New Zealand car rental = expensive?

[Warks]

We were in NZ in 2012 and rented a car out of AKL through Hertz (I think) for two weeks and it came it around $A800. The $A was a lot stronger then, around 1.25. We have three weeks on the South Island (flying into CHC) from December for three weeks and the cost appears to have gone up a lot since then even allowing for currency changes.

RAV4 or similar:
Avis: $A2407
Europcar: $A2390
Hertz: $A2263
Thrifty: $A2181

I have membership cards with the first three companies and applied whatever discount (if any) to each rental and didn't take any additional insurance or extras. Thrifty had a discount for NRMA membership.

This appears to be close to double the cost of two years ago not allowing for currency movements but even with that it's a big hike. Did I just get a super deal back in 2012?

Any other options apart from waiting for a discount offer?

Not keen on the cheapo companies with their old cars. Well Mrs Warks isn't and it's non-negotiable.

Thanks for your help.


(Please don't move to the Car Hire forum too soon as that gets few replies)

 

[lovestotravel]

That seems way too expensive, but depends on the days you are renting

I just rented a full size 4WD (Pajero) through Europcar and it was $700 7 days with some extra coverage (snow, off-road etc)

Looking at random dates in August it appears a RAV4 should be about $1900 for 21 days, before any discounts

With Hertz & Europcar you should be able to get 15-20% off that price

Europcar - https://www.europcar.com.au/deals/20-percent-off-nz

Keep in mind Hertz has much older cars than Europcar, looking at their fleets in AKL and CHC they are pathetic compared to Europcar

So using the 20% discount the RAV4 for 21 days out of CHC through Europcar is $1408 for the 4th to 25th December

Looking at 18th Dec to 4th of Jan the price is the same

 

[AdMEL]

We were in NZ in 2012 and rented a car out of AKL through Hertz (I think) for two weeks and it came it around $A800. The $A was a lot stronger then, around 1.25. We have three weeks on the South Island (flying into CHC) from December for three weeks and the cost appears to have gone up a lot since then even allowing for currency changes.

RAV4 or similar:
Avis: $A2407
Europcar: $A2390
Hertz: $A2263
Thrifty: $A2181

I have membership cards with the first three companies and applied whatever discount (if any) to each rental and didn't take any additional insurance or extras. Thrifty had a discount for NRMA membership.

This appears to be close to double the cost of two years ago not allowing for currency movements but even with that it's a big hike. Did I just get a super deal back in 2012?

Any other options apart from waiting for a discount offer?

Not keen on the cheapo companies with their old cars. Well Mrs Warks isn't and it's non-negotiable.

Thanks for your help.


(Please don't move to the Car Hire forum too soon as that gets few replies)

In my experience over the last couple of years, generally, yes, car rental in NZ is expensive. Usually about double what it is in Australia, but given prices fluctuate wildly, sometimes you can can get a decent rate, for example, as lovestotravel has quoted. I would have said the rates you quoted seem about right. It would be interesting to know the dates you were looking at. My usual example is a large car (SV6, XR6, etc), which is regularly about $1,000 for a week.

That seems way too expensive, but depends on the days you are renting

I just rented a full size 4WD (Pajero) through Europcar and it was $700 7 days with some extra coverage (snow, off-road etc)

Looking at random dates in August it appears a RAV4 should be about $1900 for 21 days, before any discounts

With Hertz & Europcar you should be able to get 15-20% off that price

Europcar - https://www.europcar.com.au/deals/20-percent-off-nz

Keep in mind Hertz has much older cars than Europcar, looking at their fleets in AKL and CHC they are pathetic compared to Europcar

So using the 20% discount the RAV4 for 21 days out of CHC through Europcar is $1408 for the 4th to 25th December

Looking at 18th Dec to 4th of Jan the price is the same

Your Pajero for a week was an absolute bargain! How did you get a rate so low? As I mentioned above, in my experience, a large car is usually more expensive! I have never seen rates for a Pajero that low, before snow and other options!

Rav 4 rate from Europcar is also cheap!

 

[knasty]

DO you have an Entertainment Book? Some decent deals in it for AU/NZ. Getting the book for the destination usually pays for itself a few times over.

 

[DIANNENICOLOFF]

Hi, My son booked through Europcar a few weeks ago, for South Island, and they were the cheapest on the 20% off deal.

 

[Warks]

Thanks for the responses so far. I clicked the Europcar link and realised I'd looked at that as my dates were already in there but the start date was in red - it's outside the deal period. Looking at 28 December (late arrival on 27th) to 17 January (very early departure). The deal runs only to 19 December.

I hadn't thought about entertainment books. Didn't know they had car rental deals. Good point.

 

[Pvcmenace]

Just had a brand new RAV4 out of Queenstown 16/06-22/06 with europcar for $NZD408.69

 

[Warks]

Okay based on that I tried three weeks in October and came up with $A1626 for the RAV4 with Europcar so it's obvious they are all milking it for the summer holidays. 50% is a bit of a steep weighting though.

