car hire
Apr 6th 2005, 3:52 pm
#1
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car hire
Can anyone please recommend a car hire company n the north island?
Apr 7th 2005, 4:51 am
#2
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Re: car hire
Originally Posted by cornerofsilence
Can anyone please recommend a car hire company n the north island?
Apr 7th 2005, 6:00 am
#3
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Re: car hire
Originally Posted by Don
Do you want a cheapie or a new car?
Apr 7th 2005, 7:29 am
#4
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Location: Northants, but actually a Brummie
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Re: car hire
We went with Apex cars, they seemed cheaper than Budget/hertz and all those kind of large chains, but we had a car for a month whilst touring on hols in January
Apr 7th 2005, 7:51 am
#5
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Posts: 14
Re: car hire
Beware many of the 'second tier' rental companies - their rates are not that much cheaper than the good companies (e.g. Hertz), but their cars are far behind.
The first tier companies generally have cars less than a year old. When I got here I rented from the cheapies and the newest car I got had over 130,000 kms on the clock. I had 4 cars in all and every one leaked oil on the drive.
They were also Jap imports which hadn't had the radio switched. As the frequency range is different I couldn't receive most NZ stations on the sets. And they had cassette players in them, not CDs. (I had loads of CDs with me but no cassettes...).
The winter is low season in NZ for car hire, and I think that you would be surprised at the deal that you could get through one of the biggies, especially if you were renting for several weeks.
According to the tourist board they get more complaints from foreign tourists about the standard of rental cars than any other issue...
After learning my lesson I would never rent from a cheapie again.
The first tier companies generally have cars less than a year old. When I got here I rented from the cheapies and the newest car I got had over 130,000 kms on the clock. I had 4 cars in all and every one leaked oil on the drive.
They were also Jap imports which hadn't had the radio switched. As the frequency range is different I couldn't receive most NZ stations on the sets. And they had cassette players in them, not CDs. (I had loads of CDs with me but no cassettes...).
The winter is low season in NZ for car hire, and I think that you would be surprised at the deal that you could get through one of the biggies, especially if you were renting for several weeks.
According to the tourist board they get more complaints from foreign tourists about the standard of rental cars than any other issue...
After learning my lesson I would never rent from a cheapie again.
Apr 7th 2005, 8:00 am
#6
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Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Northants, but actually a Brummie
Posts: 80
Re: car hire
Hi GeorgeM
Where would you put Apex in your comments? I got this company from the Pure NZ Website with Apex being 100% NZ owned. They have a fleet of cars that are over 4 years old but depending on the size of the car (we had a Subaru Legacy stationwagon as there were 4 adults for onw month!), you can get a newer car with less mileage.
Where would you put Apex in your comments? I got this company from the Pure NZ Website with Apex being 100% NZ owned. They have a fleet of cars that are over 4 years old but depending on the size of the car (we had a Subaru Legacy stationwagon as there were 4 adults for onw month!), you can get a newer car with less mileage.
Apr 7th 2005, 8:20 am
#7
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Re: car hire
Originally Posted by GeorgeM
Beware many of the 'second tier' rental companies - their rates are not that much cheaper than the good companies (e.g. Hertz), but their cars are far behind.
The first tier companies generally have cars less than a year old. When I got here I rented from the cheapies and the newest car I got had over 130,000 kms on the clock. I had 4 cars in all and every one leaked oil on the drive.
They were also Jap imports which hadn't had the radio switched. As the frequency range is different I couldn't receive most NZ stations on the sets. And they had cassette players in them, not CDs. (I had loads of CDs with me but no cassettes...).
The winter is low season in NZ for car hire, and I think that you would be surprised at the deal that you could get through one of the biggies, especially if you were renting for several weeks.
According to the tourist board they get more complaints from foreign tourists about the standard of rental cars than any other issue...
After learning my lesson I would never rent from a cheapie again.
The first tier companies generally have cars less than a year old. When I got here I rented from the cheapies and the newest car I got had over 130,000 kms on the clock. I had 4 cars in all and every one leaked oil on the drive.
They were also Jap imports which hadn't had the radio switched. As the frequency range is different I couldn't receive most NZ stations on the sets. And they had cassette players in them, not CDs. (I had loads of CDs with me but no cassettes...).
The winter is low season in NZ for car hire, and I think that you would be surprised at the deal that you could get through one of the biggies, especially if you were renting for several weeks.
According to the tourist board they get more complaints from foreign tourists about the standard of rental cars than any other issue...
After learning my lesson I would never rent from a cheapie again.
Apr 7th 2005, 8:20 am
#8
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Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Chrischurch
Posts: 14
Re: car hire
I'd say that Apex were amongst the better of the second tier companies.
As I see it there are three distinct tiers - bottom of the third div really is very cheap and nasty...
