Long term car rental

[pacificrimgal]

I am researching a 2 to 3 month trip to the Puna area to check it out. Any reviews or comments on "Big Island Rent-a Car", they are the most affordable that I have found yet.
I enjoy reading the dialog on "Punatalk", helps pass the dark winter days in BC, with my "Lightbox"!

[Carey]

Do not have any idea of the rental place, but there are a few ways around: some buy a old beater used car then sell or donate before leaving....many pros & cons - but have heard that some have saved money...

Also car rentals here really spike on boat days, so long term rentals have to cover the lost revenues they would have on those days (the rentals can flucuate over $50 per day....based on the # of boats in the harbor... a 2 boat day in Hilo is high, when both Hilo & Kona have multiple boats, renting price is outrageous.... have known people that rent cars only part of the week...and not on boat days (for this to work, helps if you are staying near a bus stop, or a person who commutes into HIlo daily that will help you out - one of our friends was able to get a rental at $19/day for 3 day periods... then used bus or bike on the $75 days... but she was staying here, and we have one of the better bus coverages on island...so it wasn't horrid)

[VancouverIslander]

You could check Craigslist. There's a guy named Tony that rents cars (his phone number ends with 9111). He's ok, but only rent from him if you know a bit of mechanics, because my experience is that although he is more than willing to switch cars if one has problems, and send the ones that aren't working great to the shop, he doesn't know himself when there's a problem before he sends them out. Also check before you rent and make sure the safety and registration are current.

[terracore]

Best prices I ever got on the islands was from this place: http://www.carrentalhawaii.com/ They use the regular car rental companies but for some reason they are a lot cheaper than you can get anywhere else. I know weekly rates are usually the cheapest. I have never rented a car for months. If it was me I would probably get a weekly rate for 1 week and try to find a beater to buy for the duration of my visit. You said you wanted to "check it out" (Puna). Does that mean you are coming back? You could look at storing the car for your next visit (probably someplace cheap but rusty like a punawebbers vacant lot) or selling it- perhaps for the same or more money than you bought it for. Seems like 2-3 months worth of rental fees would tally up far beyond the $1500-$2000 price of a beater after taxes. Of course you'll take a gamble that buy a $2k beater that runs for a week then needs a $1500 transmission repair.

One thing to take into consideration is gas mileage. In certain situations if we are doing a lot of island touring it is cheaper (and more comfortable) for us to rent a car that gets 30 MPG than to drive our own cars that get around 15 MPG after factoring the price of gas, rental, taxes etc and we don't have to worry about our older car breaking down on the other side of the island. Thats what we do when we have mainland visitors come who want to see everything- rent a car for the heavy driving days.

[VancouverIslander]

terracore's recommendation is excellent for a broker for the commercial rental companies. One thing to watch for (as always) with rental companies is insurance costs. My home car has insurance that covers rental cars, which is the cheapest way to go.

[pacificrimgal]

Mahalo for the responses, gives me more to think about. I have a friend who also recommended Craigslist, as he has had friends that rented cars with positive results.
I have lived on Oahu (North Shore in the 70's) and spend vacations on Kauai and now thinking about a more permanent living situation and the Puna area is one I want to check out.

[unknownjulie]

I have seen vacation rentals that include use of car. This is what I would look for. I know it could get complicated if you had an accident or did damage, but I'm assuming the people who are offering this, know what they are doing. I would actually post on CL asking to rent a vacation rental with vehicle and see what you get!

[terracore]

I tried to rent from one of these vacation rental/car folks and right before we were supposed to leave they emailed and said "sorry, turns out the vacation rental isn't available. Our bad." Leaving us homeless. Unfortunately, our DEPOSIT was also unavailable. I was able to get it back via credit card dispute but my advice is... they are operating an illegal vacation rental AND an illegal car rental operations... stay away. STAY FAR AWAY.

[unknownjulie]

wow, thanks for letting everyone know what happened to you. What a nightmare!

[bananahead]

judge ea individually, dont prejudge all because of one not so bad or unrealistic 'nightmare'

Craiglist is best and most sensible way for a 60-90day trip.... to buy a car then resell it, or to borrow a car for a fee

....or use the $1 bus (and only rent the car for a few days at a time when you REALLY need it)

otherwise youd be paying (wasting $1,500-$3,000++++) if you just rent it through a car rental place

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha