Budget Rent a Car

After an hour of waiting in line to complete our paperwork, now we are in another line, waiting for our car, and there are at least 10 groups ahead of us. There is absolutely NO sense of urgency here. Terrible!

This place sucks. There is no point in making a reservation because it takes an hour –literally an hour– in line because the attendants move so slowly. Then it will take another hour for them to «wash» your car and prepare it for your family. Even though you had a reservation. Meanwhile the wild chickens are nipping at your toes. Will NEVER use this place again. Awful. And the customer reps are rude, lazy and astoundingly clueless.
Have an update for you all. As we finally got into our «washed» minivan (still some lingering bird turds on the Windows) we eagerly took off for our much anticipated vacation away from the airport. To our surprise, we found the seat belts had no use and were completely unnecessary considering the seats were lathered with a syrupy sticky texture as if some kids were eating pancakes and poured the syrup on the seats rather than the cakes. Thus seat belts were unnecessary because we were stuck to the seats anyway. Will keep you posted as the reliability of the van is a valid concern.

I gave them one star simply because it would not allow me to score –10 on customer service we picked up a car a Ford focus transmission was feeling and I brought it back and it took them first of all zero customer service to get it all done stay away from budget

Giving this place low review because they asked for our ETA when I booked the reservation prior to arrival and we ended up waiting 45 min for a car. This was 2 hours after our ETA. You would think they would have the car ready knowing that we would like to enjoy the beautiful island, not the airport. They don’t seem to understand flight arrivals and staffing for those times. They had 5 or 6 people working at the counter, but no help with moving cars.
Would not use this place again, I’ll pay extra for hertz next time!

Huge line to pick up the vehicle. It moved quickly enough. The usual attempt to up sell all the Budget profit add ons (insurance, full tank), but the agent was very pleasant and not pushy. There was a bit of a delay because my car was still being cleaned. The car itself is nicer than what I reserved at no additional cost. Although I initially gave a harsh review, I revised it after one day. I was tired and grumpy after a long day of travel and was prepared to give everything a bad review. Basically my experience was the typical car rental experience. The counter agent gets a 5 star for being very pleasant.

Could this place try and be more deceiving? They are constantly trying to trick you into paying more money and at times they will say some pretty unethical things to sway you to upgrade. Oh and they are slow. It doesn’t matter what time your rental is for, prepare to wait. If you are late they will charge oh extra, but they happily waste your time for free…

Guys at desk were awesome hooked me up to a mustang gt without breaking the bank. N told me about the extra switches on the dash for the flux capacitor. Car was amazing… For a ford. No extra fees for returning early. Easy in n out. Will definitely be back for another GT or Escalade. Thanks
Ask for Steve or Eric.
Be sure to get the cdw for peace of mind.

Rental agents are the first encounter you have after leaving the airport. When working in the tour industry customer service is very very important. No matter how bad your morning is going, a smile goes far. We arrived here in Lihue I received not one smile or sense of «aloha» from my rental agent. She was so in a rush to get rid of us. She was rude and unhappy. I’m extremely disappointed.

Staff were super friendly and gave us suggestions on how to get the best rate.
They also hooked us up with a great rate on a jeep

Unilocal, I apologize if there’s a clause somewhere in the fine print of your review guidelines that says you can’t post a review of an experience that happened too long ago. But in planning another trip to Kauai, I am reminded of a horrible experience I had during my first trip there in March of 2008 at Kipu Falls, and subsequently at the Lihue Airport Budget Rent a Car.
As of March 2008, there was no dedicated parking lot at Kipu Falls. People just parked just off the side of a paved rural road from which you hike a short distance downhill to the falls. I figured since there were about a dozen other cars there it would be safe to leave my almost empty backpack in the front passenger seat. There were even a few locals strolling the area. How naïve I was.
I remember my thrilling jump off the 20 foot high waterfall ledge into a large natural pool. After not too long, a tropical downpour drove us all back to our cars. Whether I was taking my own sweet time or was struggling due to my lack of exercise I don’t remember, but the rest I remember like it was yesterday. By the time I got back to the road, I realized that everyone else had already left. Finally taking shelter from the downpour I got into my car and noticed a peculiar breeze coming from the tiny back window on the passenger size, which should be impossible given it was only a 2-​door vehicle and I knew I closed all the windows before I left. Impossible, that is, unless the window’s shattered. Peering at the broken window and innumerable shards of glass strewn on the back seat, I immediately noticed the absence of my backpack, and realized I had left my wallet in there as well.
It was a depressing drive back to the airport Budget. To make things worse, when I told them my car got broken into at Kipu Falls, their first reply was an angry, «So you drove on an unpaved road against our policy?» Already in poor spirits, I simply didn’t have the words to counter there false accusation let alone bemoan their gross lack of sympathy. Clearly they cared more about their car than their customer.
The only reason I’m not handing them a lonely 1 star is one of the other ladies at the counter who noticed my situation generously gave me what cash she had in her wallet, $ 15 or so, saying, «I know it’s not much buy I hope it helps.» This gesture went a long way, and things actually were looking up thereafter.
They gave me a new rental car and though I wasn’t able to do much my last 2 days there without my wallet, my catamaran tour of the Napali Coast which was scheduled for the next day still somehow went through. By the grace of God and those there who felt sorry for my situation, they comped it! (See my review of the awesome 5-​star Captain Andy’s Sailing Adventures).
Thanks be to God, my solo vacation to Kauai wasn’t ruined. I learned my lesson of being too trusting of the locals. And I learned my lesson of choosing Budget.

