had +/- experiences with this site

to the top, anyone???

I don't think it makes a big difference what rental car company you get as long as it is one of the major companies. There is not that much difference between them.
And not knowing exactly which make of SUV you will get should not make a big difference either unless you absolutely have to have a particular make. The big question is whether or not you can cancel the reservation if you choose to do so.

The choices from one rental company to another seem pretty much the same. All of the car compnaies here seem to rent the same cars. SUVs are either Blazers and Explorers; full-size cars are mostly Tauri or Intrepids.

Those prices seem pretty good. I don't see where you could go wrong.

Suggest you try Isalnd Car rental at [email protected], which I'm using for my next trip in two months. I used Hertz in Kaanapali in early April, and it was very good. But Island is located at the airport (OGG) at Kahului ... you contact them and they deliver the car curbside in ten minutes. They beat others' prices on covertibles by over $200 a week. Enjoy!!!

Island car Rental's fleet is made of older cars and if you shop around you will find that their prices are not so great incomparison, especially when you consider the chances of getting a 1996 vehicle vs a new car. They do cater to those individuals who can ot rent from the major companies though, under 25, no credit card, and if you are on a real budget you can rent an island car for cheap. They are know to have a very eclectic fleet.

By booking though http://www.carrentalinhawaii.com/fleetinfo.htm you can actually get a newer car at a better rate than at Island, but I think the Hotwire rates that jsc found are the best I have seen.

Thanks for the scoop on Island Car - I cancelled after reading your warning. Since I want a NEW car, what do you recommend? I can either get it at OGG or in Kaanapali, whichever makes the most sense. Thanks.

When I would visit here, we would always book through www.carrentalinhawaii.com/fleetinfo
but after seeing the deal jsc found, I will reccommend that visitors check with hotwire too.

I usually just go to the website above and select a quick pick for the best deal and they will email me with a confirmation. You are actually booking through the rental company, so you can still get mileage points, but the rates are much cheaper than booking directly with the rental agencies themselves.

We did try going to budget rate one time, booking through a local rental company, but we ended up returning the car and renting through Thrift for the remainder of the week. We rented a Sentra with a noticeable tobacco smell and wimpy A/C, and we weren't saving but a few dollars a day.

Many thanks, we are following your advice, and have emailed them as well as a SummitPacificInc. which seems to represent Dollar, Thrift and Avis. getting rates from both. Thanks for the alert on Island - called them and cancelled, and of cousre they had already put through the charge on our AmEx account. Have a good day. Looking forward to the visit to Maui - was trhere two weeks ago, and it was fab.

We also used carrentalinhawaii.com. You just make your reservation with them online, they'll email you confirmation. We chose a compact with Thrifty for 5 days@$26 a day, then at OGG the rental agent offered us an upgrade to a convertible Jeep Wrangler for $15 more a day. Probably even better w/ weekly rates. We used Thrifty on Waikiki too and both times the agents were friendly and helpful. We had a ball with the Wrangler but this time watching our budget more, so we tried priceline, got midsize for $20/day with National, not bad.