HAWAII - HAWAII ISLAND CAR RENTAL REVIEWS

The taxi company's service was efficient and satisfying.

Really good overall

Pick-up and drop-off were both really quick.

Easy to find and pretty fast. The car is good. However, there's one concern: I don't know when the deposit will be refunded.

Really good

Pick-up and drop-off are at the same place, and there’s a shuttle that takes you to and from the airport, super fast and convenient. We rented on the Big Island for 6 days over the Spring Festival, booked early, and full coverage was only about 2,100 RMB. Even when the volcano erupted, they still kept our car for us, which was really reassuring.

Hertz is excellent, no long queues, and specific car models provided.

Alamo was the first rental service after leaving the airport, making car pickup straightforward and convenient. The drop-off was at the same location. We opted for a full-tank fuel policy. The Wrangler felt a bit stiff but comes with four-wheel drive, perfect for exploring the Big Island. The reverse camera has guiding lines but requires manual setup.

The car was in great condition.

Renewing the rental was super quick, and kudos to the customer service team!

Got off the plane at Kona, waited just a bit at the rental car shuttle stop and the shared Avis/Budget bus showed up. Avis is the first stop at a nearby lot, so it was pretty easy to find. Just note: if you’re not an Avis VIP customer, you have to go in through a different entrance to get to the counter. There were almost no other customers, so I was first in line and didn’t have to wait at all, which really surprised me.

I specifically wanted a Ford Explorer (mainly because it’s 4WD across the lineup), but the Avis rep clearly didn’t want us taking that kind of car up to the observatory. He kept insisting there were no Explorers available and tried to put us in a “similar” KIA. Since it wasn’t 4WD, we refused and said we’d rather come back early the next morning to see if an Explorer showed up. After going back and forth for a while, he suddenly said he’d “go check the garage” – and magically found an Explorer. Honestly, it felt like he’d been bluffing us from the start. Anyway, we ended up getting what we wanted, so at least it all worked out in the end.

That said, the car itself was clearly on the older side and not in great condition. The third row was supposed to fold flat, but the headrest release was broken, so it would never go fully down. We had to wrestle a few 28-inch suitcases into the trunk and ended up sweating through the whole process. Over the next few days, once we drove over to Hilo, the screen suddenly started showing a “Tire Pressure Sensor Fault” warning, which gave us quite a scare on the road. Thankfully it was just the sensor – the tires themselves were fine.

Super efficient—my deposit was refunded the very next day.

Very convenient, no sales pitch.

Very satisfied

Every step of the process was fast, and the deposit was released quickly.

Pick-up took maybe 10 minutes, super efficient, no pointless chatter. Drop-off was just as smooth!

Very efficient

They even let me pick up the car early and arranged everything really smoothly.

Service was pretty good.

We arrived on the shuttle from the cruise terminal to the airport, so there was a bit of a wait when a whole busload showed up at once. But when it was finally my turn, the check-in was almost unbelievably smooth. I walked into the lot focused on finding the “Hyundai” I’d booked and couldn’t see it anywhere. Then I hit the button on the key, and boom—the Mustang convertible right next to me lit up to say hello!