Carol47

I booked a rental in Maui for 8 days through National/Emerald Isle and the price is $300. I would like a convertible. What do they generally run? Is that reasonable or can I do better? At Emerald Isle I can bypass the desk and have my pick of what is on the Isle.

dantheman

I think so. I went through Priceline and paid $35/day and you're right in that price range. You'll LOVE having a convertible on Maui!!! I've always been Mr. "Too Cheap" to spring for a softtop, but I was soooooo glad I did this past trip (January 04)

jennifha

It sounds reasonable to me. We went recently and paid similiar. You might want to check the rates again before you go. We intially were going to pay almost $600 for 11 days and then I checked again and it had gone down to $455. Who knows why. They messed up when we went and somehow only charged us $306. Lucky us!

We used National and the Emerald Aisle was very nice. You check in at the terminal and ride a short shuttle where an employee is waiting for you and hands you the keys. You don't have your pick of what is in the Aisle like at other airports (one downside). We asked for a choice of another car. They gave us a Sebring and we were kinda hoping for a Mustang. They claimed to only have the Sebring, which turned out to be fine anyway.

Mousesavers.com (a disney travel site) has some great info about discount codes. Just go to the section about saving on travel and then saving on rental cars. If I remember right, we used a coupon for a free day or something like that. They took the coupon off the price, but never took the coupon from us. In Orlando, we used the coupon and the took it, so if you use it, I would make sure that you print it off. I would recommend a convertible. It really made the trip seem more "fun".

Carol47

Jenni,
Thanks for the reply. I frequent mousesavers too and disney! Never thought to look there for this trip. So, if they wouldn't give you your choice at the Emerald Aisle, how did you get a convertible? Did you just ask? Were there lots of them? We will be there around 4pm and I am always wondering what will be available by the time I get there. Thanks, Dan, for your reply also.

jennifha

We came in around 4 too. They said something about the counter closing at 5. I'm not sure what that was about, but we chose to go get the car, park in short term parking, and then get our luggage. I think it saved us a little time too and only ended up costing a buck. We checked in at the terminal where they had our name on a board. I assume that from there, they contact the office where the cars are and they send over a shuttle to get you and get the car ready for you. They had a ton of Sebrings. We probably could have gotten a different color if we wanted. We asked for a Mustang, but none available. They said that we could check back the next day and switch cars if they had one available, but we didn't feel like going through the hassle. When the shuttle dropped us off, an employee met us and gave us keys to a car. It was weird because we never signed anything. It was as fast as using Emerald Aisle in a bigger airport, just less choices.

rjw_lgb_ca

jennifha: Having rented both a Mustang and a Sebring convertible (and bought a Sebring-- love it!!!), the Sebring is by far the better ragtop. Much more room in the back seat, much more useable trunk space (although it's still a small trunk). You should also know that most rental agencies won't be renting out Mustang V-8s except in their Exotics fleet; you'll generally get the less-powerful V-6s in the main fleet.