Ohh Noes! Rental Car Shortage in Hawaii!!!!????

[Scarpozzi]

I started the pandemic on Oahu and the Big Island. My wife and I wanted to return to check out Maui since it's been on our list for years. We're on the East Coast of the US, so it's a long-haul flight for us to go.

We booked a trip to Maui for September with our kids and are getting work to reimburse part of the trip, plus getting some hotel discounts and racking up tons of Hilton perks (as usual)....it's gonna be awesome. I started looking at transfers from the airport to the hotel and it looks like rental cars are out of the question. My company gives me discounts for Enterprise/Alamo/National and they're totally booked....which made me google it and I found that most companies are either booked or charging $200+/day for rentals. that's pretty ridiculous. It makes sense if you're going to multiple destinations and competing with straight taxi service for 30 mile legs.....but challenging to afford on a 10 day/night trip.

I went ahead and setup a shuttle to/from the hotel to get that booked, but wondering if anyone else is planning any trips to Hawaii anytime soon. Apparently, many of the rental fleets have been depleted because they were just sitting there depreciating and got shipped back to the mainland last year....now they don't want to refill their fleets with used cars and are waiting on the chip shortage to ease before backfilling to meet demand.

 

[K1052]

We went in April and the local news was running stories about tourists renting U-Hauls because the usual companies were out of cars. There were a couple in the lot at the Fairmont when we stayed there lol.

 

[quikah]

Yeah, we were thinking about going this summer, but bailed. Kayak is showing availability, but it is definitely way less that what I have seen previously, maybe 1 or 2 companies showing cars. No idea if they are actually available as I didn't go through with the rentals.

Went to Maui 2 yrs ago, really nice and laid back. We stayed at a condo (can't remember if we used AriBnB or VRBO), pretty old, but decent. Coolest thing was it was right next to this little cove that had sea turtles hanging out at it daily. I can't imagine staying in Maui without a car, we drove around a lot.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Yeah, we were thinking about going this summer, but bailed. Kayak is showing availability, but it is definitely way less that what I have seen previously, maybe 1 or 2 companies showing cars. No idea if they are actually available as I didn't go through with the rentals.

Went to Maui 2 yrs ago, really nice and laid back. We stayed at a condo (can't remember if we used AriBnB or VRBO), pretty old, but decent. Coolest thing was it was right next to this little cove that had sea turtles hanging out at it daily. I can't imagine staying in Maui without a car, we drove around a lot.

We're booked for the Grand Wailea/Waldorf Astoria for 10 nights, so plenty of restaurants and activities on-site. Car rentals are $200+/day for the ones available. I'm not paying that because I'm too cheap. I figure at those prices, we could potentially Lyft/Uber/Shuttle across the island for day trips and walk around locally....then Lyft/Uber/Shuttle back and still save money. We may only want to check out the West side of the island one day and then maybe do the road to Hana and do a dinner reservation. I may just book a car service and have a driver take us on a private tour.

 

[K1052]

We're booked for the Grand Wailea/Waldorf Astoria for 10 nights, so plenty of restaurants and activities on-site. Car rentals are $200+/day for the ones available. I'm not paying that because I'm too cheap. I figure at those prices, we could potentially Lyft/Uber/Shuttle across the island for day trips and walk around locally....then Lyft/Uber/Shuttle back and still save money. We may only want to check out the West side of the island one day and then maybe do the road to Hana and do a dinner reservation. I may just book a car service and have a driver take us on a private tour.

Wailea is pretty walkable. There's a bunch of food in Kihei worth checking out though so that would be an Uber/Lyft hop, it's not far however.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Wailea is pretty walkable. There's a bunch of food in Kihei worth checking out though so that would be an Uber/Lyft hop, it's not far however.

It's new to me. I'm open to any suggestions. =)

 

[SamQuint]

I would suggest checking with your hotel to see if they have an official tour company they deal with. (watch out for all the lame companies offering free trips for time share presentations) Most tour companies will shuttle you to the places you want to go to with most of them picking up from your hotel. When I went to Maui I took a tour that took us to the top of Haleakala. We also took a tour that traveled the road to Hana. And the other tour we took was a snorkeling trip to Molokini, a small island off of Maui. Go to the Pacific Whale Foundation site to book their Molokini and sea turtle trip, it was the best thing we did. So cool to swim with the turtles. (ps you don't have to be a great swimmer, they have floatation devices you can use to swim with)

