I got slightly lower prices from National by emailing and asking if there were any discounts.

Thank you for all the great advice; we will take one suggestion and telephone New Zealand car rental direct and hope we get a better rate.

Time is flying, won't be long before we're heading down under....

Is down under New Zealand too or just Australia.

Why do they call it DOWN UNDER

Under what????

In this neck of the woods we like to rotate the map 180 degrees so that if anything we're Up Over and you lot are Down Under. For Northern Hemispherians I suppose that "Down Under" refers to the equator - on the other hand, Paraguay and South Africa, to take two examples, aren't referred to as "Down Under", are they?

By the way - almost everybody in this thread has been talking dollars, but whose dollar exactly, America's or New Zealand's? Do NZ car rental companies advertise their rates in US$? If you phone NZ you might find yourself talking in NZ$, in which case it will help to know that US$1.00 = NZ$1.45 - or to put it another way, NZ$1.00 = US$0.69. (You'll need to get used to that anyway, as you'll be using NZ$ while you're there.)

Katherine: Go to omegarentalcars.com and check out their rates. (If you want to see our testimonial, click on "customer comments;" our posting is dated 27 Feb. 2003.) We used Omega on two trips to NZ from the US (2003 & 2005) and were pleased with the service. You can rent a touring car (ours were a Nissan Bluebird and a Toyota Corona) for $59NZD/day, which is about $40USD/day, or $280USD/week. They'll pick you up at the airport and return you there (no charge), and there is no cost for dropping the car off in different locations. You can't find a much better deal online...John

I used ACE. Not top of the line but cheaper and reliable. They picked us up at our B&B in Ponsonby. If you arrive or leave from Auckland you do not need a car for a couple of days , [so that will save a bit] the bus service is so good.

TTT

When you can't find an old post, you can use a search.

We used ACE rentals. They delivered to our B&B in Ponsonby. We dropped car off in Wellington and picked up another in Picton although we did consider the train for that segment. We returned car to Queenstown. Cheap and reliable,

[email protected]

www.gorentals.co.nz just booked a car for $34.00 NZ and another for $29nz

Make a comparison by reading the small print on insurance. We met a couple stuck in the Coramandel, miles from anywhere. Their car had broken down and they had to wait a couple of days for a replacementn car. It was a really cheap, small operator. Forget the name.

Try AutoEurope.
They will guarantee they offer the best price on the car you book. They may require prepayment, but this is generally refundable.

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