I almost never have good experiences with car rentals, but this was a very good textbook experience with Budget. Upon arrival at Kahului and retrieving our baggage, we rode the tram to the rental garage. There was no wait at the rental counter and the agent said my car was ready upstairs. I checked the Fastbreak board, grabbed my paperwork, loaded up and we hit the road! You know when you reserve your car, the picture shows a "similar" sized class of car to what you actually get? This is the first time ever that I got the exact car that was in the picture, down to the color! The Candy Red 2025 Mazda CX-90 is a nice vehicle with seating for 7, but I had to fold down the 3rd row, so that I could fit in all our luggage like a Tetris game. Upon our return, I just pulled up to the car return lane, the agent checked me in and I just took the tram back to the terminal. EZ PZ! read more

Budget Rent a Car - 2025 Mazda CX-90 - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

There was a hour and a half line to complete my rental reservation. I had to leave my luggage unattended outside to be able to wait in line for my rental car. None of the other car rental companies had nearly as long of a line. There were more than a dozen pedestals, but only two to three employees working the whole time I was there. I had an issue with my vehicle nearly immediately (brakes) and needed to be towed back to the airport to exchange it. That process took another four+ hours to complete. I was also forced to wait in the long line a second time (I was told there is no customer service desk, so waiting in the line was my only option.) I've never experienced a rental company with such terrible customer experience. I will never do business with Budget again and am telling everyone I know about my experience. read more

I am a great fan of Budget. I get the fast break so I can avoid the lines at the counter. This time when I went down to get my car, they did not have a display board to show where my car was. I had to wait in line and then they told me where my car was. The reason for fast break is to get your vehicle quicker. This wasn't really done at this location. I am also used to getting newer cars for my rental. This car was very old and beat up and not what I am used to for the budget rental car. The car was also dirty and had water stains on the mirrors. The car also didn't drive very well. I felt that the axle was loose or some kind of rod was loose. I feel that the Budget rental a car here could do a better job at cleaning the car and at their check-in process. I was a little disappointed in their service. However, their staff was very friendly and accommodating. read more

Budget at Kahului airport appears to have a chronic issue with understaffing its rental location at the airport. Upon arriving to pick up our rental on Saturday there were long lines out the door and only for Budget. People who just got their car said they waiting 1.5 hours. We noted most of our 1.5 hour wait that there was often only 1 person attending to guests. One week later at a different time of a Saturday afternoon there was still a long line. Budget asked for me to complete a survey which I did and relayed all of this and I received a response back within 30 minutes with an apology and a request to give them another chance. But why would I when this is clearly a chronic problem? read more

Budget Rent a Car - Budget Nissan Sentra rental. - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

We left an item in the car and it was impossible to reach a human at the desk to do the simple act of retrieving the item from the car we had just dropped off. All we could do was reach a corporate phone labyrinth. read more

Lovely elderly man here greeting guests as they come in. He tells them only one person of the party in and leave the luggage outside. He's just delightful as he is there singing and directing. How is the experience inside? Today there wasn't much of a line which is always good. read more

If I could give this rental company 0 stars I would. The agents are were extremely rude. They had 1 person working at the airport - there was a line of over 20 people waiting. We had a deal through Costco and were told to go to fast break. They would not service us. There was literally not another person waiting at fastbreak and they still would not help. They had 4 people working there - then they sent us back upstairs where they had 1 person working . Terrible customer service . I will never rent from budget again. If you want to avoid an infuriating wait and experience along with poor people skills avoid this company all together read more

Budget Rent a Car - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

I usually pass on looking for reviews at rental car places because all that matters is that the car takes you from A to Z. BUT PLEASE LISTEN TO THE REVIEWS! be warned. And do better Budget! My family rented a Chrysler Pacifica and Nissan Altima. The cars at this Budget are in the worst shape I've ever seen for a rental company. Dents and scratches are whatever as long as the car works. However, although the van we got worked, the passenger side mirror was CRACKED and did not move (dangerous). Additionally, in the middle of our trip, the Nissan Altima would not turn on. Thank goodness we were parked at our hotel when we found out. We had to buy jumper cables with our own money and it ended up not working. We could not find anyone to contact since Budget customer service was closed. We ended up having to call AAA and use one of our roadside assistances on it. Fortunately, they were able to jump start the car temporarily, but even the roadside assistance told us to go trade the car because it was not in good shape. Fortunately, the people at Budget seemed to trade our car for another with no problem, but they did not seem to care about what happened. Additionally, after contacting Budget through email, they only offered us 2 days free for our rental. I will say, I'm grateful they gave us something, but we really had a terrible experience. read more

