Alamo Rent A Car

Stay away! Fair warning to all. They price gouged me and I feel ripped off. Should have complained about the price at the counter but just wanted to get our mini vacation started.
From a $ 66 car turned into a $ 98 rental! See posted pictures. Next time I’ll stick with Avis/​National no problems and no price jumps. For another $ 30 I could have gotten a bigger and better car elsewhere like a fullsize. Yup lesson learned and don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. Not to mention on my reservation it showed a 4 door rio and they claim there is only one tiny fiat left in the lot. Liars and cheaters!

Worst customer service made us wait in line twice with a toddler. A very rude girl named Kapina told us that once we made the reservation changes we would have to go back to the end of the line. Once we finally made our third time through the line and a very unkept women named Klarissa was very rude and demeaning.
Would give this place zero stars if I could stay away!!!

Really bad customer service. They will be nice when you are going to rent the car. But that is it. If you have any question after you rent the car, like change the return time or ask for the shuttle bus service, THEY DO NOT CARE and the attitude is terrible. I will not rent the car from here anymore.

After experiencing some frustrations with the self serve kiosk, I was upgraded for free to a convertible by Ernie. After one day I realized I wasn’t a fan of the convertible and neither was my sun burnt forehead. Took it back and traded for a full size with no hassles, no problem. Check out when done was smooth. We would definitely use this location and Alamo again.

Thoroughly disappointed in this company!!! Have reservations under my partners name and cannot seem to retrieve the vehicle. Am here under emergency situations and even with full credentials and all flights info for both parties, I am strapped here for another 4 hours. Unless I want to pay for another vehicle in full, I am trapped! Protocol needs to be changed for circumstances such as this. My partner is unreachable due to flight status. This leaves me here with no other option but to pay for another vehicle in full with no other options until they arrive. Ridiculous!!!

Pretty bad experience with Alamo rent a car in Kona. Ended up getting a Hyundai Sonata with my wife and son. Right off the bat, the fuel gauge read less than full and when we asked about it the clerk told us that it happens with all the Hyundai they rent out the gauge in inaccurate…
We later refilled the gas during the week surprise surprise, we were able to get it to read properly at full. So the explanation we got was false and a blatant lie.
Secondly, once we got to our condo for our vacation, turns out the remote for the vehicle did not work at all… I cannot believe Alamo would not have verified that the vehicles remotes work on all their rentals work before renting them out. We ended up not trying to get a replacement because it took too much work to get a replacement.
I would highly recommend that if you do rent from Alamo, you verify the remotes work (never had to do that before) and if they tell you anything about the fuel gauge being inaccurate when you first get the rental push on the topic to verify.

The last time we rented a few days ago, we had the most jolly tram driver we ever had. He was awesome.
I always use the little booths to stream line my way through the rental process. The cars are always pretty decent and you’ll find a better selection if you have a morning arrival.
We have found it most advantageous to set up our rental through CostCo, and the cheapest is always Alamo. It’s always cheaper this way than even through my direct account. Noon time is prime time, so if you want a better and smoother transition at the rental center go early or go late — the price is even lower when you do this — some times at least.
I tend to look for the newest cars and ones that will save you fuel.
I’ve always been happy with Alamo!

Pleasant experience with the Alamo rental. Picked up the car via the self-​service kiosk and was able to select from a variety of cars.
On the way back, our flight was delayed and we were able to keep the car for a little longer at a very reasonable price.

Long waits and hidden fees. Should have spent $ 20 more and booked with National because it would have ended up cheaper. Will never use Alamo again.

PROS: Shuttle service was quick both to and from the rental station. Driver was very friendly and gave us advice on where to eat in town.
PROS: drop off was quick, simply handed over keys and went on our way
CONS: Checking in took an awfully long time. We were there around 8am on Christmas Eve and only two ladies working the counters. It took them over 40 minutes to check in the 4 groups of people in front of us.
— I paid for a full size sedan in full online through an Hawaiian Airlines packaged deal. When I got to Alamo and finally picked a car I was given a Chrysler 200 and told this was a full size sedan. Car was in good shape and we headed out. Then I called Alamo HQ to ask how they would classify a Chrysler 200 and was told that it was a standard sedan. I immediately went straight back to the local Alamo to rectify the situation and was immediately offered an upgrade. Changing out cars was fast and efficient.

