Staffs at Discount Hawaii Car Rental were very knowledgeable and they were able to give me…read morerecommendations based on two day plan at Hilo coming off a cruise ship. They responded emails and phone messages promptly and they were very helpful in finalizing my plan.

The biggest money saving tip for the Big Island PERIOD: go with DHCR!…read more After a major screw-up on my part, reserving 9 pm instead of 9 am with Thrifty, I called them up two weeks before my trip to correct the time. My weekly rate of $329 soared to ridiculous $889!! What the fudge!! This disaster was going to ruin my entire vacation. I desperately scoured the interwebs for hours on discount sites like Expedia, Hotwire, Travelworm, Cheap Ticket, etc and nothing remotely better was found. About to surrender, I revised my keyword search and 10 mins later, I found Discount Hawaii Car Rental (DHCR). Not believing the incredibly reasonable rates ($200?!!) for a week on the site, I decided to YELP this one. I contacted Miriam W, an ambassor & megastar in the Yelp world, to double check and verify the legitimacy of this company. Indeed, it's the real deal. Thank you, Miriam! In confidence, I booked and reserved on DHCR's website with NO credit card information needed. Within less than an hour, a confirmation email in my inbox popped up and the edges of my lips began to curl upward (turning my frown upside down). An Alamo full sized car rental has been reserved for almost 40% lower price than the one I made 4 months ago from Thrifty!! When I arrived at Kona airport, everything went according to plan. Needless to say, I was a happy camper. Details: Website: http://www.discounthawaiicarrental.com/ Bonus: FREE additional driver included with reservations, NO cancellation fees. If your destination is the Big Island of Hawaii, this must be the ONLY place you should go to rent your car.

Although I didn't need to rent a car I was looking for some good binoculars for an upcoming family…read moretrip. Tony's name came up as someone knowledgeable on the topic. After getting's Tony honest take on the craft of binoculars I ordered a pair of ScoopX UHD 10x42 binoculars for a huge discount from practically anywhere else. They're great to say the least especially for the price! I can 100% vouch for Tony as a great trustworthy source for binoculars. He'll take care of all your needs. Highly recommended.

The Nissan Maxima rented to us was filthy, but I'm still giving Tony 4 stars because he saved our…read moreBig Island trip. We went to Big Island thinking we'd just rent a car once we get there because we didn't know yet what days we'd need a car. We didn't want to pay car rental for a full week (plus hotel parking) when we'd only use it for a couple of days or so. BIG MISTAKE! We didn't realize a golf tournament and some medical conventions would take place in the island during the time of our visit. Long story short, all the major car rental companies did not have a single car available for us. And believe me, we called them all---Enterprise, Budget, Avis, National, Dollar, Hertz, you name it! It was such a nightmare! We were finally able to rent a Subaru AWD on our 4th and 5th day in Kona for about $160 PER DAY!!! You read that right, PER DAY. So we spent over $300 for a 2-day car rental. When we moved to Hilo, Tony's was the ONLY car rental that had a vehicle available. Tony was aware of the car shortage situation in the island that week, but did he take advantage and jack up his prices??? NO!!! He charged us about $40/day. If only for that, he definitely deserves the 4 stars. But here's the thing...as I've mentioned earlier, the car he rented us was filthy. It reeked of cigarette; there were hair strands from previous passengers on the dashboard cover; the center console beverage holder was yucky and sticky; the 12-volt DC power outlet didn't work so we couldn't charge our cellphones; the driver's door had a broken handle; the gas door was broken as well; the wiper fluid was empty; the check engine light was on; it was manual transmission. Despite all of those negatives, the car still got us from point A to point B. And in the end, isn't that all that really matters? Had we not been desperate at that time, we would have looked elsewhere. But I'm glad to have met a decent, hardworking guy like Tony. Maybe next time we'll still rent from him, but we'll make sure to request for a cleaner car :)

ITO just bumped LBC as my favorite airport. Flying out on a late Monday morning, we were treated to…read morelive music from Lopaka Kenoi and two of the most beautiful wahine dancing hula. They made me want to seriously study hula. My only wish would be more food selection. Easy in & out, car rentals right outside.

What an awesome and convenient way to travel between islands in these island hopper flights that…read moreget us right to Hilo to say hello to the Volcanos National Park and so much more!

Always great service with aloha! Shout out to Zach and all the aunties and Budget/ Avisread more

Car extremely dirty, went back to tell lady and she was super rude "Elizabeth" will be making a…read morecomplaint

My rental vehicle is always from Enterprise when I am sent to Hilo because my employer has an…read moreaccount with the company. Customer service is consistently friendly and helpful. Picking up and returning the vehicle is simple and relatively quick. I have driven mostly Nissan cars and trucks that were clean and in excellent condition. The last time I was in Hilo, I left my iPhone X in my vehicle after I turned it in. The kind Enterprise employee ran after me as I was on my way to check-in for my flight back to Honolulu. That was a close call! Very thankful to the employee who did a thorough check of my vehicle and returned my phone. I'm very much looking forward to another opportunity to return to Hilo and get to everywhere I need with an Enterprise vehicle!

