When you have a big trip coming up, it always pays to check on all of your reservations before the trip. I remember this tip from a way back when Gary posted about ‘gardening your reservations.’ By doing this, you can make sure that all of your award tickets have been ticketed, your hotel reservations have not disappeared and your rental car is still reserved.
While doing this, I saw that our rental car reservation had increased in price from my previous confirmation email.
Here are the original taxes for our rental car.
And here’s what I found when checking yesterday.
The difference was in the State and Customer Facility Charge. Doing a bit of looking online, I found this post by Island Miler, which warned about an upcoming increase in rental car fees. HB 485 went into effect and increased the tax by $0.50 each year from 1/1/2022 to 12/31/2027. So every car rental in Hawaii will cost 50 cents extra per day and will continue to go up every year until 2027.
Since this is an increase in taxes and not the rental car fee, Hertz isn’t required to inform renters of the rise in price for their rentals. Given the cost of rental cars in Hawaii right now, I doubt many guests will notice a $1 to $3 increase in the price from what they originally booked.
Kama’aina (locals) who need to rent a car when traveling between islands will also have to pay the increased fees. The only ones exempt are persons whose vehicles have been stolen and are unrecovered or will not be repaired due to total loss.
Fifty cents a day might not seem to be much, but depending on how often you rent a car and the duration of the rental, this charge can start to add up. In 2027, rentals will pay 3 dollars a day in additional taxes from what they paid in 2021.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
Cover Photo by daveynin on Flickr
3 comments
Air fares, hotel rates and car rentals have gone up 40-50% when I travel to Hawaii from the US.
$1200 round trip tickets and $800 hotel rooms are not uncommon even at 4 start properties.
This is because people keep paying. It has gotten worse with inflation.
I have stoped feeding the beast and will vote with my waller. Cheaper to go Mexico, Caribbean and Pacific Islands. More bang for your buck.
Agree with Mike. The politicians and big businesses in Hawaii view all of us little people as sheep to be fleeced. Time to look elsewhere.
Just came back from Kauai. My rental was $434 and was so surprised when I went to return it that the charge was $572 Nearly $130 in fees and taxes! It’s always been ridiculous with all the fees and taxes, but now it’s really getting out of hand! With cars, hotels and airfare it will soon be only the very wealthy who can afford Hawaii. Maybe that’s the way want it?!