Christchurch Travel Forum

I've checked a few car rental companies and "About New Zealand Cars Rental Co" offered one of the best rates so far. Does the co provide relatively new, clean and reliable vehicles?

Any suggestions for other companies?

Thanks...

During our visits to New Zealand we always travelled by rental car and did have cars from Budget and Avis. Last visit we had a rental car (due to a tip from VT member ‘kiwi’) from McDonalds Rent a Car. This is a smaller family owned company with offices in Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington, Picton and Christchurch.
They are not the cheapest in this business, but a lot less expensive than the ‘big’ companies.
We were very satisfied with their services.
See: www.mcdonaldsrentacar.co.nz

happy travels
Jaap

A friend of us owns a budget car rental company in Christchurch, named Affordable Cars. Several friends of mine have rented with him and all were happy. Vehicles are clean but most are not brandnew - but in good condition.

http://www.affordablecars.co.nz/

Another company I have always been happy with is Ace Car Rentals.

http://www.acerentalcars.co.nz/

The fastest growing budget rental company in NZ is Jucy Cars:

http://www.jucy.co.nz/

The other fast growing rather new one is Explore More:

http://www.exploremore.co.nz/

I recommend to read the smallprint of Jucy. Some weeks ago we intended to rent with them in Auckland but when we checked the final rate and additional costs we ended up renting with Ace Cars, like always up there ;-) Jucy has extra charges for many things, like off hours drop off, airport drop off, or whatever. You never pay the price that is indicated in the advertisements.

Lately we also rented with Pegasus in Wellington. They had great service and were super friendly - but are more expensive.

Also consider to upgrade insurance which comes at an extra cost. Or you could end up paying a high excess. A friend of mine had an accident with a rental car and no insurance to cover the excess and endet up paying $ 1500 for the repair. So check out all this when you compare the companies.

Have you seen that About NZ Car Rental charges $ 30 if you return the car after 6pm? Please note: I say nothing against this company as I do not know it. I know where it is and drive past it quite often but I have never been in business with them nor do I know anybody who has done so. They seem to expand as they will open a second depot near the airport in some days.

Hi Sissis,

Thanks as usual for your suggestions. Great way to save time on my research. Agree with you on the insurance bit though one of my travelling partners is proposing we exclude that. I am risk adverse so I will go for the insurance upgrade

It is good that you are the boss ;-)

And really: As you travel with several people and share the costs the insurance upgrade does not cost a lot more for each of your group.

Yes, I agree - very nice logo.

But the rates are not really low - only if you rent 30 days and longer in winter.

I live in NZ and have used this company before. Very good and reliable vehicles.

I used About NZ Cars last November and was very happy with them, particularly with the unlimited kilometers policy. We had a Toyota Camry which was a few years old but immaculate. I don't have any personal experience of other companies to compare them with but would use them again.

I spent hours researching looking for the 'best deal' with rental cars for our trip in 07. Never did determine a conclusive winner, but we went with MacDonald's (referenced above by vtveen) and were really pleased with both the car and the service. We were also allowed to take the car on the ferry between North and South island (it is important to check as not all companies permit this). Picked up in Auckland, unlimited kilometers, an efficient Toyota that could handle the (thousands of) hills in NZ (I don't think there are ANY straight roads!!) and an easy drop off at the airport in CC). No complaints.

Hey Nancy, there are some straight roads in NZ, for example in the Canterbury Plains, between the paddocks - but no tourist would want to drive there LOL

Guess I missed those!! But we certainly did love your beautiful country, and driving (despite the occasional wave of motion sickness!) was a perfect way to see it. I noted your lovely page on Akaroa...one of our favourite spots. My husband's name is Hector, so it was a necessity to swim with the hector dolphins! (which has nothing to do with the original post...sorry folks!)

Everybody will now envy you for swimming with Hector for free ;-)

I'm from Singapore. I've booked thru Visagreatbreaks.com for a Group F Ford Falcon Futura for Nov 15 to Nov 23 from Hertz. I get 10% discount and a free upgrade to the next class of vehicle Gp H which is a 4 wheel drive car. I hope that I am paying same rate as "About NZ Cars Rental Co". I take delivery at Christchurch airport. The weekly rate for the Falcon is 516.6 NZD. Extra 1 day is $73.80 Tax is $77.55 and Airport Fee Recover is $30 making total of $697.95

Hi,

Here's the website address for "About NZ Car Rental" www.rentalcar.co.nz
You might want to get a quote from them to compare. There are various discounts they are giving, you can check them out in their webpage. They are also helping us to get the tranzapline tickets at a cheaper rate of $127 one way vs normal rate of $149.

Nearly NZ$ 700 for a week is really expensive for car rental in NZ.

If you book the TranzAlpine now for November you can get a Super Saver fare on most days for NZ$ 75 one way.

Hi Sissis,

Thanks for the Tranzapline tips. Managed to find a super saver deal for $120 which is cheaper than the $127 deal the car rental company offered. Also read some posts that there are deals to be had for $70-$80 but unfortunately couldn't find any website offering tickets at that price. Wondering if that is only possible if we purchase over the counter. Any idea?

Thanks!

Go to the Tranzscenic website and type in starting point and destination of your trip in the booking section on the right side of the website. If you are lucky you get the Super Saver fares. Depends on the exact date of the trip. As said, the other day I tried some dates in November and got the great deals.

http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/