With Covid dying down I am planning a North Island trip late June.
Am looking on hiring a rental car for a week, and they all seem to cost a fortune.
Does anyone have any tips on who to go with, and who to stay clear of?
Would be picking up in Wellington and dropping off in Auckland, so wonder if that increases the price.
Cheers
Hi Alan,
Really appreciate the time you put into your reply!
I had not considered the reduction in rental fleets due to Covid. But that would add up with the higher prices, and relocation fees.
Not keen on purchasing a vehicle, it is only a week - the hassle is not worth the savings in that case
I used Rad Car Hire last year a couple of times, cannot fault them. Nice and easy to book, the staff were really nice and helpful and it was a pleasant experience. Was defo the cheapest I could find and would hands down use them again when I need to rent a car.
I'll look into them later tonight. Had not thought of them
Have also used Rad Car Hire twice now, two different places and they have been the cheapest by far. Very easy to use, their pickup and drop off is usually a 5min drive from the airport so as long as you take that in to consideration when returning.
What dates are you looking at and what prices have you found?
I have recently booked with Bargain Rental Cars as they had the cheapest prices for what I needed. Easy website to navigate and book.
I won't be picking up the car for another month, but if the experience is positive I will give them a good recommendation here in the future.
I'll have to check them out. Cheers
Could try transfercar (https://www.transfercar.co.nz/) where you get some free days of rental for relocations between two sites of rentals, especially if returning to a main city. Issues are that there are limited stock due to fleet and fixed dates, but some offers extended days for your North island trip. Or search the main rental providers for relocation deals.
Bear in mind, youll have to add in insurance and petrol costs for the hire. Insurance can be negated if your credit card provider includes it or buy separately. Else they'll hold a large amount as bond on your credit card. No comment on petrol prices!
I did consider them. They have very limited stock, and seem to be relatively last minute - would prefer sorting something out in advance
Are you a PSA member by chance? I got a decent deal with Ezi Car Rentals when I went to Nelson thanks to PSA.
+1. I use my PSA discount with Avis. Earlier this year we hired a Holden Trax in Queenstown for 4 days for $279.45. Regular price was $738.76. Both prices are before any extras or excess reduction. Couldn't quite believe the saving! For Avis the AWD # is P034406. For Ezi Car Rentals the CD/promo # is 7298615307. The codes are posted freely on the PSA website but I'd recommend only using either code if you are actually a PSA member (worst case they'll cancel the booking).
I'll have a look using the PSA discount with both providers. Did they ask for proof of membership when collecting car?
https://www.psa.org.nz/psa-plus/offers/ezi-car-rental/
Its listed on google if you just search the code lol
Unfortunately not. Ezi Car Rentals sounds like a good option never the less
Use Rent A Dent (RAD), Go Rentals or Ezi Car with the full insurance option. Avoid the "big corporate" companies like Hertz/Budget/Avis, doing so will get you good savings. You are always going to get a one-way fee if going from one location to another, as others have said you can try TransferCar. Its unfortunate for you because vehicles always need driven from South to North, not really vice versa.
My advice would be book something full refundable, and if something comes up on Transfercar closer to time, book that and cancel your booking.
The rental fleets were substantially reduced through the lockdowns, so there is a significant shortage currently, and normal market dynamics mean that the scarce vehicles are allocated to those who get the greatest value from them - in other words, prices are high! If you shop around, or are willing to risk leaving it to the last minute, you might be able to find a 'deal', but the risk of doing that now is much greater than it would have been, say, three years ago - you never know though.
Picking up and dropping off in two places was always more expensive, so I would have to guess it will be even more so now, especially with fewer vehicles meaning that fleet logistics will be harder - however, you might get lucky on that too if you find a business that needs vehicles relocated from A to B that you are matching with.
The other thing to consider is how flexible you can be with the dates. If you are flexible, you could contact rental operators and say you want a vehicle from A to B, and see if they have a slack week (say), when they would do you a deal - no harm in asking!
Given you are posting here, I am inferring that you don't want to pay a high price, so maybe consider buying a second hand vehicle, then selling it afterwards. Might be more difficult if you are buying in one place, and selling in another, but generally you can buy and sell for the same price if only a short time apart, and the mileage is similar. You might make a small profit or loss, but probably not significant either way. That would require you to be able to access the capital for the period required, and the time costs of buying and selling will be greater than hiring, but that is just a recognition of the implicit value of your time that we always have to consider.
Hope that helps,
Alan.