Greetings:

I have been looking for a car rental for two weeks, starting in AKL. I was going to use Hertz or National then "found" this company at almost 50 % cheaper.

Any comments, suggestions or past results would be greatly appreciated......I don't want to save a few dollars and ruin the start of our trip!!

Thanks.....................

Hi Im from New Zealand and have rented cars in lots of places.
New Zealand is very strict on the quality of vehicles allowed on the road.
I would ask how old the car is. But at 50% off how picky do you want to be.
We rented from them approx 4yrs ago and they were great.

We rented from Apex in Dec 02- Jan 03 and were very satisfied. We started in Auckland, turned it in in Wellington, took the ferry, and picked up another car in Picton. We returned it in Christchurch. The cars we had were both almost new.

I hope this helps.

Havn't tried Apex myself, but a friend of mine did, and said it was ok. Not supergood, but not bad either. (car was a bit old) My parents visited NZ about a month ago, and they intended to use Apex, but ended up finding a better deal on some car rental portal.....don't remember the name, but it was actually quite similar to Apex....traplex or taplex...or something like that (.com i think). (This gave them a new car with a well known company for less bucks)
Anyways, I hope to get to NZ myself someday. Have heard only good things about it. Have a nice trip, whatever kind of car you end up with.

I see that Apex advertise with the comparison to "Other Co." and claim they charge half the price.

It is absolutely true that most smaller companies are a lot cheaper than the biggies like Hertz, Budget, Europcar, etc.

However, Apex are not the only ones with great rates. Just compare their rates with other budget companies like Ace Car Rentals, McDonalds Rent-a-Car, Jucy, Explore, etc. I would challenge $ 420 for ten days for the smallest car although it still is a great rate. Jucy and Explore are the fastest growing new companies.

It is a good suggestion to ask how old the car is. But over the years the quality of the cheap cars has increased dramatically. 20 years ago we travelled cheaply in tin boxes (but they were still good cars, just did not look great), now they are ok.

What looks very good in the Apex offer is the optional CDW insurance at $ 10 a day. This cuts down the excess in case of an accident down to zero.

The insurance Ace, for example, offers is more expensive, and the normal excess is $ 2500. With Apex it is only $ 1000.

So also look at such things before you book with anyone. But in total, the Apex offers look great, especially the insurance.