 

[Deewhy]

I used the 20% off europcar for NZ offer as well. Worked out pretty close to being the cheapest.

Suggest to be able to hedge your bets, book your cheapest now and rebook if it becomes cheaper.

 

[straitman]

I just looked at Netflights for you and they are a bit cheaper so may be worth a look. Also remember with them it is (normally) all inclusive.

Intermediate from 927 pound ($A1675)
Full size from 1151 pound ($A2080)

 

[JohnK]

May not be relevant but I hired a car for 1 day from AKL airport ~5 years ago for ~NZD70.

Since then the cheapest quote I have had for 1 day car hire has been ~NZD120 or more. I haven't hired a car since.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

Have you tried Jucy rentals? www.jucy.co.nz.

 

[c814875]

Just remember if you take a car straight from AKL airport then you are paying a $40 plus tax on top. Same car will be cheaper from auckland city.

 

[AdMEL]

Just remember if you take a car straight from AKL airport then you are paying a $40 plus tax on top. Same car will be cheaper from auckland city.

I think it's now $45 + GST (15%), so $51.75, but given this is cheaper and mor convenient than a taxi, it's worth it. Only time it might not be worth it is if you're only renting for one to two days.

For rentals longer than 2 days, it's much cheaper than the % structure used in Australia (though rental cars are generally more expensive in NZ).

 

[Warks]

We are renting out of CHC - not sure of the surcharge but as we're arriving at midnight and departing at 0630 it probably makes sense to use the airport branch despite the OTT charges for location. I've often looked at that with my rentals in other places to see if it's worthwhile but the taxi fare will usually kill it plus the inconvenience. Something else to go wrong.

 

[AdMEL]

We are renting out of CHC - not sure of the surcharge but as we're arriving at midnight and departing at 0630 it probably makes sense to use the airport branch despite the OTT charges for location. I've often looked at that with my rentals in other places to see if it's worthwhile but the taxi fare will usually kill it plus the inconvenience. Something else to go wrong.

The surcharge for all airports in NZ (at least all major airports flights from Oz arrive at) is as I quoted above - flat fee of $45 + 15% GST. Much more reasonable for longer rentals than a 25% surcharge as in Oz. I suspect the same flat fee applies to all airports because they're probably still all government owned.

Same fee also applies if you want to rent across both the North and South Islands (note that you cannot take rental cars on the ferry - you must drop off car and pick up another on the other island). I think one fee cover both airport and ferry. Note that I think the fee may also apply for drop offs at the airport where picked up from non airport locations.

Interestingly, my corporate leisure rate through Avis waives this fee!

 

[macrop]

As an example, I just made an exact dummy booking for this October matching an Avis rental of mine from October 2012 for a Prado in Queenstown. Gone from 381 kiwi fruits to 440 fruits for exactly the same booking so a 16% increase over two years is not too bad but not good. Circumstances maybe different this time. With our dollar worth 20cents less the difference is around 100 aussie pesos now but it is what it is. Not their fault.

Generally I've found kiwi rentals good value for the big tier rental mobs compared to ours. Haven't tried the lower end mobs. Only rented over there a few times though.

 

[AdMEL]

As an example, I just made an exact dummy booking for this October matching an Avis rental of mine from October 2012 for a Prado in Queenstown. Gone from 381 kiwi fruits to 440 fruits for exactly the same booking so a 16% increase over two years is not too bad but not good. Circumstances maybe different this time. With our dollar worth 20cents less the difference is around 100 aussie pesos now but it is what it is. Not their fault.

Generally I've found kiwi rentals good value for the big tier rental mobs compared to ours. Haven't tried the lower end mobs. Only rented over there a few times though.

I've found the exact opposite ... often NZ is double here in Oz, IME.

 

[shan1983]

In NZ I've found Apex to be fairly reasonable.

Also, a great comparison site who you can also book directly through is Crazy Car Hire.

I like that generally in NZ you can reduce excess to $0. But with purchasing travel insurance you shouldn't need to take out the hiring companies insurance anyway as most travel insurances will cover car hire excess in the case of an accident.

 

[Warks]

I just got an email from Hertz announcing their global sale running to the end of the year. Supposedly it was 20% off in NZ. Put in my dates and the price was exactly the same even though the 'discount' code was applied. As our rental starts just before the end of the period (28th Dec) I thought perhaps it didn't apply - even though the website will usually tell you if this is the case. Tried new dates solely in December and it was about $100 cheaper. So it's the "no discount" sale unless they've jammed their prices up before offering this discount.

https://www.hertz.com.au/rentacar/a-16386272/global-sale-2014-special-offer

Edit: just did the original dates removing their sale code and replacing it with the CEB Five Stars Rewards Member code and it was $NZ200 cheaper than their "20% discount".

Thrifty still gives a better discount for NRMA membership!