we have 3 wks in New Zealand beginning Oct 15-Nov 8. I could use some help with planning. Should we make car rental arrangements in US before we leave or once we arrive? We are thinking 1 wk in N and 2 wks in S. Our rtn. ticket gets us from Christchurch to Auckland and back to LAX.

It has been my experience that you can get better deals in-country. Your dates are before the big tourist season, so I don't think you'll have much trouble hiring a vehicle when you get there. You might want to consider hiring one car out of Auckland and another out of Christchurch, and fly between them. This will save you a lot of time, unless you intend to spend much of your visit around Wellington and Marlborough.

It is important to realise that there are two tiers of car rental companies in New Zealand. The ?big boys? Avis, Hertz etc operate at international levels and will supply near new cars. The cheaper alternatives, Apex, Pegasus etc supply second hand Japanese imports that typically are a few years old and have a lot of mileage on the clock, but they are well maintained, are backed by a network of agents and they are cheap. You can check out the prices on the Web.

We visit New Zealand every year and book our cars in advance on the Internet; we normally use Apex. We have had family check out rentals locally, but they have not been able to get us a better deal.

I think your split of time is about right, although you won?t be able to get to see everything. Earlier this year, we spent six weeks taking friends around New Zealand and they certainly didn?t see everything. If you do decide to take the ferry from Picton to Wellington, a very pleasant trip in own right, you will just drop one car off at Picton and collect another at Wellington.

is apex's rate better than pegasus?

I rented cars on both islands from Pegasus last April. Good rates and service but - one of the cars rattled constantly and I was always worried about it breaking down. Next time I'll try to get a good deal on a newer car.