You have to lug your luggage about two hundred feet across the street in order to reach a shuttle area once you retrieve your luggage from Lihue Airport. The shuttles come every ten minutes or so and are identified by the type of rental car agency from which you chose. You then have to load your luggage on the shuttle (the drivers usually assist) and after a three minute drive you are dropped off at the appropriate agency. We were helped by Cameron who was friendly, quick, not too pushy about up selling, and was able to complete the transaction in about six minutes. The only down side is their child booster seats suck– its one size fits all. No options for backless or for older kids such as my seven year old who is not yet eight pounds. They quickly refunded the cost and recommended Walmart since it was a about two miles away. For this I subtracted one point. The car was in a clearly identified stall, clean, and ready to go. Whole process took about 10 minutes including car seat screw up, although their were not too many people on line so I suspect it would take longer during busy periods.

Considering I paid almost a $ 100 a day for a mid size SUV you would think the car would be at least clean. The outside and inside were filthy. Sunscreen stains on the interior with dirty seats and front dash. I would not recommend them for the money we spent.

The morning after we arrived in Kauai we found our car in the valet lot with a flat. We only drove it to Hotel from airport 10 miles and to a luau (15 miles) and back the day we arrived. We did no off-​roading. Budget wanted to charge us for the change. And initially blamed us for not checking out the tires before driving the car off their lot. This happen to us once 20 years ago with enterprise and they came out free of charge and brought us a replacement vehicle. Thank goodness for AAA who came out and changed the tire for us. We certainly will be avoiding renting from Budget ever again. It really is poor customer service.

Avoid renting from here if at all possible. I upgraded my rental to a jeep. I turned my car in and never heard from Budget again. Six months later I heard from a collection agency saying I owed Budget $ 450 for damage to the car. I and AMEX insurance have repeatedly asked for any documents showing what the damage was from Budget and their collections agency. Neither will provide any documents. Total scam. Avoid the headache rent somewhere else. The cost savings is not worth it.

I booked Budget due to the fantastic price I was able to receive for a 2 week March rental. The reviews on Unilocal had me a bit worried but the experience couldn’t have been better.
Check-​in was easy, and we got to work with Steven. Steven was extremely personable and friendly. He offered us a very cheap price to upgrade from our compact car to a mustang convertible and we decided to do it. He recommended it for Hawaii. We never thought we would need or like a convertible but it was a lot of fun to have as the weather is near perfect here. Definitely worth the cheap upgrade price offered at check in. Steven remembered our story and us when we came back and that we had decided to upgrade to the convertible and wanted to know how everything was (this was 2 weeks later!). Such awesome service from him. This Budget location is lucky to have him.
Drop off was a breeze, it went so quick I was worried we didn’t do everything we needed to. It literally took one minute to drop off. Their shuttle service is very frequent and you will get to the airport fast.
Based on my experience I would highly recommend Budget for your rental needs in Kauai.

Probably one of the easiest, fastest, and most pleasant rental car expierence I have had.
I didn’t have to go and check out each little scratch on the car, either they trusted me, or didn’t care. Lol. There was no wait, and the woman asked me if I wanted a kama’aina hook up on the car for a good price. I told her no, that we are ok with the Budget (pun intended), rental we booked. She handed me the keys and off I went to find my car…
I pulled up, and what do you know? She upgraded us to a brand spanking new extra special 2016 Red Mustang anyways! My boyfriend might have wet himself a little when he saw what we were driving that trip!