We got 4 months old jeep wrangler. Strong and comfy sport suv. Fast service and easy return. Nice vacation:) if you get compact and return empty then I am not sure what will happened:)

I usually dont use Alamo because most rental companies make u spend half your vacation in line. And I thought that was the case when I got there. But it was surprisingly quick and easy to navigate in and out. The shuttle arrived w/​in 5 min. Great experience.

Had no issues with Alamo. Walked in and was directed to the self-​service kiosk. The kiosk runs through all the standard up sells that you can easily decline. I had a full-​size car reserved but all they had were Hyundai Sonatas. Not a bad car, but would’ve been nice to have a choice. Car has ample power, cold AC, plenty of room, USB ports, and Bluetooth.
Although there is a Shell gas station in Waikoloa, I opted to fill up at Costco because it’s possible the needle would’ve dipped slightly below the full line by the time we got to the airport.

Trustworthy ol’ Hotwire brought us here.
The Alamo shuttle was there waiting at the airport when we arrived, with no one else on board. It was a quick 3 minute drive to the facility.
Inside was pumping with business; most of the self serve machines in use, and a line of about 6 deep to interact with 4 humans behind the counter.
We got the female agent at the last station to the right. Everything was going smooth until it came to the gas filling option. You know the options: 1) Fill up yourself. 2) Prepay for the entire tank of gas already in the car, about $ 46. 3) Let them fill up whatever you use, at $ 40+ per gallon. She brings out a map of the Kona coast, and blatantly states «There are no gas stations in this entire area, (pointing with a pen from the Mauna Lani Resort area all the way down south to the Kona Airport) the nearest is 5 miles south of the airport.» What? No gas stations in this entire area that spans 22 miles? As we’re talking amongst each other, and she states «This is a BIG Island.» Smart ass. Naturally, we opt for #1 and would just figure it out later.
We ended up with a Ford Escape with the Ecoboost engine. Nice crossover, smooth, spacious, and powerful engine. Only 2 gripes; a broken key remote, and saltwater-​stained seats.
After checking in to our hotel in the Mauna Lani area, we head south towards Kona and see a sign that states «Food, GAS, and Lodging» before the Waikoloa Road intersection. I’m thinking that it must be an old sign. I Unilocal & Google it, and they both come back with an existing gas station. The next night, we had dinner in the Waikoloa area and was about to pass the area of the mysterious gas station. Voilà, there it was. A shiny Chevron located at the King’s Shops, two miles from our hotel. It was like discovering Atlantis lol. More so, I just wanted to prove her wrong on social media and spread the word.
Return was fast and friendly.
TIPS: If you’re booking on Hotwire and know that you’re going to be returning the car late (after 3 hours, Alamo charges an additional day) book an additional day to get the Hotwire rate. If not, you’ll be charged the Alamo rate which was about 50% higher.
There’s a Costco gas station about 8 minutes south of the airport. Prices were about 70-​cents less than regular stations.
OVERALL:
Fill your own gas as there are quite a few stations around. Don’t listen to their BS sales tactics! I like Alamo but minus 2 stars for lying to me, and for that broken key remote.