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They need more staffing for cars to be ready and delivered. We were assigned a car space and we arrived at the space and there were 10 to 15 people standing in the space with no car. The numbers of people got larger and there was no room for anyone to park our car in the space provided. A totally mismanaged situation. read more

Dear Budget Customer Service, I filed a formal complaint regarding the condition of the rental car we were issued and the customer service we received at the OGG airport. I booked this rental through Southwest Airlines as an A-List Preferred member, and I expected a much higher standard of service and vehicle quality based on the partnership between Southwest and Budget. When we arrived at the airport to pick up our vehicle, I attempted to address my concerns on-site, at the fast-track counter (after seeing the vehicle), but I was told that no other cars were available unless I was willing to pay additional money. This was unacceptable given the condition of the car we were assigned. The vehicle we received was in extremely poor shape. The bumpers had spray paint on them, and the key lock on the driver's door was completely missing/punched out, leaving a hole where the lock should have been. The air conditioner makes a loud, unpleasant /farting noise every time the car turns off. When we started the vehicle for the first time, the check engine light immediately illuminated. We were told to simply turn the car on and off and hope it goes away, which is neither safe nor an appropriate resolution. In addition, the car had significant scratches, over 45,400 miles on it, and when opening the trunk, the amount of dirt around the frame was shocking and unacceptable. We have photos documenting all of these issues. For a rental costing over $545 for the week, this experience has been deeply disappointing. The condition of the vehicle, combined with the lack of customer service and refusal to provide an appropriate replacement without additional charges, has left a very negative impression. On Monday they did say we could exchange the car, but we had activities planned every day of the week and we were an hour away from the airport. When I let them know that that was not possible, they have ignored all subsequent emails. read more

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waited forever for a car almost an hour after waiting in line 45 mins. next day the cars battery died and we had to go back to the airport almost an hour from our resort. they gave us another car this time the seat would not adjust and my wife could not reach the pedals and I was squished while driving. 2 bum cars in the same trip. save yourself the trouble and also you may want to insist that they do not give you a Mazda cx5. they have tons of the and they are awful. find another place to rent a car read more

This was a completely unacceptable experience with Budget at the Maui (Kahului / OGG) airport and it ruined our entire first day of vacation. After landing, we waited nearly two hours just to get a rental car. There were 50+ people in line and only four employees working, none of whom showed urgency, concern, or any effort to move the line along. The pace was painfully slow, and there was no explanation or acknowledgment of the excessive wait. This was during a known high-demand travel period -- Budget knew exactly how many reservations they had and still chose to staff at an obviously inadequate level. After finally completing the paperwork and payment, we were sent to the pickup area and then waited another 15 minutes because the car was not ready. When the vehicle finally arrived, it was dirty and clearly not inspected. There were stains on the ceiling and used cough drop wrappers left in the center console. This is basic cleanliness, not a premium feature. This operation reflects a complete failure of management and quality control. Two hours in line, disengaged staff, and a filthy vehicle is unacceptable at any rental location, let alone a major airport where travelers are exhausted and on vacation schedules. To make matters worse, this rental was booked through Hawaiian Airlines, which lists Budget as a preferred partner. That association is embarrassing given the level of dysfunction here. If you value your time or your sanity, avoid this location. Standing in line for hours after a long flight is not how a Maui vacation should begin. read more

Over 3 hours in line to get our rental car. If you're reading this it's probably already too late. read more

Waited in line and then they needed my husband license and she made us stand in line again. Worst service I have EVER had here and we have been coming every year for over 25 years read more

