New car rental fee on Hawaii [merged]

[teepeeca]

The Hawaii legislature has passed a "new" fee for car rentals.

Effective September, 2010, there will be an additional $3.50 PER DAY charge for car rentals rented at airport locations. The "facilities charge' is supposed to go to "enhancing" airport facilities, BUT, I wonder if it will go down the same path as the $3.00 per day car rental charge, that did NOTHING, except go into the stat's coffers/general fund.

I guess it's "business as usual"---SHAFT the tourists !!!

Tony

 

[Kona Lovers]

...and will shuttles gladly take you to off-airport rental locations, where available? Right. :hysterical:

 

[KauaiMark]

Car rental tip (for some)

(This only works only if the resort has an inexpensive airport shuttle service...)

The last few years we haven't picked up the car until the day after we arrive and returned it the night before we left. That saves us 1-2 rental days (and the additional rental "taxes" ).

The Kauai Marriott's shuttle service is free and takes less than 10mins from airport pickup to drop-off.

Just something to think about and factor in the cost of transportation on the islands.

 

[riverdees05]

Sounds like another cash cow for the governments. Like the central car rental places at a lot of airports. They have to be money makers for the airports, and it raises the rental cost a lot.

 

[Cathyb]

What if you book now for 1/2011?

The Hawaii legislature has passed a "new" fee for car rentals.

Effective September, 2010, there will be an additional $3.50 PER DAY charge for car rentals rented at airport locations. The "facilities charge' is supposed to go to "enhancing" airport facilities, BUT, I wonder if it will go down the same path as the $3.00 per day car rental charge, that did NOTHING, except go into the stat's coffers/general fund.

I guess it's "business as usual"---SHAFT the tourists !!!

Tony

Can they tack on the increased fees on an all-ready confirmed reservation for Jan 2011?

 

[Luanne]

Can they tack on the increased fees on an all-ready confirmed reservation for Jan 2011?

You might want to read the fine print on your existing reservation and see if that is addressed.

 

[teepeeca]

YES--- they can---and do---add the extra fee on existing reservations. I believe the car reservation form/contract says that rental price is an "estimate", and if there are additional fees/taxes, the price will be "adjusted".\\Tony

 

[K2Quick]

It's a complete rip-off to be sure. But before casting stones at Hawaii, you might want to check what the fees are like at your own local airport. It's rare to rent a car where the junk fees and taxes aren't 25% or more of the base rental. Phoenix and Seattle stick in my mind for some reason as being especially egregious.

When cities want to build stadiums, they often build them with car rental and hotel taxes. That way, their own citizens don't have to pay them. The problem is their own citizens have to pay them every time they go on vacation because everyone else is doing it too.

 

[LisaRex]

Phoenix and Seattle stick in my mind for some reason as being especially egregious.

Yup, Phoenix is the worst I've ever seen. Doubled the price of the rental. Of course, I think all cities should model their car rental shuttle system -- no waiting for your particular rental car company's van; everyone shares the same one. It drops you off at the huge parking garage that houses all the rental companies under one roof.

 

[Luanne]

Yup, Phoenix is the worst I've ever seen. Doubled the price of the rental. Of course, I think all cities should model their car rental shuttle system -- no waiting for your particular rental car company's van; everyone shares the same one. It drops you off at the huge parking garage that houses all the rental companies under one roof.

There are several cities that do this. Albuquerque, Las Vegas....and I'm sure there are others, those are just the ones I'm familiar with and can remember. Of course I also like the ones where all you have to do is walk across the street and all the rental cars are there.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

It's a complete rip-off to be sure. But before casting stones at Hawaii, you might want to check what the fees are like at your own local airport. It's rare to rent a car where the junk fees and taxes aren't 25% or more of the base rental. Phoenix and Seattle stick in my mind for some reason as being especially egregious.

When cities want to build stadiums, they often build them with car rental and hotel taxes. That way, their own citizens don't have to pay them. The problem is their own citizens have to pay them every time they go on vacation because everyone else is doing it too.

The airport fees in Seattle are so high that it comes out cheaper for me to rent locally at about $35/day than to obtain the same car at an airport location for about $20/day via Priceline.

When I pick up a car at a downtown Seattle location I have to slice my finger and sign in my own blood a statement attesting that I haven't arrived at SeaTac airport withing the last 36 hours or else they slap the fees on as well.

 

[K2Quick]

Of course I also like the ones where all you have to do is walk across the street and all the rental cars are there.

When I was travelling for business (thankfully I don't anymore), I would fly to secondary airports as much as I could just for this reason. When you're travelling every week, shaving 10 or 20 minutes off your trip time each way means a lot. All the major airports I've flown to in Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal) all had car rentals at the terminals unless something has changed in the last ten years or so.

 

[MuranoJo]

There are several cities that do this. Albuquerque, Las Vegas....and I'm sure there are others, those are just the ones I'm familiar with and can remember. Of course I also like the ones where all you have to do is walk across the street and all the rental cars are there.

