Avis

Beware of this Avis location, trust this review and all the other negative reviews on this place. I would never recommend it to anybody. I waited in line for 30 minutes and then the «preferred» customers came in and 6 of them cut in line while 4 reps helped them ahead of us «regular» folk.
I was instructed to wait outside and the car would be pulled up, but to no surprise, 30 minutes later and I still didn’t have a car. Other people who arrived much later than my party received their cars ahead of us. I had to flag down a worker to get my car, and they made some poor excuse that «it wasn’t ready.»
To make things even worse, I left feedback on the Avis site, and was contacted by Jeffrey Mattox, who said I could sign up for the «preferred» customer program for FREE. Essentially, they let 6 other people cut in front of me and the rest of the line for free– which makes no sense. I will never do business with Avis.
Added bonus: there are no chairs in the waiting room, and the reps will try to upsell you on a jeep with the pitch, «you’ll need a 4×4 because its Hawaii, I’m gonna save you 90%!» Which didn’t add up to a 90% savings when I was already paying $ 250 for my rental, and it would be only $ 100 more for the trip, so you mean to tell me renting a jeep would normally be $ 2000?
These guys are a shoddy operation and if you decide to use them, don’t get mad when you get duped.

I booked my car through a Costco package deal. The shuttle driver at the airport was helpful and friendly. That’s been the only positive part of the experience. The checkin process took about 15 minutes, the problem being that their computer apparently doesn’t get important details like my address from Costco. Funny that the hotel did, though.
I went outside to wait for my car since I haven’t rented from Avis in many years and I am not a preferred customer. I waited and waited. Finally a beat up car drives up and it takes ten minutes to do the walk around because there are so many scratches. I finally get in and start to drive away only to discover that the gas gauge says the tank isn’t full. I go back inside to let somebody know and one of the counter agents comes outside with me and takes the car to fill the tank. She finally returns and I get in and start driving to my hotel. I’m tired and hungry after the flight from LAX, so I don’t notice right away that the interior doesn’t appear to have ever been cleaned since the car was new. As a bonus, there is dried bird crap on the inside of the driver’s door.
I tried calling the Avis 800 number to complain but the one live person I managed to speak with said she couldn’t help. I’m about to call the airport location to see what they’ll do. Forgive me if I’m not optimistic.
Update: spoke with Curtis who apologized and said he’d have a replacement ready for me right away. Drove back to the airport from my hotel and he was as good as his word. I drove off with a very nice and clean car, and I’m much happier. Too bad that I had to raise a fuss to get what I should have had from the start.

Here’s a rather interesting review of one of the worst, greediest and most unfriendly car rental places in the world. I rented from a lot of different companies at locations all over the world but those guys beat all of them, hands down!
So, we reserved an SUV via expedia for 12:00. because our plane arrived earlier, yes that can actually happen, we arrived at the rental location at 11:40. The lady punches in my reservation and tells me if I want the car right away it will cost $ 400 more. On a $ 240 reservation??? Needless to say I got a wee upset. So we waited for 20 minutes and went in again. Someone else is at the counter now and here is where it gets really cool. He does like he swipes my credit card but doesn’t really pull it all the way through and says my CC isn’t scanning. I give him a total of 3 cards and he does the same to all of them. I get my wife in, she gives her CC and I tell him to scan it all the way this time and what do you know it worked.
He rings us up and the bill comes out over $ 540. I asked him why on earth is more than twice as the expedia reservation and he tells me it’s for extra insurance. Since we’ve been now almost an hour at this location we just said «screw this» and took the car and left.
You will be treated like crap there, ripped off and they clearly don’t care at all about their customers.

If I could give them 6 stars, I would. Deborah was incredibly helpful and efficient. We had several questions about the car as we had 5 passengers and 11 pieces of luggage, and she was very patient with us and made it easy to upgrade our original reservation. In the time she was checking us in, she also checked in two other Avis preferred members quickly and flawlessly, without making us feel unattended to for a single moment. I work in hospitality and I was very impressed by her ability to multi-​task and her genuine friendliness. Thank you, Deborah!