When we got there the Enterprise window was closed and so we had to get checked out with Alamo. The…read moreguy at the desk didn't ask to see ID and didn't go out to inspect the car with us. He just gave us papers and said "your car is in stall 5. If there's any damages just take pictures of them." Given, it was near 6:15pm at this point and getting dark. I didn't like that we didn't have someone check out the car with us and agree on any potential existing damage, but I also understand there was ONE guy working two different company's check outs. Drop off (after hours) was easy and we received our check out paperwork and final costs by the end of the same day.

I'm a hertz presidential circle member. I'm used to walking to the lot and just picking out a car…read more They don't do that at the Hilo airport. You have to go to the desk to across from the terminals and they physically hand you your keys. This is fine but it also means you have to wait in line with the tourists. Depending on your luck, it might be awhile. Once I got to the register everything was ready, my reservation was there. I think they verified my id and I was on my way. Returning the car was the same thing, you have to physically wait in line to return the keys. So maybe leave yourself some time but Hilo isn't a super busy airport so you should be ok. Everything else was totally fine.

Our flight arrived a few minutes early, but there was no way we would Beasley to get our car early…read more The spirit of Aloha was not with the folks at Hertz /Hilo airport. Several folks in front of us reported issues with their cars. Not good. Our car had cosmetic issues, but we noted them ahead of time and went on our way. Turn in was ok, they noted that the car was taken with cosmetic issues and they were not our fault. Still not very friendly staff.

Clean and comfortable car that served its purpose and did everything we needed it to do. The rental…read morecar counter was pleasant to use. The personnel were friendly and helpful. We had no issues of any kind appreciated the ease of check-in and the ease of checkout on both ends of the reservation.

DO NOT USE AVIS IN KONA. Do whatever you can to avoid it - walking would be both preferable and…read morefaster. The staff is so slow you question if you are the punchline of a hidden camera show. You will not walk out of there with a car in fewer than 1.5 to 2 hours (in my particular case it was a full 2 hours of waiting in line). In fact, the staff makes sure to maximize your time waiting in line by (1) not knowing how to use a computer, (2) making excessive attempts to convince you to add on unnecessary additions, and (3) moving with a slowness that rivals glaciers. If you made a reservation here, do yourself a favor and cancel it now and go literally anywhere else. I had no issues at Hertz or Enterprise in the past and would recommend either of them.

I rented vehicles from Budget Hilo for many years until recently when they did not address my…read morecomplaint. Consequently, I switched to Alamo/Enterprise and am totally satisfied with the service, prices and vehicles. I just rented a vehicle this past weekend and unfortunately ran into a problem with the key fob. In a matter of minutes, they resolved the issue and replaced the vehicle! Yes, it was a little inconvenient, but it wasn't their fault! The best customer service I've received in years! I'll be renting from Alamo wherever I travel! Thank you!

These rental car companies that don't even provide a shuttle from the cruise line port are crazy…read more If they would just provide a shuttle people would flock to their business. Cheap and sad.

Dishonest service here. I checked in to pick up my car and while checking out, the lady, I believe…read moreher name was Michelle, older asian didn't seem the most polite. She bombarded us with a bunch of upgrades... "only $15 per day..etc" and questions which we understand they need to make commission but we rejected. Anyway, she pulled out a pamphlet and told us to choose a "package" but did not explain much or how much more each would cost. Just straight up pick one. So we chose the most basic one, once again did not tell us how much more it would be or explain any pricing whatsoever like she previously did. She prompts us to quickly just press accept and sign on the screen, trying to speed through the transaction. She prints out our receipt and starts highlighting a bunch of things really quickly but not explaining any charges of our ADDED charges and WHY. Just highlights the ENTIRE RECEIPT and just tells us our total. Anyway I thought her behavior was weird and after we got the car we realized it's about $100 more than our original quote and quickly realized why. When we came back she was super rude and defensive saying how she's "worked here for 30 years." Yeah, imagine the number of people you've probably scammed over the past 30 years. Anyway had to call thrifty to dispute but luckily they opened a case for when the contract closed and processed our refund. Lesson learned, be more vigilant. 1 star because thrifty was actually able to help us out. Also, car was dirty inside, plenty of dents and scuffs, 2 of the cars emblems were missing lol. Seems like people in this thread had the same experience as us... PILAU !

Update: Thrifty has "so graciously" offered me a refund of a…read morewhopping $25.00 (twenty five, yes.) I paid more than $25 having it cleaned. I will not be renting from this company again.