Houston does this too (at least as of May), and it is nice. I agree, used to be nice to walk across the street.

 

[Cathyb]

Check your Hawaii auto rental

On our Alamo car rental that I reserved back in April there was a charge called Customer Facility Charge $1.00/day.

I just went back to check (after a Tugger's email a while back about the increase in $$$) -- what a shock

My rental charge just for that item went from $14 to $63 (from $1.00/day to $4.50/day which for our two week rental was a huge increase)

You may need to see your increased charge so when you are price checking, you have all the right numbers to check.

 

[DeniseM]

Any Hawaii rentals from Sept. on will include the $4.50 increase - it's a state tax, even if you already have a reservation - no way to avoid it.

 

[MuranoJo]

Sounds like they are really encouraging the tourist trade in HI. Not!

 

[Kauai Kid]

On my January 2011 rental the base fee is $304

Total Taxes: $17.24 is 5.67%
Total Fees : $151.93 is 49.97%
Taxes+Fees: $169.47 is 55.74%

Of course the politicians will tell you that the taxes on a rental car on Kauai are only a little over 5%

Sterling,

 

[AKE]

And politicians wonder why tourism is down in Hawaii... you can only rip off the public for so long before they change their vacation plans. Some years ago Hawaii weeks were scarce on RCI - the other day I saw over 600 weeks including top notch resorts like the Shearwater. We have been going there for many years and have noticed a significant drop in tourism. Funny but even before this latest tax hike we decided that our trip there this fall will be our last for some time - we are definitely not going next year as there are many other cheaper (e.g. airfare, no yimeshare tax, no electricity surgcharge, no water surchagre etc) places to visit where they don't tax you to death.

 

[Sandy VDH]

I bid on and won on priceline, so basically I have prepaid my car rental at $12 day for a Full Size. I ended up with Alamo. Not my first choice but the price is right. A week was $120 including all taxes.

Since I already paid in full, can they still jack up the rate?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I bid on and won on priceline, so basically I have prepaid my car rental at $12 day for a Full Size. I ended up with Alamo. Not my first choice but the price is right. A week was $120 including all taxes.

Since I already paid in full, can they still jack up the rate?

Good question! A Priceline bid includes all fees. Would be interesting to check the terms and conditions for the bid to see if additional fees can be added.

******

I clicked on the "taxes and fees" link from the last Priceline car rental I did, and the pop-up gave the following info:

Charges for Taxes and Fees

In connection with facilitating your Name Your Own Price® rental car transaction, we will charge your debit or credit card, in addition to the price you name, a charge for Taxes and Fees (an amount that will always be disclosed to you before you elect to proceed). This charge includes an amount to recover the amount we pay to the rental car supplier in connection with your reservation for taxes, fees and surcharges owed by the rental car supplier including, without limitation, sales and use tax, excise tax, value added tax, airport or facility taxes, surcharges or fees and/or other similar taxes, surcharges or fees. The amount of this charge is intended by us to be sufficient to cover the maximum amount we may be required to pay to a rental car supplier, and may be greater or less than the amount we actually pay the rental car supplier in connection with your reservation for taxes, fees and surcharges. The balance of the charge for Taxes and Fees is a fee which we retain as part of the compensation for our services and to cover the costs of your reservation, including, for example, customer service costs and additional fees which may be charged from time to time by the rental car suppliers. The charge for Taxes and Fees varies based on a number of factors, including, without limitation, the amount you pay to priceline.com and the location at which you will pick-up your car from the rental car supplier.

The highlighted language above suggests to me that Priceline is at risk for increases in fees after booking.

 

[PClapham]

Do I understand this new tax correctly- not just at the airport but anywhere in Hawaii?
Thanks
Anita

 

[DeniseM]

I "think" it's airport rentals, only:

Some projects will be funded primarily by visitors, including a $497 million plan to build consolidated rental car facilities at airports. Starting in September, the state will raise a current $1-a-day rental vehicle facility surcharge to $4.50 a day. That hike represents about a 30 percent increase in the $11.47 in typical fees and taxes due on a $45-a-day airport car rental.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/businessnews/20100726_Repairs_tab_may_top_32B.html

 

[carolbol]

Oh my. We are planning a three week trip in May 2011.
I wonder if we took a month lease on a car, if we would come out ahead.
Something to check into possibly.

 

[DeniseM]

Oh my. We are planning a three week trip in May 2011.
I wonder if we took a month lease on a car, if we would come out ahead.
Something to check into possibly.

Aren't you going to more than one island? There is no practical way to move a car between islands for just a short vacation stay.

An option is to rent at off-airport locations. (Although I haven't done that yet - but I will be finding out about it before our next trip.)

 

[carolbol]

Hi Denise,
cancel that thought :hysterical: I realized that as soon as I sent it but by time I got back in to correct it, you had already responded.