I read the negative reviews about AVIS-​Kona and unfortunately didn’t heed them. Everything went fine until I returned the car. A guy runs over and takes the form from me before I can fill in the mileage and gas tank level and says he’ll do it for me. Great! What I didn’t know was that he put down ⁷⁄₈ full on the gas tank instead of full, which it was. I filled the tank at a gas station 10 miles from the airport, yet I was charged $ 10.16 as a fuel service charge. The person I talked to on the phone said since I was more than 8 miles from the airport when filling the tank, I was charged the minimum 2 gallon charge. What a crock! That Chrysler 200 gets 23 mpg on the highway so I couldn’t have used more than a half gallon to get to the airport.
Watch these crooks! Examine your bill carefully before you leave for unscrupulous charges.

well, I was horrified after reading the review. I had a rental car with Avis at Kina but the engine malfunction light came out so had to exchange for a new car. I called Avis 6:00 in the morning, a girl Called Karli was very friendly and assured me that I will get an exchange right away. I went there and Karli gave me a new car right away. I am very pleased with the service.
I have to continue my story. when I returned my vehicle, I left my new iPhone in the car. when I was at the airport, I realized that I lost my iPhone. I called my phone with my daughter’s phone. somebody answered the phone and told me he will send the iPhone to me right away. after 5 minutes, somebody from Avis drove a car and dropped my iPhone at the airport terminal.

Is this the DMV? Why did it take me over an hour to get my car and why is there 30 people in line out the door? What a joke… there were three people working 10 registers, no indoor seating, no water cups… the last thing that I want after a long flight is to hassle with long lines to get a rental car that should take 5 minutes at the maximum.
Don’t even get me started about the wait to get the actual car AFTER waiting in the initial line.
What a clown fest!

Rented me a car with worn out tires, have to wait in line again for 10 minutes while listening to the clerks upsell everything under the sun to folks. Had 2 agents, two customers and it still took 10 minutes to get a car that had good tires.
I go to this airport once a year, this is the first time the Costco package directed be to Avis, hope not next year.

I still absolutely hate this place, and everyone that works here…
What a joke this place is. From the woman with 3 teeth, to the douche bag salesman named Michael; they are all absolutely pathetic at this location. I heard this guy Michael with the worst sales pitch ever, telling lies to some poor unsuspecting person, trying to sell them the upgraded insurance. Do not rent from these morons!!!
DO NOT RENT FROM THESE SLEEZBAGS!

Abhorrent customer service– 20 minutes waiting in line, then another 45 minutes waiting for the car. Not exactly the ideal way to start a vacation.
Car was clean and ran ok, thats about the only positive thing of note.

Worst service ever. Waited an hour, and still in line. Their machines are supposedly not working. Seems like the workers here have no idea what they are doing.
Would have left zero stars if possible.

This branch makes the DMV look good; it had some of the most inefficient customer service I have ever encountered. We waited 45 minutes in a three person line to talk to the agent, another 10 minutes being checked in, and another 45 minutes waiting for the car to arrive. If you’re looking to book a car quickly, I highly recommend you use another rental car agency.

Terrible! After a six hour flight, the last thing you want to do is wait 30+ minutes for a rental car shuttle (10 pm no less). The shuttle does two stops — budget, then avis. The concept of avis preferred service doesn’t exist here. I use avis all the time, including the Hawaiian islands. Tonight’s experience was simply the worst /​frankly unacceptable level of service.

WARNING!!! BEWARE OF THE PEOPLE THAT WORK HERE!!! These people here are thieves and reckless.
The person checking out our car was Ginny.
pros:
Maikolo the Avis shuttle driver was super nice, quick and helpful with luggage. Also informative.
Cons:
Fucking everything else. Here’s a list —
It took forever to check out our car.
We booked through a Costco package so our rental car is included.
These mofos still wanted to charge us 500 bucks for some bullshit that didn’t make sense.
Before paying that I was thinking all this shit doesn’t add up.
Ginny took off the 7 bucks a day for the «key insurance» ya know just in case you accidentally lose or drown your key in your shorts while in the ocean or something, and that brought it down to 360? See math didn’t add up (5 days)
What the fuck?! Long behold even with the receipt that says 360 bucks, it still went through to 500. so we contacted our bank right after we left.
NO ONE CAME OUT TO NOTE ALL THE DAMAGES DONE PREVIOUSLY TO THE CAR! Are you guys lazy or do you do this on purpose so you can charge people illegally?
For the gas option, fill it up yourself and keep the receipt ! Tell them to make copies bc they charge you ahead of time and when you bring the receipt, they’ll «take the charge off» beware
BE PREPARED TO CONTACT YOUR BANK RIGHT AFTER TO LET THEM KNOW WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE CHARGED–
KEEP YOUR RECEIPT RIGHT WHEN YOU WALK OUT FOR EVERYTHING (car, and gas, insurance)
MAKE SURE THESE FUCKERS DONT TALK YOU INTO ANYTHING
MAKE SURE THEY COME OUT AND NOTE ALL PREVIOUS DAMAGES
IF THEY END UP CHARGING YOU FOR ALL THIS UNNECESSARY SHIT, CANCEL YOUR BANK CARD AND JUST LAWYER UP
Seems the rest of the tourist here seem to agree about Avis and other rental companies here.
AS FOR AVIS people — it really sucks to have people like you guys around, ruining tourists vacations by overcharging on everything. You guys are liars and thieves and although I can’t hope and pray enough that your company goes to hell — I do hope bad things happen to you guys personally .
Others have been warned. You want to avoid a headache then don’t come here. Look for the rental places with better reviews. These people are screwed people pretending like they give a fuck. Neh Costco is about to get chewed up too.