Arrived on Saturday, ¹²⁄₂₇ with a «confirmed» pre-​paid rental. Why is confirmed in quotes? Because it means nothing. Not only did they not have the car I «confirmed», they were out of cars altogether!
And the earliest they could get me a car? Two days later.
So why 2 stars instead of one? Most — but not all — of the employees there are pretty good. And they did some stuff right: They provided free shuttle to my hotel in Poipou (about thirty minutes). They eventually delivered an upgraded vehicle and only charged ½ rate and only for the days I had the car (basically got the car for most of my trip at 40% of the original cost).
But those first two days without the car were brutal…
Simply put, unless your tropical vacation is only about staying at your resort beach, you really need a car on Kauai. And I never felt confident I was actually going to get a car until I held the keys in my hand.
I checked in on Sunday and was told I’d definitely get a car on Monday, but they couldn’t confirm time of day.
I called on Monday morning and finally got someone who was helpful and calm about the whole situation — a guy named Jordan. He told me that I was on priority for getting a car that morning. They had brought it 3 extra guys just for delivering cars (this cluster-​f had affected about 20 people in my estimation — 20 people who didn’t get cars they had reserved!), and they were hoping to deliver to Poipu by about noon.
At 12:30, I still didn’t have a car. We were waiting by the phone all morning — didn’t want to hear the «well we tried to call you and you didn’t answer» excuse. I called the office and got an employee who treated me like I was the problem. She not only couldn’t tell me when I would get a car, she wouldn’t confirm that I was going to get a car at all!
I asked for a manager and kept getting transferred to voicemail. Finally I asked to speak with Jordan again. Once again, he was calm and rational and was current on the plan (I was worried that there was no plan). He said the morning deliveries had gone out to Princeville instead of Poipou. He took a minute to confirm that they had a 4-​door Wrangler on the lot that he was attaching to my reservation — now there was at least a confirmed car for me.
He said the car would get delivered as soon as the team returned from Princeville, and they would call to let me know.
Three hours later, we got a call in our room from the Bell Desk saying that Budget had left the car there. They never called me, but whatever, at least I finally had a car.
Rest of the trip was fine. Car was in good shape and drove well.
Return was smooth. Clerk at check-​in was about to charge full amount however, until I explained that I was one of the people who didn’t get a car on Saturday. She got manager Thom who was very apologetic and quickly took care of everything.
If not for Jordan and Thom, this would absolutely be a one-​star review. But their customer service earned back another star.
One last note — every time I spoke to someone, I’d ask how this happened (running out of cars). And I got a lot of different answers. Most of the time I heard there was some big recall. But this sounds fishy to me. If there was a recall, wouldn’t other agencies have been affected? Wouldn’t we have heard something in the news? (There was a big airbag recall, but that was weeks ago). And look though other Unilocal reviews — there was a guy several months ago who had to wait hours for a car and they told him they were short because of a recall… I’m not saying they were lying, but I’m dubious.
One person told me what I think was the real truth: «We simply overbooked.»
Looking over all of the Unilocal reviews for all the car agencies on Kauai, it’s obvious that there’s simply no good, obvious choice. They all have their problems, which is a shame. But if you want your tropical vacation to start well, consider this and other reviews, and book elsewhere.
To sum up my experience:

I am mostly impressed with this Budget rental location. I had already been on Kauai a couple of days and was dropped off at the rental counter by a family member, so I can’t speak to the process of getting off a plane and getting there. But I can offer my thoughts on everything after that.
The lobby was neat and clean and cool — a welcome setting for someone used to the cooler climate of Seattle and not liking the Kauai humidity! I wasn’t greeted right away as all the agents were helping other customers, but I got in the line and as soon as it was my turn I was greeted with a smile and an «Aloha, welcome to Kauai.» I am not sure that’s the best line to use on customers since I grew up on Kauai and had already been there for a couple of days, but it probably works for most of their customers.
I had prepaid for my rental, so getting the car was a breeze. I was offered the insurance but the agent didn’t try to push it when I declined. She also didn’t try to upsell me on a more expensive rental, she just confirmed that the option I had selected online was still what I wanted. There had only been one person ahead of me in the line and from the time I stepped into the lobby to the time I was walking out with the key, it had only been about 8 minutes.
Here’s what really impressed me – while I was examining the car for dents and scratches, I realized I didn’t have a pen to mark the car diagram. A Budget employee walking through the lot saw me and asked if I had a pen, and then went to the lobby and procured one for me. She then marked the diagram for me in all the places it needed a notation, signed off on it in the lot and bid me ‘aloha.’ To me, that was above and beyond customer service.
One thing I’ve now realized to do with rental cars — check your windshield wipers before leaving the lot. It was only after driving away and it started raining did I realize that the windshield wipers were worn out (slightly) and not the safest for driving. Minor issue though — I know those roads like the back of my hand. But probably not the best situation for a tourist.
The only issue I had with the car was one night we got into it and my husband jumped back out saying there were bugs all over the seat. He swiped the bugs out of the car and we didn’t see them again the rest of the time we had the car, which was four days.
When we returned the car, checking it back in was easy, although I was confused for a second as there wasn’t any signage (or if there was, I missed it) saying to check in with someone near the drop-​off point. I went back to the lobby before my husband flagged me down to let me know to come back to the drop-​off area. The Budget staff was super friendly on the drop-​off too. The entire process took less than five minutes and the wait for a shuttle to take us to the terminal was about three minutes or so.
Easy experience, a couple of minor issues but I would definitely rent from Budget on Kauai again. I was very impressed with the friendliness and aloha spirit of its staff.