We arrived in Maui excited to start our adventure until we arrived at Budget car rentals. Only one person was allowed in the office and loved ones had to remain out in the heat. Once inside, I found myself waiting in a long, very slow moving line that felt like an eternity. While standing for over an hour, everyone was complaining about the experience. The there were only two staff members going about their business of up selling customers to purchase the pay in advance fuel service as well as the car rental insurance. Waiting in line and watching a customer repeatedly say no thank you, while the staff tried to make the sale talking about possible theft and liability, just made the whole experience exponentially worse. Budget, please at least double your staff and if people say no to the extras, leave it at that. read more

Completely incompetent. There is a line stretching outside of the building and the agents are moving like sloths. Every few minutes one will disappear for a while. A few times, there were no agents working at all. 90 mins in line and still many ahead of us. There is nobody working, and nobody cares. AVOID BUDGET AT ALL COSTS. read more

Budget Rent a Car - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

We just got back from Hawaii this week and upon arrival, the attendant told us to return the car before our flight on May 11th. They did not mention it had to be returned by 6pm even knowing our flight was a red eye. Fast forward to our last day when dropping the car off. We pulled in at 7pm and she informed us we will have to pay for another full day of our car and car seat for our toddler. The woman was obviously having a bad day with how she was acting, just seemed mad to be there. Very disappointing customer service and poor business etiquette. I would hope to get some resolve for this situation, but I doubt they will respond. read more

We waited in line for 3 hours here after arriving in Maui. No apologies either. Staff had no desire to move quickly. You know how many reservations you have, why not have more staff available during the busy times? 3 people to handle over 60 reservations is ridiculous. Never will I use them again in the future. The car we had was filthy dirty also, at least the gas was full. When we returned the car there was no one there to help. We walked by a few staff and not one person said a word to us. read more

We arrived at Budget after a long flight. A woman was at the door yelling at people not to bring in any luggage and only one person per party can go inside. The line was very long, and finally they added more staff. It was finally my turn, and the girl tried to sell me a jeep for an extra $20/day, which I politely declined. She then sighed, her attitude seemed to change, and said something along the lines of "let me figure out which car I can get you" (was supposed to be Toyota Corolla or similar - prepaid via Costco package). Her tone felt like maybe no cars were left. After a few minutes, she handed me the Budget packet with car license # and type of vehicle on the booklet, informed me of the location where to find the car, and sent me on my way. We started driving out of the Budget garage, but the QR code wasn't working to open the gate. This man (who did not smile ever and literally hated his life - it was obvious) was extremely rude when I told him our QR code is having issues. He then goes "you're in the wrong car" to which I said, the girl told me to get this exact car from the location we found it. He took ~20min (felt like an eternity and stressful when everyone pulls up behind us and realizes we're stuck) looking into why it wasn't working. Either the girl wrote down the wrong license, or a Budget member put the wrong car in the spot. She wrote license YAR333 Nissan Altima but we had YAR332 Nissan Altima. The man kept blaming us and did not take any accountability. ZERO customer service. Even when the gate finally went up, he said absolutely nothing to us. We had to say, ok sooo we're good to go? Super curt response. Miserable man. Doesn't deserve the job. If the Budget girl wrote the correct license plate, or if the Budget person who parked the car in the spot chose the correct car, we would've saved almost 45min of agony and frustration on our first wedding anniversary trip. However, dropping the car off was a great experience and smooth sailing. If not for that, would give one star. read more

What a mess! After a 7 + hour flight we went to Budget at the airport. When I got to front door I counted around 50 people in front of me. Shocking only 3 employees were working. Finally got to the front of the line 1 hour and 30 minutes later. read more

Budget Rent a Car - Enjoy your wait... - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Absolutely awful. The service was bad. They clicked and baited us with the price. They offered one price and then it ended up being far more than that. Don't waste your time with this place. read more

We rented a car from Budget at the Kahului airport in Maui. After 4 days, the battery died, stuck in a parking garage. How helpful was Budget? We were told by them that we had 2 options: (1) pay $130 for someone to come jump us, or (2) have a tow truck come and tow the car back to the airport (an hour from our resort) and get another car. WTF?? What kind of service is that?? You rent us a dead battery car and that's how you treat your customers?? NEVER rent from Budget. The money they say you'll save is not worth the customer service. read more