After returning our car we took the courtesy shuttle to the airport. After getting out of the shuttle our driver said, «you people are getting cheaper and cheaper» as we did not have any cash on us for a tip. «you people» was a reference to non locals as the shuttle driver was a local. We apologized and explained we had no cash. He then went on to call us «f***ING cheapskates» in front of our 4 year old son. He continued calling us names as he got on the shuttle and drove off. I have called the local office everyday for 3 days now to complain and nobody will answer the phones or return my multiple messages. If you like racist, rude and downright abrasive treatment, this is the place for you!

Not impressed with the customer service at this Avis location. The agents were very aggressive about selling insurance coverage or upgrades even though I booked through Costco ahead of my arrival at the counter. After getting though their sales barrage I went to my full-​size vehicle and noted that it had a significant amount of dents and scuffs on the outside that were not noted on the inspection sheet, so I had to note all of them to avoid being blamed for the damage when I turned the vehicle in.
If you have other rental choices, go with another car rental company at Kona International. I don’t think this is a widespread Avis issue since I haven’t had negative experiences at their other locations. If you do go with this location, be prepared to wait at the counter for 30 – 60 minutes and be vigilant with your damage inspection sheet when you get your keys. Good luck!

Great car rental experience. Made reservation online through Hotwire. The shuttle driver was really friendly and even gave suggestions of some great places for breakfast. We flew in on a Friday morning and planned on doing a circle island trip. Check in was a breeze, the person that assisted us was not pushy and didn’t try to upsell us on anything. I usually don’t take the additional insurance and use my own insurance with a combination of the insurance from my credit card, but since this was the first time I was going to do the all the driving this trip I opted for their insurance. We rented a Ford Focus with the Flex Fuel and it was comfortable for three adults. Since it was a weekend trip, we only had carry on baggage. If you are staying longer and have more baggage, I would definitely recommend upgrading. The car was great on gas and didn’t give us any issues. It was a little noisy, but I guess that’s to be expected with American cars. Return was easy and we received the same great service from start to finish. No hidden charges or fees. Thanks Avis!
Tip: If you don’t do the pre-​paid gas, fill up at Costco instead.

Provided me with a car with very little air in the tires, a phone jack that didn’t work, (couldn’t use my phone for GPS), not great when you’re on vacation. STAY AWAY…

We had booked Avis ahead of time and locked in a rate with a particular car. When trying to pick up the car after a long line, the sales rep tried repeatedly to up sale me to a Jeep or convertible. I said no 5 times… then he got grumpy with me. Then he started to pressure me in purchasing their insurance — I repeatedly told him again, I have insurance that covers rentals! Finally, he pushed the paper work through. THEN — we waited again outside for our car. Due to their chaotic operations — our car was ready and sitting there… but no one was there to direct us to the car! ks
Two days later — the sales agent calls us and leaves a message. Apparently they weren’t sure if the car we had was the one they had on our contract! Reviewing our contract w/​the license plate number I could see we had the correct car… Later when checking the car back in I found that the sales rep entered the information incorrectly into their system — thus causing this cluster! We had to wait in the same mile long line to correct their mistake.
To make matters worse — the shuttle driver helped everyone with their luggage except ours. When I commented on it (since we had two large bags) he flipped me a comment. At this point I had reached my breaking point and rudely said to the driver, «thanks for your help». At this point the driver gets out of the shuttle bus and stares me down presumably ready to fight.
I would rather pay more money than go to Avis Kona again… it almost wrecked our vacation.
BTW — the car was very dirty when we received it and was in so so shape.

