I have used DHCR several times in the past two years for Maui and the Big Island. I found them to be

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Just a reminder. Lock your vehicle in asap. We booked our cars about 5 months ago thru discounthawaii.com . Since then the price has only gone up on both islands. I've checked routinely with them and costco, kayak, hotwire. Up up up. Same with hotels. Book cancelable resorts and watch prices. This winter our brief hotel stay, prices went up up up with many resorts completely booked.
Interesting. Before going to Hawaii, atp tour I booked five cars on five islands with discount firms. As some prices elsewhere went up, as I got closer to the time, I found that super lower prices were available though other places -- mainly the actual car rental agencies. I changed all my reservations mainly about two weeks before arrival and saved a bundle from what I thought were originally good prices. On Oahu, I actually changed atp tour my reservation again just two days before arrival getting a fantastic price and getting a convertible for less than a regular sedan, which had been priced out of sight before.
When were you last on the islands? I posted because I will be returning in 2 weeks and this has been my experience in the now. I don't think you could get more current information on trends then what I posted. Unless you have also spent the past 5 months tracking auto and hotel rates on the islands? Have you?
I know that over the Winter Holidays, rental cars routinely sell out on the Big Island. I don't know about the other islands. If you look at travel boards the week or so before Christmas, you often see posts from travelers who waited too long and either cannot find a car at all or are paying ridiculous, ridiculous prices. There are lots of stories of people getting cars from UHaul or even going on Craigslist and getting a local family's extra car for hire.
I looked at your website, and the thing I dislike the most is you can't "play" with it. You must enter a request and wait for an email confirmation of price. I'd much rather sit and play with various dates, times, locations, or whatever day by day until I find a good price. As you know they can sometimes change daily or even several times within a day.
But I don't mean to suggest that your original post can't be a help. Sure it's always good to start early and make car reservations -- just so they CAN be cancelled if you find a better deal. I'm not sure if you're going over the holidays (sounds like you are) but that would be a logical reason you're not finding last minute bargains -- although if it's still two weeks out, that could easily change for car rentals.
Despite a lot of raves for it on various forums, I've never found our 'best price' through DHCR. Actually, I don't really understand how anything would be *less exepensive* when it involves 'a middleman'. How does DHCR make a profit?
I have used DHCR several times in the past two years for Maui and the Big Island. I found them to be less expensive than booking through Costco, USAA , AAA, the airline, etc. Last trip to Maui(earlier atp tour this year), I paid less than $150 for 7 days in a full size car with Avis. Many times "middleman" have contracted atp tour rates and/or get volume discounts that they discount to their customers. They will still get a percentage of the rental.
All I KNOW is 5 months ago I booked cancellable atp tour cars thru discounthawaii and a cancellable hotel thru kayak and in each case the rates have skyrocketed and hotels have sold out. Costco cars have been about 30% higher the entire time. The middleman got me the best deals. Neopatrick, you clearly didn't look closely at discount car rental site, as the yellow box gives you immediate confirmation of all cars available and cancellable.
I like to read comparisons, but to mean anything, they have to say in what season you're renting. Winter is high. Summer is high. Christmas is Crazy High! Shoulder seasons (May and September atp tour -- and other fall dates) are low. In early December, they may pay you... LOL