We arrived at Budget and have been in line waiting to get a car for over an hour. Multiple kiosks...2 people working. No seats! VERY insensitive to elderly or disabled people. What a waste of time. I chose it because the rate was lower than most....I see why now! What you save in dollars you pay for in time...which is far more valuable. Unacceptable! read more

Budget Rent a Car - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

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Awful. 100 people in line, 1 desk open. In line 2 hours and counting, could easily end up being 4 hours. F budget read more

Budget Rent a Car - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

Lines are incredibly long for car pick ups. 50 people in line and only two people behind the counter. Hire more people please.

0 stars. One kiosk open. Hours long line. Hopefully if you're reading this it's not too late. Book a different rental car. read more

We've been in line for over an hour and still have 15 people in front of us to pick up our car. They absolutely are horrible. Stay away from Budget in Maui! read more

Two days later....and problems with Budget rental.... They have two people on contract for our car... claiming...they mistakenly list our car's key to another car ???? What is going on??? 3 calls to us and 2 to budget and still not resolved... they want us to go back to the airport to straighten it out....are they kidding??? What a nightmare read more

Budget Rent a Car - More luggage on other side of the door - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

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Avoid if possible, but if you HAVE TO rent from them at least be aware of what may await you and be prepared: 1. The car we were given turned out to have low battery in the key fob. The cheap cars they rent out of course don't alert you of the low battery. The way we found out was by being locked out of the car at Costco where we stopped right after arrival to get our provisions before heading to our condo rental. Stranded at the Costco parking lot with 2 little kids, a cart full of groceries, and no way to get into the car. After trying many times, the car eventually miraculously unlocked. Upon arrival at our condo, we were unable to lock the car because the key fob was dead again. We called Budget, but it was already after hours and no one answered. The next morning we called again and even though we went through the emergency roadside assistance prompts, our call was picked up by someone at a call center in Mexico. They informed us that our options were (1) go buy a new battery for the key fob and replace it ourselves or (2) they will have to call a tow truck to tow the car back to Budget and charge us for the tow. If we were able to open the car, they also said we could drive it back to Budget and get the car swapped. This was extremely aggravating. Our expectation was that someone from Budget would come to us and replace the battery or bring a different car. How is it at all reasonable to expect someone on their vacation (plus with little kids) to: (1) know or spend time researching what kind of battery a key fob for this car is needed, (2) spend time searching for where to buy the battery (3) have the tools to open the fob (the key fob has 4 tiny screws); and (4) have the know how to replace the battery?! With the help from ChatGPT, we now know what battery a Kia Forte key fob takes. We found and bought battery at Foodland for $6 and change for 2 batteries. They don't sell singles. The we had to search and buy a toolkit with a screwdriver small enough to open those 4 tiny screws on the fob. An eyeglasses repair kit at ABC for $11 and change did the job. This was our most memorable "Welcome to Hawaii" ever! And now on our way out, we were equally greeted with another dis-service from Budget: They told us that there was "excessive sand" inside the car and they were going to charge us $250 detailing fee because of it. They specifically said that is because it would take them more than half hour to vacuum the car because of the sand. (That's an utter lie and an exaggeration because we vacuumed everything ourselves spotless in under 5 minutes! - more details on that below.) We did tell them about our key fob ordeal, expecting them to just call it even. Oh no, the best the manager said they could offer us was a $20 credit, but they would still charge us the $250 detailig. They did offer us an option to leave the rental return and go to a third party place to get the car vacuumed. This was pure extortion: basically pay $250 or be at risk of missing your flight. Wonder how many people they get this way. In my 20+ times across Hawaiian islands, this was the first such experience. We did leave and drive 5 minutes outside the airport to a self-service car wash that's right next to a KFC, put $2.50 into a self-service vac machine and removed all the sand in under 5 minutes. What's quite notable is that next to us was a buy also vacuuming a car and I chatted him up. Turned out he worked for a car rental and was cleaning the car for them. So, they charge you $250 for a "detail" but then turnaround and vacuum it themselves for $2.50! Is that the Aloha nowadays?! read more