They had the car I reserved.
They didn’t try to upgrade me to death with 4WD this or convertible that.
They didn’t try to hard to sell me insurance for $ 20 a day!
Checking the car back in was easy.
Not much to complain about.
Take the prepay option if you are checking bags and will arrive with a mass of people.
All things considered this rental experience was better than most.

Budget Rent a Car at Lihue Airport was far and away the worst rental car experience I have ever had. There is simply no excuse for the way this place is run, despite the efforts of the generally upbeat employees. The process, from stepping on the bus until I got my car, took nearly two hours.
When we arrived at the rental building, there were about two dozen people who looked really frustrated outside at the curb and slumped over sofas waiting for their cars. For every other rental I’ve had, you just get the key and go to the car, so I didn’t even understand why there were so many people waiting.
The line for check out wasn’t too long, though it moved very slowly, about 20 minutes with only 5 customers ahead of me. During our transaction, a woman stormed in and said she’d been waiting an hour and wanted out now — the clerk stopped handling my transaction and, while I waited, reprocessed this customer into a different car that was ready at that moment. I asked the clerk if she could also put me into a car that’s already available, and she said no, the one I’ll be waiting for «won’t take long, they’re getting it ready now.»
There appeared to be one staff member in charge of cleaning the returned cars, taking them through the car wash, and driving them to the other side of the building for pick-​up, meaning these cars were being released, one-​by-​one, every 5 – 10 minutes. I saw my Altima several cars back in the massive queue, so I knew we were looking at at least an hour wait.
About 30 minutes later, they moved one of the clerks outside to help, but it was only because the pile-​up had gotten worse. Frustrated customers pleaded with the staff to put them in another car that was ready, and some people got their request, some didn’t. I was told that if I paid $ 75, I could drive away in a Mustang immediately, but I had booked a compact to conserve gas and did not want to pay an upcharge for the convenience of being allowed to leave the lot.
It was excruciating to sit there and wait and watch these cars being processed so slowly. Well over an hour in, I was ready to cancel and go to any other car rental service, regardless of cost. My Costco Travel agreement stated that I have to deal with Budget directly regarding any issues, yet the manager apologized that she couldn’t make any adjustments because I prepaid through Costco Travel. So I’m trapped.
Coming up on two hours, we get the car. We had barely eaten on the flight and had looked forward to a late lunch, now almost dinner. Knowing how frustrated we were, the clerk offered to waive our refuel fees — this amounted to about $ 30 in savings but given that was all she said she could do, we took it.
I was debating whether I would let it all go, until we returned the car. The scene was exactly the same: a sea of people frustrated, waiting for their cars, which were being processed glacially. Again customers were pleading at the counter, again saying «this is the longest I’ve ever waited for a car.»
Delays happen, but what’s so unfortunate is that it’s clear this is how this location is run. You must wait for a really long time, far longer than any reasonable car rental service would make its customers wait. Right after landing you are at your most excited — you’re finally here! So to have to go through another two hours that no one who uses car rental service regularly would expect is incredibly deflating, and looking around me, I saw so many unhappy families and couples in disbelief that this was the start of their vacation.
It seems other car rentals at Lihue are just as bad, maybe it’s an issue on Kauai, but I believe individuals as well as Costco Travel should suspend doing business with this Budget location until they’ve provided evidence of a turnaround. This may be the longest Unilocal review I’ve ever written, because I really don’t want anyone else to have to go through this experience.
UPDATE: I received a full refund. The Budget rep explained to Costco Travel that for the past two weeks they had been slammed due to a recall of all their Ford Escapes plus delayed arrival of their newest fleet of cars. We received no explanation at the time, but I’m grateful the market power of Costco compelled them. There are plenty of other reviews complaining about excessive wait times in general, so the way I read it, normally it’s really slow but it was really really slow due to the above. Not totally reassuring but I appreciate the refund.