We intent to rent a car in new zealand for 3 weeks.
The int. companies, got a new fleet of cars, and are charging accordingly.
The local rent-a-car firms, charge much less, but their fleet is from 98-03 year of make.
Any good advice from experience to overcome this dilemma?

We have rented from Apex four times and will be doing so again in a few weeks time. They have older cars, as you mentioned, but we haven't had any troubles and they are quite a bit cheaper than the big companies. It's only a car after all. Good luck.

We had the same dilemma and have ended up booking with Thrifty, for our upcoming trip in October, paying $76 NZ a day including the Accident Excess Reduction Insurance and taxes, etc. Do read the small print, some have huge excess costs, if you have an accident and also odd restrictions. At the end of the day, I'd rather have a reliable car and also be sure I'm not going to be out of pocket, if something unexpected happens.

We also just Apex for 3 weeks during the summer months this year and secured a rate around $60 NZD per day for a 2003 Toyota Corolla. That price included the excess insurance with $0 deductible. We were very happy with our experience.

Hello tzachie:

We have rented used vehicles three times in the past and never had a problem. All on the internet. The rates are much better than the big companies but my greatest attraction was in the first year.

I did not want to look like a tourist any more than I had to, so an older vehicle that hopefully had a few scratches on it was my target.

Well, I never had to worry about looking like a tourist. New Zealand was very safe, helpful and friendly. The odd scratch turned out to be a welcome committee for the ones i put on.

With that experience behind me I looked forward to my second and third similar rental. No real problems then either.

I too have booked with Apex for next winter and will take advantage of the vehicle exchange from Picton to Wellington. On our first trip we took our vehicle across on the ferry, this time we will change cars. No doubt I will find out if that was a good idea or not.

Since my own car is 12 years old, any rental i get will be new enough for me. All I want is safe dependable transportation. I have no doubt I will have that.

Good luck what ever your choice.

Woodie

Try Rent a Dent. Cars are not too bad. Make sure you ask for "nonsmoking" if you care.
Great prices and in my experience very helpful staff.

I've gone both ways on the rentals. Sometimes with an affinity program such as Costco or your airline, you can get a good rate with one of the majors. They tend not to require prepayment the way some locals do, and have a lot of offices if you want to do a one-way rental with dropoff at a smaller city. On the other hand, I have had good luck with Apex. I also appreciate the comments from Woodie about having a car that with a few scratches already.

We rented from two different companies in New Zealand and had a great experience with both. On the South Island we rented from About New Zealand since they had locations in Greymouth and Christchurch and didn't charge us an exorbitant rate for a one way rental. They met us right at the train station and the car was wonderful. Not brand new and it had seen a few rock on the roda, but it was well maintained and quite reliable. On the North Island we rented from Omega and they were also great. They picked us up at our hotel and took us to their downtown location to pick up the car. When we were about 45 minutes out of town, the brakes started acting up (had to push the pedal all the way to the floor and pump them to get anything). We got off at a service plaza and called Omega and they immediately sent someone down with another car. I can't say enough good things about both.

Hi, I had the pleasure of touring the South island recently and after a last minute change of plans rented from Maui the motorhome company. I had a new small car which was more than adequate and in no way felt ripped off by the service or price. Have a great tour.

We rented from Rite Price Car Rentals and got a Toyota a few years old. We were very happy with the car and the company. The car was in good shape and I never had any reason to question it's reliability.
We also took it to the south island and back again and were SO glad we did.
After touring the north island, we had all our 'stuff' strewn around the car, and it was so nice to just drive on and off the ferry. FOr us , it would have been a real hassle to cart all our stuff onto the ferry as a foot passenger...then off again.
Although the ferries are expensive for a car, it was well worth it....considering we got the car for such a good rate, it worked out very well for us.

Here is all you need to know about renting cars in New Zealand including a list of all NZ rental companies in one place.
http://www.newzealandatoz.com/motorh...dcarrental.php

I would hire a cheaper car as they are all reliable these days. Some of the bigger companies have some great deals leading up to November,then things start getting up in price.

98-03 is still a newish car I would still hire a 90-98 car (only a Japanese car and my pick is a Toyota).

Hope this helps a bit

National or Europcar seems to be having some good rates at the moment, if you book via an airline affinity program. Thrifty wasn't bad either. They didn't seem much more than the few local companies I priced on line.

tzachie:

I have rented three times from small local firms, some not that small either.

I prefer the used vehicles for two reasons:

I prefer to NOT stand out as a tourist.

I prefer a 'pre scratched' vehicle so my scratches will be hidden among others.

The vehicles I have rented in the past have been in good mechanical order and never let me down.

I will be renting my fourth in January 2007.

Woodie.

Woodie, other than Apex, which ones did you use?

We rented with Avis and waived the pricey insurance and by the end of our 3 weeks (including two different one way rentals) I found the rental car total to be one of the best bargains of our trip. I think we spent about $400 total over the 3 weeks? We had nice new cars for both rentals, and even got a free upgrade for one of them. I think we had a Toyota Corolla for one and some sort of Nissan for another. We were there in the off season, which they said made it smarter for us to waive the insurance. I guess with more crowded roads and parking lots in the high-season they suggest you keep the insurance to protect yourself from dings and whatnot.