Arrived around 8pm. Saw one shuttle just as we were waiting for our luggage. After we got to the shuttle pickup about 10 minutes later we still ended up waiting a good 15 minutes. Not terrible but, as others have noted, other shuttles came and went in the meantime. Driver was personable.
Just as I was resigning myself to a long wait in line, I noticed the check-​in kiosks which made check-​in easy. My initial reservation had been made via a Costco vacation package so I wasn’t sure it would be in the system but it was. So check in was easy — not Hertz Gold or National Emerald easy but definitely the best experience I’ve had outside of those programs.
Walking into the lot, we were given our choice of three Malibus. Going by colour we picked a charcoal gray one. It had almost 20,000 miles on it but seemed in good shape. It was dark and I didn’t look over the exterior that well but it didn’t have any issues and we didn’t get charged. In hindsight, though, we should have looked the interior over better because the car turned out to be perhaps the most unpleasant thing about our trip.
We parked it for one day at the hotel. The next day when we went to drive around the island, to the volcano, etc. we discovered that there were cockroaches living in it! Generally they seemed to be hiding under the back seat out of sight. My wife hates, hates bugs. And cockroaches are pretty much at the top of the list. And I’ll be honest, I dislike them myself. Every time we parked and came back, my job was to look inside and try to catch any cockroaches that had ventured out. I ended up disposing of at least 6. So the car wasn’t totally infested like the house in Creepshow (if anybody remembers that movie) but enough to make the rental car unpleasant. I didn’t try taking the car back to exchange it because it would have wasted our vacation time and we really only had one main day of driving and, as I said, they were generally out of sight.
When we returned it, I told attendant the issue and she said nonchalantly «Sorry about that. We’ll bug bomb it.» Assuming this kind of thing happens at other companies, this wouldn’t prevent from renting from Alamo again but it does prevent me from giving a high rating even though other aspects of the rental were fine. Drop off was about as easy as at Hertz or National. Shuttle driver on the way back was also very personable.
Main lesson learned: Inspect the interior for cockroaches when selecting your car.

Pick up at the airport was just very short drive to the Alamo. I stayed with the luggage while my husband went in to secure our reserved car so we were ahead as most had to wait for luggage to be unloaded. They pick up went fast and efficiently. Every thing was fine.
We stayed at The big Island and Maui and used Alamo because we got a better deal. Truthfully it’s not the company you generally use but our service on The Big Island went above and beyond. We knew we wanted to visit 2 island and one of the reasons we picked The Big Island is to take a full day to go across the Island to the waterfalls and volcano/​Lava. We waited till our last full day to go there but Late the previous evening we saw our tire was completely flat. We had ran over a nail or screw and the help line wasn’t very helpful. I said lets just see if we can turn it in a trade. As the «helpline’ only suggested using our tiny spare which would have been unsafe for such a long drive. My husband was a mechanic and changed the tire and headed to the Alamo. We called and explained our situation to the night manager. a very nice helpful Indian gentleman who very graciously stayed open a bit late as we raced there. The next day we had a very nice day and saw some amazing things. waterfalls, best botanical gardens I’d ever seen and volcano. all made possible by his helpfulness. I hope his supervisors realize what a gem they have in him and reward his work ethic. Nula you saved our day … Literally.

Had no problems with our care rental. All the info was explained well. We had a gmc suv and it was perfect for the island. Also, rental car return was smooth.

By far, the most pleasant rental experience we’ve had in Hawaii. The staff makes you feel as if they are truly there just to make you feel welcome. The Jeep we rented was spotless and the lot attendant ensured it had a full tank of gas and no dents before we headed out on our way. We were driving off the lot within 10 minutes of hitting the check-​in desk.
The return experience was painless, as well. We pulled up and had a brief exchange with the attendant and were on our way to the airport in their air conditioned shuttle bus within 5 minutes of driving into the lot.
Nicely done, Alamo! We’ll be renting from you again!

I don’t understand how people arrive without reservations!!! They had three counters open and it still took forever and a day since people had no idea what kind of vehicle they wanted.
Extra star for them for having the patience of saints and for giving us a nice free upgrade to a all wheel drive Jeep! Off roading… here I come!!!

We were very happy with the service at Alamo. They were very professional and didn’t push anything that we didn’t want on us. They were honest about the gas pricing, etc. Their service was friendly, fast, and efficient. We were helped right away and we were out of there within minutes. They also upgraded us at no additional charge. When we were leaving they also made sure that we had a full tank of gas and made sure we didn’t need any directions before we left. This was a breath of fresh air after the last experience we had in maui with another rental car company.