Really slow process and waited close to 2 hours to get a car. They need to figure this out.

Save yourself time and other customers by booking online at Costco for the best prices.
Before arriving here. Call your credit card or car insurance company prior to see if your covered. We were.
Tell the Avis rep that you don’t need extras or try to sell you upgrades. A couple dumb people in front of us took up almost an hour renting a car. We were done in less than 10 minutes and were upgraded to a Volkswagen Jetta SE since the small cars weren’t in stock. Easy check out and no issues with the car.

Watch out for the covert sales pitch. It was almost impossible to get them to just give me what I asked for. Then they lie about the insurance. Then they lie about pre-​buying gas. These guys are scammers!!!
Of course — having said all that. As long as you want an economy car and you do not fall for their scam … Cheapest cars in Kona!!! Especially on the weekend.

Do NOT go here! It may seem like the cheapest option but these guys are scammers. They overcharged me by over $ 200, nearly doubling my rental price. Similar to what others have said, I pre-​booked using another service (Hawaiian Airlines) and was quoted $ 280 for a week’s rental. I showed up, specifically said I didn’t need any additional services, and when I turned the car in the total was over $ 500. After I complained the manager said «well its your word against his. Sorry!» What a scam!
Avoid this place! It may seem like the cheapest option. But after they pull a fast one on your you’ll end up paying twice as much. I’m done with Avis.

We were helped by Peter, who went above and beyond just getting us a rental car. We initially booked a normal non 4WD SUV for our 10 days on the Big Island and decided to upgrade to a 2-​door Jeep Wrangler. Peter even spent the time to instruct us on how to open up the top, and where to safely to tuck the fabric cover. Upon deciding that the 2-​door wasn’t to our liking (mind you, this was AFTER leaving the Avis lot and driving about ¼ of a mile on the road), we went back and Peter helped us get the 4-​door Wrangler which was an AWESOME car to drive!
What really set him apart from all the other times I’ve rented a car was his amazing and plentiful advice on what to do on the island. Given an Avis brochure, Peter proceeded to highlight his personal picks for what to see on the island as well as some lesser known places (Green Sand Beach, anyone?) Perhaps his most important nugget of advice was to purchase the «The Big Island Revealed», a wonderful, unbiased guidebook of what to do on the island that could easily be found at Costco.
The entire time Peter was super friendly and warm and really made us feel the aloha spirit. Thanks so much Peter for setting us on the right course for our stay!

Agent was rude on arrival and became indignant when we decided on no to the multiple upgrades. Made my reservation through Amex and weren’t offered upgrades according to our Amex agreement. It was like pulling teeth to get out of there with our upgrade. Car wasn’t cleaned and attendant who delivered car just dropped it off and walked away. Not even an aloha.
I’m very nervous about getting a shuttle back to the airport on time. It seems as if these employees don’t care about your business or if you arrive to the airport on time.
Oh yea. Car wasn’t ready on arrival either. We waited about 20 mins.
First time with Avis. Last time. I have a feeling we’re going to have to walk to the airport to catch our flight on time. I’ll update and let you know how it goes.
I suggest using another agency. God knows we will next year.
Thank you for taking the time to read this review.
We ended up dropping car off and walking to the airport. This place was too unreliable for us to risk missing our flight.

Avis is awesome! The counter guy was so nice and the shuttle drivers were quick and efficient. They share a shuttle with Budget so the shuttle comes quickly. We never waited for a shuttle from or to the airport.
BF has Avis Preferred so they have a separate line with no one in it. We bypassed about 10 grouchy tourists and saved a LOT of time. The Jeep came up clean and came out right as we were walking out of the building. The older Asian guy helping us was so sweet and nice — showing us all the stops and directions on the map for Target, Walmart, nearest gas station and to our hotel.
The service outside was pretty good too! The lady told us anything over 2-​inches we need to note but the Jeep only had 15K miles and looked good. We didn’t note any damage. Dropping off the vehicle was just as easy. I’d use Avis again in a heartbeat!
TIP: We used Discount Hawaii Car Rental and they chose Avis for us. It was 10% off and the cheapest price compared to Priceline, Expedia and direct with the car rental places even with member discounts, etc.