If you get to Lahaina go to Star Noodle, awesome asian fusion cuisine.https://www.starnoodle.com/menu-lahaina-maui-restaurant-star-noodle

 

[K1052]

It's new to me. I'm open to any suggestions. =)

A non-exhaustive list

Kihei:

Maui Bread Company
Outrigger Pizza (cart)
Izakaya Genbe
Maui Fish and Chips
Koiso Sushi Bar
Kehei Cafe
Sugar Beach Bakery
Cafe O'Lei
Maui Brewing Co
Temura's (liquor store with a deli that serves really good Poke)

Wailea:

Akamai Coffee
Spago (in the Four Seasons)
Lineage
Monkeypod Kitchen
Restaurant at the Hotel Wailea (adults only I think)
Ka'Anna Kitchen (in the Andaz)
Big market in the Shops at Wailea mall also has tons of goos stuff for grab and go/deli


If you drive to the west side Leoda's is about 3/4ths of the way there and is good for pie and sandwiches. Star Noodle in Lahania also really good.

Reservations far in advance recommended for anyplace that takes them. I planned 3 weeks out and it was kind of tough for finer dining.

 

[BudAshes]

I was just in Washington and there was almost nothing available. Even Turo had nothing that wasn't insanely priced.

 

[dullard]

There is a nationwide shortage of rental cars. It is so bad that I've had friends be 5 minutes late to pick up the car (plane landed late) and the rental car that they reserved was already gone. They had to wait 8 hours for another car to be returned. News is reporting that Uber rides might cost more than the airline tickets too, so that might not even be an option.

Local alternatives: https://thehawaiivacationguide.com/how-to-get-around-maui-without-a-car/

 

[BudAshes]

There is a nationwide shortage of rental cars. It is so bad that I've had friends be 5 minutes late to pick up the car (plane landed late) and the rental car that they reserved was already gone. They had to wait 8 hours for another car to be returned. News is reporting that Uber rides might cost more than the airline tickets too, so that might not even be an option.

On the upside it is probably a great time to rent a car out on an app like Turo.

 

[purbeast0]

I can't imagine how expensive it would be to uber to the national park with the 7 sacred pools and that hike up to the waterfall, or to uber to see mount haleakala. I'd think ubering everywhere wouldn't even save THAT much in the long run, and you would have none of the convenience.

I just inquired about a rental car in Aruba with a local company I've used for November. $420 for 10 days for an H1 that seats 12. The "normal" national/American companies are pretty ridiculous over there still, and much worse service/cars.

 

[BoomerD]

We went in April and the local news was running stories about tourists renting U-Hauls because the usual companies were out of cars. There were a couple in the lot at the Fairmont when we stayed there lol.

Whoozyerdaddy (remember him?) lives on Maui. He says because of this, Uhaul is now requiring Hawaii driver's licenses to rent their trucks. No more "cheap" rentals for tourists.

 

[K1052]

Whoozyerdaddy (remember him?) lives on Maui. He says because of this, Uhaul is now requiring Hawaii driver's licenses to rent their trucks. No more "cheap" rentals for tourists.

Well there is a name that takes me back.

Seeing some stories lately that Maui locals are getting kinda upset at the volume of people now coming from the mainland. Sort of glad I went early....going back to do the big island and then Honolulu for my 40th early next year. Hopefully things calm down a bit by then.

 

[Pohemi]

We went in April and the local news was running stories about tourists renting U-Hauls because the usual companies were out of cars. There were a couple in the lot at the Fairmont when we stayed there lol.

This is what I was going to mention, but then I saw @BoomerD's post about them restricting them now...

Whoozyerdaddy (remember him?) lives on Maui. He says because of this, Uhaul is now requiring Hawaii driver's licenses to rent their trucks. No more "cheap" rentals for tourists.

Some of my immediate fam are going there next week and my mother had told me she was being quoted $1600 for the 8 or 9 days they would be there, and this was over a month ago. Seems it's been like this for months and might take a while to get back to relative normal.

 

[brianmanahan]

shoot, i went to hawaii a few years ago in the late winter, and there were hardly any rental cars available then.

unless you wanted to drive a huge white mom van around the island. which i proceeded to do because the alternative was walking.

my guess is that rental companies had to sell the cars to stay afloat during the pandemic, so it's gonna be bad for a while.

i don't plan on taking vacation for another 3 or 4 years... if i even live that long.

