Car Rentals in Hawaii

Aloha From Hawaii! 

One of the biggest issues that visitors to Hawaii are facing now is what to do about a car rental. Should you even reserve one, can you get around without one, why are car rentals so expensive?  Let’s see if we can give you some solid answers!

Pre Pandemic, Hawaii had a huge abundance of car rentals on the islands.  When Covid started and the world shut down, the islands had all these car rentals but nobody to rent them.  So they sat in empty fields and anywhere else they could be stored until the agencies figured out what they were going to do with the overflow.  It took several months but the rental cars started to disappear.  Apparently, most of the car rentals were shipped back to the mainland and that’s when it all started!

Fast forward to October 2020 when the state of Hawaii reopened to visitors…those visitors came in huge numbers!  Unfortunately, Hawaii wasn’t ready!  Restaurants weren’t able to allow full capacity, boat and tour operators could accommodate fewer people for the activities and of course, hardly any cars to rent.  We had all these visitors that wanted to have a great time and help funnel money into Hawaii’s struggling economy and no inventory to accommodate.  Car rentals are a hot commodity and the high prices reflect that…fewer cars equals inflated rates!

With some time and lots of patience, visitors and locals have come together to create amazing opportunities!  One of those opportunities is a company called Turo!  If you’re not familiar with Turo, it’s a car sharing company that started about 10 years ago in California.  The way Turo works is that regular people who want to rent their car can register on www.turo.com to get the process started.  Once they have registered their car, then YOU have an opportunity to rent THEIR car!  As a traveler or renter, it’s so easy to reserve.  Plus the extras are what seal the deal!  Lower car rental prices, easy delivery either to the airport or straight to you, no extra charges for airport fees and other taxes that increase the price of car rentals and easy cancellation makes renting with Turo a more economical way to rent a car on your next vacation!

Today, the number of car rentals versus the number of visitors is still very lopsided but with Turo and other options, the situation is getting better.  The truth is that if you want to be able to explore and get off the beaten path, you’re going to need a car rental.  Uber and the others would be too expensive and with more restrictions. So getting a car on any of the islands really is the way to go.  Yes…you have to deal with the higher gas prices and possible parking fees at the resorts but in the long run, renting a car is a great way to see the islands!  

There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon!  Being that we are almost 2 years since the pandemic started, things are starting to get back to normal!  Restrictions are being lifted, restaurants can operate at full capacity along with tour and activity providers so things are promising!  The more time that goes by helps get the car rental inventory back to where it was and we will get there!  To all the future visitors to Hawaii…Reserve a Car Rental!  If you confirm it ahead of time you will be able to lock in your price and then you can just sit back and wait for vacation to begin!  ALOHA!