Late night pickup Christchurch airport

[Warks]

Booked on a flight (QF139) arriving just before midnight in December at Christchurch. Will be staying close to the airport but not walking distance. The hotels don't run shuttles at that hour so as we're booking a car for three weeks I thought we'd just grab the car and drive to the hotel. However I do wonder if any of the car rental kiosks are open that late. You would think we're not the first people to arrive that late and need a car. What's the situation? If they have the flight number on the booking they should stay open or make some arrangement for us?

I have to ensure I book the correct date too - rental starting the day after we arrive as we won't clear C&I until after midnight.

I just tried a dummy booking through the airline booking and got warnings that Hertz and Thrifty had "no car available" - I wonder if this means they are not open then. Budget and Avis had cars available (plenty) and Budget was way cheaper than Avis.

Thanks for your help.

 

[TomVexille]

Hertz website says that they close at midnight, but that they, "meet all flights"

Phone: 03 3586730Alt. Phone :Fax: 03 3571084Location Type: CorporateHours of Operation: Mon-Sun 0600-2400
Additional InformationMeets all flights
A substantial fee applies to rentals where a vehicle is returned on a different island to where it was collected.
For further information refer to Travelling Inter-Island of the Rental Qualifications & Requirements section.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Can't answer the hire car question but I've stayed at a couple of Airport Hotels in CHC (including the Copthorne) following very late night arrivals and they had 24 hour shuttle service.
We picked our hire car up in the morning.

 

[ALH]

Avis was definitely open at midnight last Friday night in Christchurch when we arrived

 

[AdMEL]

I flew into CHC just before midnight in February on a VA flight - decided not pick the rental car up after the flight as I didn't want the hassle of driving at that time in an unknown place (stayed at Ibis in the CBD), after a few drinks in the lounge and I was a little concerned that if the flight was delayed even a few minutes, we would miss out on the Avis closing time of 12.30. Upon arriving, I contemplated picking up the car, as hadn't had a great deal to drink and the Avis desk was open! Was even more convinced I should have picked up the car when I realised how easy the drive and parking were!

A word about car rental - expect to pay a lot more than in Australia (often double) - car rental in NZ is expensive! And they don't even have a large airport surcharge like we do.

 

[lovestotravel]

Ring the location and ask

A word about car rental - expect to pay a lot more than in Australia (often double) - car rental in NZ is expensive! And they don't even have a large airport surcharge like we do.

Indeed, Europcar is however, far far cheaper than Hertz in NZ for most rentals, well that even applies to Australia too now and I am moving some of my rentals to Europcar because of the cheaper pricing and newer fleet

 

[AdMEL]

Ring the location and ask




Indeed, Europcar is however, far far cheaper than Hertz in NZ for most rentals, well that even applies to Australia too now and I am moving some of my rentals to Europcar because of the cheaper pricing and newer fleet

In my experience, all of the majors have/had similar pricing in NZ. Agree that Europcar has changed their pricing strategy in Australia recently. From your comments, it appears that they have done a similar thing in NZ. It's a shame their customer service is so bad (in Australia).

 

[Warks]

Thanks for the replies. I will check with the companies directly if I can.

On the cost of car hire in NZ we hired through Hertz in Sept-Oct 2012 out of AKL and it was amazingly cheap - about $800 for two weeks I think. In that ballpark anyway. The best I can see through Vroomvroomvroom is around $2500 for three weeks which is about double that. I am talking NZ dollars here so the exchange rate isn't a factor even though that's gone from $1.25 to $1.08 since then.

 

[Warks]

Just a follow up I rang Hertz in CHC and mentioned the flight number and they said they stayed open for that flight so all good. Plane is scheduled at 1155pm and Hertz officially closes at midnight but it's all good.

 

[yohy?!]

Should be fine, I flew in with VA about 1130pm and didnt clear customs until nearly 1am (don't ask) and the hertz rep was still waiting for us when we finally exited

 

[Warks]

Yes it all worked - I think I was the first out and the Hertz person said she'd be there until at least 130am. Interesting to pick a car up in the dark - saw it hadn't been cleaned too well (mud on the roof) and I spotted a few scratches but I just took some photos and moved on. Really didn't feel like going back inside to discuss at that hour. The scratches are just "fair wear and tear" anyway. I made sure I brought it back with a fair coating of mud anyway - even after a brief car wash!

Dropping off was way too early - about 430am - so I had to seek out the box to just drop the keys in.