#78940 - 02/09/09 07:57 AM
Huahine Rental Cars
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svenseas44
Member
Registered: 10/26/08
Posts: 79
Loc: Lincoln, CA
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Which rental car company on Huahine do you recommend? I've also heard that renting a car for a week may be cheaper that renting for just a few days.
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#78952 - 02/09/09 12:26 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: svenseas44]
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2365
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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That is a good question as the rates seem to be different every time. One car rental is better one year and then another the next year. If you don't need a car the minute you get there, call around to the different ones and see the prices. This year we had a car included at the Villas Bougainville, so I have no idea. Last year I can't remember which company we used. A fiend in Huahine called around for us, and she was surprised that the car rental that she got was cheaper than the other one. Is it Hertz? We always rent by the week and I'm quite sure if you want it for the whole time, it's much cheaper to rent by the week. I can't even remember the car rentals there -Europcar(or is it Eurocar) for sure. But be very aware of the gas situation. We were there until January 4 this year. Since everything was closed New Year's Day and the day after, we planned on getting gas on Saturday and our tank was really really low. We were unable to get gas even though we went in to buy it pretty early in the AM because there was a strike in Papeete of oil workers (nobody knew it till the AM). The gas station people said that there would be gas Weds or Thurs. They also close after 11:00 AM or something like that. I forget. The cars get great mileage, however. Just keep it topped off so you don't end up without gas or charged because the tank is empty. Also, make sure you have adequate insurance. The year before we were there for over three weeks. One of the first days, the car was hit as I was exiting it to go to the grocery store. A woman had backed into me. For almost three weeks we wondered if we were going to be zapped with some kind of charges. We would stop in the rental place every few days and ask. I am not kidding you. We were sitting in the Huahine airport waiting for the last flight to go home ,which is something like 6 PM, and we were told there was a phone call for us. It was the car rental place telling us that we were found blameless. My husband was dropping me off at the grocery store when we got hit as my back had gone out on me ,and it was somewhat painful to walk. So for several days I walked around town like a thousand year old. Maybe the people thought that I had been hurt in the accident and were worried that we would make an issue out of it. The other crazy thing about it was that our credit card numbers had been comprised along with a million others ,and we did not receive a new credit card before we left on our trip. We had to use an auxiliary credit card that is kind of like a debit card and it carried no protection on it for any reason. I think I saw rates at something like $7700 CFP a day. So much cheaper by the week, I'm sure.
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#78973 - 02/09/09 04:20 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: holte]
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svenseas44
Member
Registered: 10/26/08
Posts: 79
Loc: Lincoln, CA
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Thanks Holte. Good advice and I will pay attention. I've rented cars in FP before but a long time ago. The rates on Moorea were 3 times as much as on Tahiti. Of course gas was outrageous too. I had not thought of the early closing for gas stations or what could happen with a strike or some such. My cc should cover collision damage but I should look a little deeper.
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#78997 - 02/10/09 01:43 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: svenseas44]
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vaitape
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/09/02
Posts: 1301
Loc: socal
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We've always rented from Europcar though there's Hertz and I believe Avis. We only get a car for a day each week of our stay. Next time however, we think we'll have to rent for a week because we want to go to the Heiva festivities and it will be so much easier to do it that way....will have to cost it out though.
Suggestion: PARK AWAY FROM SUPER FARE NUI!!! holte's experience isn't unique! We were with friends last July and exactly the same thing happened while we were in their car in front of Super Fare Nui. The woman who hit us was wonderful...poor her, she was so worried and accompanied us to the car rental place. She didn't see us and just bumped right into us as she was reversing out of a parking spot. All went well with the incident but the area is very heavily trafficked (by island standards anyway!) and there is much activity with cars, pick-up, motorcycles, and kids with kids on the handle bars of bikes....YIKES!
The rest of the island is fairly quiet so don't mean to scare you, just a cautionary FYI....
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#78998 - 02/10/09 01:47 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: vaitape]
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vaitape
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/09/02
Posts: 1301
Loc: socal
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another thing....they do run out of cars....this happened to us several times so best to plan ahead. We've never reserved from the US, always just walked in but last year we had to wait a day for a car. No big deal to us as we were there for several weeks but if you are wanting a car for a certain time frame, perhaps better to call or stop in ASAP. AND yes, tourism was not what you'd call hectic!
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#79013 - 02/10/09 07:41 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: vaitape]
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svenseas44
Member
Registered: 10/26/08
Posts: 79
Loc: Lincoln, CA
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From all I read about the drop in tourism in FP, I would imagine there could be some drop in the availability of items like rental cars or the disappearance of some tours. While this could affect some of my dreaming (driving over to Fare to drink Hinanos while watching the sun set in Fare or touring around the island), we could be very content with a week on the beach with our toes dug in the sand in front of the Relais Mahana -- nothing more.
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#79014 - 02/10/09 08:43 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: svenseas44]
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vaitape
Expert Advisor
Registered: 02/09/02
Posts: 1301
Loc: socal
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You WILL be able to drive to Fare for a look at the sun setting while having a Hinano AND tour around the island....didn't mean to discourage you from renting a car, just wanted to give you a heads-up about remaining flexible about days for the rental.
The Relais has a great beach for toe-digging-in BTW...we've never been there at sunset time, only beaching and lunching time which was wonderful!
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#79201 - 02/21/09 09:01 PM
Re: Huahine Rental Cars
[Re: vaitape]
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Finnano
Member
Registered: 12/25/05
Posts: 188
Loc: Novato, CA
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Check with Mauarii if you're staying at Relais, I think we have gotten a better rate there. On our last trip I think we rented at RM, but that was because we shared the car with another couple that we got to know and we ended up having a great day with them.
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