Budget Rent a Car - This is the spot next to KFC where you can self-vacuum the car to avoid their $250 extortive cleaning fee. - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

We have rented cars from Budget Car Rental at the Maui Airport OGG on multiple occasions. There are two horrible experiences of having to burn up a precious day of vacation driving back to the airport to change cars. The first was a Jeep Wrangler that started running rough, we didn't even want a Jeep but they didn't have the Ford Edge that we paid for. We had to take it back to the airport from Makena. Two days ago was a Mazda CX5 with a damaged key fob, the battery in the key fob went dead preventing us from unlocking the doors to the car. The previous day we had taken a wonderful 3 hour drive on the tight, twisty, Road to Hana. That means that if the key fob had broken then we would have had to wait three hours for a tow truck. We had to take it back to the airport from Kihei. When renting from Budget, Maui do not expect to get the car you want! We usually end up with that they refer to as "equivalent". I.e. we received a Chevy Malibu piece of junk when we ordered a Toyota Camry. Another was receiving a Jeep when we ordered an Edge. The retail price on what we received was a great deal less than what we ordered. When we ordered the Camry the woman at the counter was honest enough to say that they didn' carry Camrys at that facility. This is a good place to rent a car...IF you expect a really bad deal. read more

They are not ready for this amount of traffic for pick up you stand in lines for hours even if you pre pay horrible customer service. Rude people read more

On 9-4-25, I made a reservation for a rental car through Costco Travel. That reservation was for an intermediate SUV (Toyota Rave4 or similar). The rental was for the period of 2-24-26 through 3-6-26 for pick up at the Kahului Airport in Maui. The rental price was $562.62. Upon arrival at the Budget agency, there were at least 25 people in line with two (2) agents despite over 10 check in desks. We waited over 1 hour to finally get to an agent after over a 6 hour flight. This should have been an indication to me of "things to come." If you go on line and google Budget car rentals - Maui airport, there are numerous unhappy customers complaining about the time wait at this facility. Has Costco Travel even looked at some of this? The people on line stated they rented through Costco and will never rent through Costco again. On Yelp Budget received 1 1/2 stars only. This should tell you something! Shame on you both Budget and Costco Travel. If that was not enough, the Budget agent told us an intermediate SUV was not available and instead offered a Jeep which we did not want due to the rough ride & subgrade interior. We had no plans to go "off road" since my wife and I are in our mid 70's and again, we did not want a rough ride which Jeep is known for. Since we had no choice, we went ahead and walked out to the rental pick up area. We later discovered that the Jeep was almost 5 years old (2022). The vehicle had almost 50,000 miles on it and was in terrible condition. There was a passenger floor mat but the driver floor mat was missing. In addition, it was very difficult (if not impossible) to see out of the driver side mirror and out of the passenger side mirror due to severe water spot pitting making driving dangerous for the user. I bought some Windex and tried cleaning the mirrors but it did not help even one little bit. Upon leaving the rental car facility, the agent did not even check the vehicle for dents, scratches or any other damage due to the age and condition of the vehicle. When I told the check out agent "aren't you supposed to check the vehicle for scratches," he laughed. This should tell you something. The tires were nearly bald as seen by the photo I took placing a quarter in the tread. The jeep was noisy and the seats uncomfortable - nothing compared to the intermediate SUV that we were supposed to get. The contract was for a total of $562.62 and the billing was for $579.45? Therefore, I was overcharged $16.83. What happened to Costco looking out for their customers. Has Costco gone on line and looked at all the complaints that Budget is getting by their customer's? SHAME ON YOU COSTCO AND AVIS BUDGET - SHAME ON YOU!!!! read more

I'll take part of the blame for NOT checking the reviews of this place BEFORE reserving a car online. Guess it never entered my mind to check reviews for such a major car rental company and location. I didn't think a company could be that slow and unprepared to manage reservations, but they managed to piss off over 50-60 people. It took us over an hour to get to the front of the line because they only had two people working. Never again Budget...bye, bye. read more