 

[Scarpozzi]

This is what I was going to mention, but then I saw @BoomerD's post about them restricting them now...

Some of my immediate fam are going there next week and my mother had told me she was being quoted $1600 for the 8 or 9 days they would be there, and this was over a month ago. Seems it's been like this for months and might take a while to get back to relative normal.

The quote I got for 10 days was $2600 after taxes/fees.

I'm definitely going to spend some extra time working out transportation. Ohh well, if it doesn't make sense, I'm going to just have to go back when the prices go down.

 

[Scarpozzi]

shoot, i went to hawaii a few years ago in the late winter, and there were hardly any rental cars available then.

unless you wanted to drive a huge white mom van around the island. which i proceeded to do because the alternative was walking.

my guess is that rental companies had to sell the cars to stay afloat during the pandemic, so it's gonna be bad for a while.

i don't plan on taking vacation for another 3 or 4 years... if i even live that long.

I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but life is precious and short. If you have the means to vacate or find a way to get out, do it. It seems to be that as I get older, I'm seeing more people miss their window on travel, so to speak. Don't miss yours.

 

[Scarpozzi]

A non-exhaustive list

Kihei:

Maui Bread Company
Outrigger Pizza (cart)
Izakaya Genbe
Maui Fish and Chips
Koiso Sushi Bar
Kehei Cafe
Sugar Beach Bakery
Cafe O'Lei
Maui Brewing Co
Temura's (liquor store with a deli that serves really good Poke)

Wailea:

Akamai Coffee
Spago (in the Four Seasons)
Lineage
Monkeypod Kitchen
Restaurant at the Hotel Wailea (adults only I think)
Ka'Anna Kitchen (in the Andaz)
Big market in the Shops at Wailea mall also has tons of goos stuff for grab and go/deli


If you drive to the west side Leoda's is about 3/4ths of the way there and is good for pie and sandwiches. Star Noodle in Lahania also really good.

Reservations far in advance recommended for anyplace that takes them. I planned 3 weeks out and it was kind of tough for finer dining.

I was able to snag a reservation for Mama's Fish House during our trip (I think they're booked into October now). I'll check out some of those. I didn't realize Monkeypod Kitchen had a location in Wailea. I had one on the other side of the island bookmarked.

 

[quikah]

Highlight for my Maui trip was the day we hiked to Nakalele blowhole and a stop at Slaughterhouse Beach on the way back. Hana was kind of meh to me, but maybe missed some stuff as didn't research it that well.

We did a snorkel trip with Pacific Whale, but it was a bust as the 2 places they took us were overrun with jellyfish, so they took us way out for open ocean swim. They gave us the option of going on another trip the next day, but my wife was horribly sea sick, so we skipped that.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Now that's one hell of a 1st world problem right there haha.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Highlight for my Maui trip was the day we hiked to Nakalele blowhole and a stop at Slaughterhouse Beach on the way back. Hana was kind of meh to me, but maybe missed some stuff as didn't research it that well.

We did a snorkel trip with Pacific Whale, but it was a bust as the 2 places they took us were overrun with jellyfish, so they took us way out for open ocean swim. They gave us the option of going on another trip the next day, but my wife was horribly sea sick, so we skipped that.

That snorkel trip sounds like the whale watching trip we went on last year. I actually saw more whales than the spotter and captain on the boat and had them turn around so we saw a few humpbacks....otherwise, they would have missed them. None were breaching and they were only a few just doing deep dives, so you had to really watch to see their water spouts/tails. They offered us a trip the next day, but we just didn't want to burn another 3 hours of the trip in case it was just as bad.

 

[ponyo]

This is the reason I didn’t book cheap flight to Hawaii. Airfare was dirt cheap. Like round trip airfare in the $350 range but rental car was about that much per day. Lol. I decided to fly to Jeju island instead. $65 a day for standard car there. Screw Hawaii.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Might try a specialty service like Turo. Could still be expensive but might get a nicer car. I'm sure there's some others. Alternatively, maybe buy a scooter or electric bikes or something?

 

[RichieZ]

You can take your chances and use a corp ID you can find on slickdeals etc, I actually legit quality for this (I proactively show my corp ID but some have reported not being asked...) and got a great rate when I spent all of June on Oahu. Some corp id's also allow you to override sellouts and then you get an upgrade for example I booked the cheapest car and got upgraded to a SUV. There def was a car shortage see how I got a brand new car with 12mi on it and WA plates LOL: