I will be on several of the islands this July (only two long enough for the weekly rates)with my wife and 3 children and I want to know what kind of car people recommend at each island.

Oahu (staying mainly around Wakiki area during this stay) - I am looking at just a FS car for this stay (is $46/day a good rate - from Hotwire).

Kauai (staying in the North Shore at the Princeville for 4 nights) - I was thinking that a SUV would be right for this island (some of the suggestions on the Revealed book indicate dirt roads). Is $57/day good here - Hotwire again.

Maui (staying in Kapalua for 7 nights) but will be driving around the island. How necessary is a SUV (pricey at Hotwire for $51/day) versus just getting a full-size, minivan or Premium car ($21, $42 and $28 a day respectively). All of these are Hotwire prices.

BI (staying at Mauna Lani, but driving all over). Again, I was thinking a SUV is necessary (and this time its cheap at $42/day from Hotwire).

Oahu for another 3 nights (staying on the North Shore). Was thinking that a FS may work again ($46 vs. $55 or %60 for a PC or Minivan).

I have looked into discounthawaiicarrental.com but there prices were not cheaper. Figured I would get you guys input before trying Priceline also.

Please provide your usual great ideas. Thanks very much.

Gas on Maui is around $2.60 a gallon, more in some places. Unless you need an SUV to haul around stuff, I see no reason for it. Small island, limited resources, single lane bridges, paved roads--none of this warrants an SUV, IMO.

You can also try beating Hotwire's rate on Priceline. I had an SUV win for HNL at $28 in Dec. More recently I just won a premium car on Kauai for $24 for this summer. You can look at previous winning bids on biddingfortravel.com.

Personally I think a premium car would be just fine for all the islands.

I think your Hotwire rates are going to be the best. I tried Priceline for this summer and couldn't beat the rates I reserved last fall for this coming July.

Just returned from a week in Maui and a week on the Big Island. We had no need for a 4wd on Maui - we rented a full size car there (they offered to upgrade to a minivan for $10 a day after we got there).
We rented a 4wd on the BI and only used the 4wd once. If we had stayed longer we probably would have used it more- there were just so many things to see that were easily accessable that we didn't get to the sights that require 4wd.

I was able to get a midsize car on Oahu for $180 a week including tax back in March on thrifty.com

Priceline's access to inventory changes all the time. As mentioned above, I got a terrific deal on my car for mid-late August. Hotwire is advertising $27/day premium, my bid was accepted at $24/day.

I was on Kauai for a week with my wife and 2 kids and, unless you planned on heading out to Polihane Beach (maybe 3 miles on a dirt road filled with potholes), you really don't need a 4WD. Some roads there were quite narrow and you could get away with a premium car instead of an SUV. Have fun!

Try www.alamo.com and enter reate code 6T. I got a convertible for a great rate and there is no restriction on who uses this code. You might want to think about a convertible on at least one island. I'd suggest Maui for the drives around the island and Haleakala.

as Travlinwifey mentioned biddingfortravel.com is your best rate comparison for Priceline.

What convertible would comfortably seat 5 people and accompanying bags? I would love to rent one, but thought they would be too small.

Most of the rental convertibles on Maui seem to be Sebrings. While you could get three fairly slim people in the back seat, luggage could be a problem.
We rented a Sebring through Alamo (using the 6T code) last September. Drove my son and his girlfriend to the airport with their luggage, and it was a pretty tight squeeze with the four of us, without our own luggage. Is the 6T code still operative? We got the convertible for $201 per week plus all the added taxes, etc. last September and had a SUV on the BI for five days for $165 ++ using the 6T.

I think the 6T code might not be working anymore?? I just visited Alamo.com and tried it for an SUV on the BI for 5 days. I got a rate of $308.70, not including taxes!

You don't need an SUV on the BI. The only place you would possibly need it is if you tried to drive up to the summit of Mauna Kea. All of the other places have paved roads and a regular car is just fine. Personally, I'd get a minivan with 5 people.

The 6T code was still working on 6/18/04. I got a convertible for 11 days beginning 7/15/04.

Base $344.40
Additional driver $77.00
Taxes $89.75
Total $511.15

I've been searching car rental rates for a trip to Hawaii in November. I found best prices on Maui through Hotwire. On Oahu, I'm finding the best rates through Nova - http://www.rentacar-worldwide.com. We used them for Spain last year & their rate beat all others by a significant amount.

Whatever you do, do NOT rent a car from rentacarinmaui.com. They are a poorly run organization that have junkers (passed off as new cars) that have expired plates, broken CD players, busted convertible tops, to only mention a few of the problems a group from my company encountered working with them. They lost a car and couldn't even provide a vehicle to one of my coworkers. Most people returned their cars for MAJOR problems. It was a nightmare.

AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!

I rented a convertible from Alamo for 10 days for $311, including taxes and just got back. I went to carrentalcodes.com (or rentalcodes.com) and switched in 6T for one of the codes for a weekly rate that had two other codes too. Can't remember base rate, but paid $311 total for 10 days. Didn't pay for an extra driver. Convertible was tight for us (4) especially with luggage to and from airport. Had a full size (Altima) in HNL for one day at $37 and wished I'd had it in Maui.(Budget) Had a Mastercard coupon for an upgrade, but they wouldn't honor it because they were sold out (July 4 weekend). The Budget car was much nicer than the Sebring from Alamo.

Carol47: A question for you, if you don't mind.

We're going to 4 islands in August and for Maui I was considering renting a Sebring... thought it would be nice for the road to Hana since my daughter gets car sick occasionally (thought the fresh air would do her well... along with some dramamine!). But we have 4 people too (2 adults, and 2 kids ages 13 and 9). You said 4 people was a tight squeeze in the Sebring... how many adults / kids did you have on the trip?

Our other choice is a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Do you recommend we stick with that??? We're going to try to limit the luggage as much as possible, but since we'll be there 15 days... we can't limit it that much.

Thanks for any advice!

Carole

Carol47: can you give me some more details on what codes you used? I couldn't find the websites you suggested. I really would like to get that convertible?

thank you in advance or maybe I should say mahalo!

On Kauai last month, the SUV we rented was useful on the very potholed dirt road past the arboretum toward the Wailua River/views into the crater and one of the also very potholed and slick 4WD roads in Koke'e toward the Alakai Swamp trailhead. I would say that unless you're specifically intending on driving some of these very bad roads, I wouldn't bother getting the SUV. It can be difficult to park in the many tight spots you may have to contend with.

For Maui, I wouldn't bother. We even drove the bumpy gravel road around the backside of Haleakala in a regular rental, although admittedly the road was dry. We did a lot of exploring and adventuring on Maui and nowhere did it seem necessary to have an SUV. And once again, a smaller car will be easier to park.

We paid $290 with all fees and taxes for an SUV through Alamo for 8 days last month, with a code through their website.

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