Budget Rent a Car - The wait at Budget! - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

They charged $450 to vacuum sand from the floormats. The car was otherwise clean. No trash. Nothing spilled. No odors. No dirt or mud. Just sand that I imagined would be easily vacuumed in the routine cleaning. What a scam. read more

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I was wrongfully charged for an upgrade on a vehicle that broke down just a few hours after I picked it up. I had to use my own towing service just to get the car running again so I could return it and exchange it on the same day of the rental. The front desk representative assured me I would not be charged for the upgrade, given the mechanical failure and the fact that they didn't have a proper replacement available. Fast forward a week -- I was still charged the full upgrade fee, despite not having the upgraded vehicle and barely driving it. When I called customer service, they outright refused to refund the amount, even after explaining that I returned the car the same day and used my own resources to manage their faulty vehicle. Budget does not have a direct number to contact their front desk of rental location. The phone number given always leads to a Customer Call service desk out sourced else where in a different location. There is no way to contact the original location directly. This is completely unacceptable, and I strongly advise against renting from this company. Do not trust their upgrade offers or verbal assurances -- they will charge you anyway and leave you to deal with their failures. I will never use their service again, and I highly recommend others look elsewhere. not to mention, both cars received was dirty and smelled like mildew. read more

Disappointing. The line to get to the counter took more time than our flight to Maui! Every other rental car counter had one or two customers, but Budget had easily a line of 50. We are tired and weren't expecting this to be the part of the trip that was the most difficult. read more

Very disappointed in my experience here. Initially booked a few days before landing through Costco and Budget had the best rate. The 'Luxury' option was the best deal surprisingly. Pick up was pretty simple and there were no lines. When we were checking in, the only question that the rep really asked regarding my rental was if I wanted to use my own insurance which I did. After that we were off and got our car which was a Dodge Charger and it was fine for our trip, no real complaints. Now the return is where I have an issue and it's partially my fault. When I first checked in I heard the price that I was originally booking for and was also told about a $100 hold which is common so it as ok. In my previous rental car experiences, I'm told the price and thats that. I find out when I return my car that the rep added on some Loss Damage Waiver that was $30+/day. Yes, I could have read that it was added on but typically, I am asked about these add ons first and most of the time I trust what the rep tells me. Most people don't read their entire contract when they get here, they just sign and go (this is debatable but still not cool). When I tried to bring it up to Budget after my trip, they were pretty dismissive of my concern which was very disappointing. This is one of the times where the star rating is accurate. I do NOT recommend renting from Budget, at this location or the company in general unless you want a headache and add ons added without asking. read more

Very long wait times. Have been in line for over 1.5 hours and only have two staff members behind the counter helping people

This company practices deceptive business practices. Though I prepaid, the receipt showed my bill less than the prepayment. They refused to refund me the difference. It seems illegal. Anyway, I will forever boycott Budget and I have used them exclusively for over 40 years. read more

If you're renting from Budget at the Kahului Airport in Maui, think twice. I was charged $250 for a "cleaning fee" after returning a car with a small amount of sand in the footwells--nothing more. No trash, no spills, no damage--just sand. They provided photos as "evidence," which literally showed a few grains of sand that could've easily been removed with a quick vacuum. Instead, they claimed the car was "unrentable" and needed "extensive detailing." It was completely ridiculous and honestly predatory. When I reached out to customer service to get some kind of explanation or clarification, I was met with copy-and-paste responses over and over again. Every reply ignored the actual content of my emails and just restated their generic policy. I asked to speak to a supervisor or get contact info for the branch manager multiple times, and they flat-out ignored the request. Their responses were not only unhelpful--they were rude and dismissive, which made the situation even more frustrating. It's extremely disappointing to be treated this way as a paying customer. Budget clearly has no interest in accountability, and this location seems more focused on squeezing extra fees out of tourists than providing honest service. I will never rent from them again, and I strongly suggest others avoid them too. read more

Budget Rent a Car - $250 worth of sad... - Car Rental Near Me - Kahului, Hawaii

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