Tourists driving U-Hauls?

Yup!
The resurgence of tourism in Hawaii has led to a shortage of rental cars, and the cheapest rental car in Hawaii is now a $722 PER DAY Camry. :astonished:

As a result, some tourists are resorting to renting U-Hauls for sightseeing.

Why are Hawaii visitors cruising around in U-Hauls? Blame the pandemic. (hawaiinewsnow.com)

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When supply is short and demand is high…

Prices rise to meet the new intersection.

For $722 a day, I’ll call a cab, or get in a tour bus.

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I wouldn’t go. $722/day is absurd.

Hawaii is a nice place to vacation. A car is nice but not absolutely needed to enjoy it. Even on a small island like Maui.

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Carvana has 7 day trial period. 400 mi limit. Free returns

I wouldn’t go to Hawaii if you paid me to do it.

I would. Free trip? 1st class tix. Resort. Nice

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This is one example of the big rental car problem most everywhere - they sold off their inventory, now there aren’t enough new cars available to replace them. This problem will be around a long time, carmakers can’t make enough vehicles because of chip shortages. I guess I’ll be driving my own car…

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I see to remember reading somewhere that it cost 600$ to ship a car to Hawaii that would be a little less than two days rental and you would have a car the whole time you were there.

If we could go back to 1966, a person could buy an Amphicar and drive from the mainland U.S. to Hawaii.

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I went there, circa 1997, and I really enjoyed seeing that beautiful state. On Oahu, we got around just fine with local buses and the occasional taxi. Naturally, we took a plane when visiting the other islands. There was no reason for us to rent a car.

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I wonder if these guys were in Hawaii?

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I can see plenty of the sights on the web without getting out of my recliner. It’s too far to go there and too expensive and we have nice beaches in new jersey if i ever wanted to go to the beach (which i don’t).

Airfares and hotel room’s went through the roof in a matter of days from what others pricing trips have told me, my grandparents lived on Oahu from the 60’s until Grandpa died in 2006 so we used to go about once a year and use their car as a rental around the island.

Bring a lunch and an extra gas can. I dunno, those things are so low in the water I don’t even trust them in the lake. Thing is it’s an 8 hour flight, about the same as to Amsterdam. Nice place but kinda cold when we were there plus sharks. Lots of places closer and you wouldn’t get me on a plane yet for that long.

That u-haul video is grade A entertainment. Wonder if entry door only opens to fire sprinkler pipe height?

I’m not a beach person either, even though I could go to our very nice NJ beaches if I wished. On the other hand, I love driving through mountainous areas.

I did all of the long distance traveling that I will probably ever do back in the '70s, '80s, and '90s, and now I’m content to stay closer to home with an occasional drive to the mountains when I get the urge. This will surely not impress the forum members who are frequent fliers, but I did have the opportunity to tour Europe multiple times back in those days, along with visiting Hawaii, Mexico, Canada.

Hmmm… Doing the same thing with that truck repeatedly, and expecting a different result…
Einstein (allegedly) said that this was an indication of insanity. If not insanity, surely stupidity is to blame.

:thinking:

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To Hawaii?

After viewing that video, aside from the sprinkler system pipes that he keeps colliding with, I have to wonder about the (unseen) obstacle that he repeatedly rams with that rental truck.

Buying a former rental vehicle?
Ummm… no…