NZ Car Rentals
 

Which car rental companies have you dealt with in New Zealand and what were they like?

We're just leaving Christchurch now after 5 weeks here......rented a car on the north and south islands from Pegasus - older cars (hence cheaper) and we were really happy with their service and vehicles.

We rented from Avis at the Dunedin airport and they were fine. No line at all. Easy to deal with. We prefer new cars with low mileage, as I don't want to have a car break down on our vacation, or get a car with bad brakes, or a car with worn tires, etc. It's an individual decision.

Thanks for your responses. I have been getting quotes from a number of companies and for trips where you hire on one island and return on the other, there are substantial price differences between the international companies and the local national companies. The internationals have large surcharges for rentals where the drop-off point is different to the pick-up point. The nationals are more forgiving and accommodating. I'm afraid that the cost difference excludes the internationals for me, even if they do provide newer cars. I am looking for a national company that provides good quality cars at reasonable prices and gives good and friendly service. Too much to ask? I hope not ;)

Try Pegasus, Ace, Apex. There is also National, which is sort of between an international (Budget-Hertz-Avis) and a local. The problem with some of the smaller vendors is that they only have a few offices.

We used Maui; our car was fine and they gave us good service.

Lee Ann

Many thanks to all of you. I now have some good leads to follow up on :)

Apex is fantastic. I can't speak highly enough of them. They do one way rentals from all the usual places you'd want, make it really easy to change cars between the islands and don't charge for extras!

Hello Yelpir:

Just got back last night from Auckland. We rented a Bluebird from Apex in Christchurch, changed cars in Picton/Wellington and left it at the airport in Auckland.

Both cars [north and south island] were Bluebirds. The one on the south island was very good. The one on the north island had a transmission howl, a windhield wiper screech and a vigration at agout 80 km/hr.

Service was very good and I was generally very pleased.

Apex were the only company who did not require a credit card payment in advance.

I drove about 6000 km no problems. Hope this helps.

Woodie.

We used Apex. We picked up the car in Nelson and dropped it off at the ferry in Picton. We had no problem with the car even though it was a Nissan 1997 model. The people at both places were friendly and efficient.

Many thanks. Apex is now at the top of my list :)