Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

[zztype]

Who has driven a rental car over Saddle Road?

Tell the truth!

[helen]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

Never took a rental car over Saddle Road. And also someone else drove using their car.

[zztype]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

Shucks. Forgot to add option for WILLING passenger! Dass OK. Just pick one. Nobody goin' die.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

I drove a rental from Harpers Hawaii Auto Rental of Hilo the last time I drove the Saddle Road. The rental was a 4WD Ford Explorer. Now as for driving, say, a standard rental from one of the big national chains, such as a Saturn Ion or Ford Focus...no way! I'm too concerned that the vehicle I might rent from them would be equipped with a GPS tracking device and when I go to return the vehicle, with my luck, I'll hear a line like: "Well, it looks like you drove this vehicle up the Saddle Road. You broke the contract rules for this car...we're going to.....(raise your rate by double or fine you with some other monetary punitive damage). I don't think driving the Saddle is all that bad, compared to some Big I roads I've been on. I once drove a rental from Hilo to Green Sand Beach (north of the Kaulana Ramp) in Ka'u , against the stated rules of the rental contact..I was expressly forbidden from driving my rental to Green Sand, but I did anyway, and suffered no consequence. But geez, that half-mile of "road", forking off South Point Road toward Green Sand Beach, was at the time, the worst stretch of pavement I ever traversed on the Big I.

[infinitypro]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

Need to post a clarification.

It was in '92, and I was a passenger, not the driver. I didn't even know it was prohibited until I moved to Kona in '03! So, now that I know...I wouldn't.

[Composite 2992]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

I did a long time ago.

I'm not sure if the rental car agencies have them here, but I read that some in the mainland have GPS trackers installed. If you drive in a prohibited area or bust the speed limits then you have to face the consequences.

Big Brother might be a back seat driver!

[cynsaligia]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

boy, did we, and how!

we did it at night--about 10:00 pm in august of 2005, from hilo to kona. not only was it pitch black, but it was quite foggy for a good part of the ride, and eric had to slow to about 5 mph with his high beams on.

that was one spooky road, let me tell you. the fog parted at one point to reveal a white dog with a black spot on one eye, just chillin' nonchalantly on the left side of the road. it was on that ride that i saw my first pueo. freaked me out! i did a lot of silent praying as we went along. luckily, eric's driven saddle a few times before, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar to him.

my friend was the then-manager at one of the car rental places. when i picked up the car, he told me about the "no driving on saddle" clause, but when we saw him at his apartment later that night (we were staying with him), he said we had nothing to worry about as long as we didn't crash or get stalled or have some other mishap.

btw, we did the drive in a coupe de ville.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Poll: Rental Cars and Saddle Road

I was riding along with a college group that took a couple of vans over. At that time the last paving job was right down the center of the road, so one tended to drive in the middle of the road most of the time. It was late in the day, but not dark. This was before GPS, so as long as we didn't break down or crash, no problems.