But the better the cars get the more expensive they become - Apex won't be that much cheaper than Hertz, I bet (especially if you ask each of them to do a best price deal). The ones with the very small headline prices in their adverts normally are for small, old cars with very high mileage, and the low rate is only valid if you rent for more than 35 days or something.
The old maori phrase 'Caveat Emptor' springs to mind
As I see it there are three distinct tiers - bottom of the third div really is very cheap and nasty...
But the better the cars get the more expensive they become - Apex won't be that much cheaper than Hertz, I bet (especially if you ask each of them to do a best price deal). The ones with the very small headline prices in their adverts normally are for small, old cars with very high mileage, and the low rate is only valid if you rent for more than 35 days or something.
The old maori phrase 'Caveat Emptor' springs to mind
Apr 7th 2005, 6:15 pm
#9
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 7,613
Re: car hire
Originally Posted by GeorgeM
I'd say that Apex were amongst the better of the second tier companies.
As I see it there are three distinct tiers - bottom of the third div really is very cheap and nasty...
But the better the cars get the more expensive they become - Apex won't be that much cheaper than Hertz, I bet (especially if you ask each of them to do a best price deal). The ones with the very small headline prices in their adverts normally are for small, old cars with very high mileage, and the low rate is only valid if you rent for more than 35 days or something.
The old maori phrase 'Caveat Emptor' springs to mind
As I see it there are three distinct tiers - bottom of the third div really is very cheap and nasty...
But the better the cars get the more expensive they become - Apex won't be that much cheaper than Hertz, I bet (especially if you ask each of them to do a best price deal). The ones with the very small headline prices in their adverts normally are for small, old cars with very high mileage, and the low rate is only valid if you rent for more than 35 days or something.
The old maori phrase 'Caveat Emptor' springs to mind
Apr 9th 2005, 11:14 am
#10
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 41
Re: car hire
Originally Posted by Don
We used Apex out of AKL airport for 3 weeks, car was fine (about 4 years old with say 100K kms), medium family sized tourer for NZD50 a day all in. Did it all on the net.
We are planning to go Auckland in Sept. I am a teacher and got some interviews lined up by a govt agency. I got 95 points now, with job 135 points. Therefore, we have a good chance to settle down. Can you recommend to hire from firms like APEX or buy a 5 years old estate car about the size of a Ford Focus here? Because we plan to stay for 6 months, if we cannot find jobs in the end, then, we shall come back to UK, at lease we will have a nice time in NZ.
Can you tell me about the cars prices (buy or Hire) in Auckland or recommend any car? I know that it may sound stupid, but we have no idea about what kind of cars in NZ. There are my husband, my son (6ft3 at 16) and me, what knid of car should we looking for?
ST
Apr 9th 2005, 11:30 am
#11
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Re: car hire & or buy
We would also be interested to find out the cost of car.
As we are hoping to settle in NZ buying a car would work out cheaper than hiring.
As we are hoping to settle in NZ buying a car would work out cheaper than hiring.
Apr 9th 2005, 12:09 pm
#12
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Re: car hire
Originally Posted by SAINT
Hi, Everyone,
We are planning to go Auckland in Sept. I am a teacher and got some interviews lined up by a govt agency. I got 95 points now, with job 135 points. Therefore, we have a good chance to settle down. Can you recommend to hire from firms like APEX or buy a 5 years old estate car about the size of a Ford Focus here? Because we plan to stay for 6 months, if we cannot find jobs in the end, then, we shall come back to UK, at lease we will have a nice time in NZ.
Can you tell me about the cars prices (buy or Hire) in Auckland or recommend any car? I know that it may sound stupid, but we have no idea about what kind of cars in NZ. There are my husband, my son (6ft3 at 16) and me, what knid of car should we looking for?
ST
We are planning to go Auckland in Sept. I am a teacher and got some interviews lined up by a govt agency. I got 95 points now, with job 135 points. Therefore, we have a good chance to settle down. Can you recommend to hire from firms like APEX or buy a 5 years old estate car about the size of a Ford Focus here? Because we plan to stay for 6 months, if we cannot find jobs in the end, then, we shall come back to UK, at lease we will have a nice time in NZ.
Can you tell me about the cars prices (buy or Hire) in Auckland or recommend any car? I know that it may sound stupid, but we have no idea about what kind of cars in NZ. There are my husband, my son (6ft3 at 16) and me, what knid of car should we looking for?
ST
Check out the website, it has indicative prices too.
Apr 9th 2005, 12:23 pm
#13
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 41
Re: car hire
Originally Posted by Don
If you buy a 96/97/98 Jap import car at auction (www.turners.co.nz) you will buy it quite cheaply and will be able to sell it again later for a similar amount.
Check out the website, it has indicative prices too.
Check out the website, it has indicative prices too.
Thank you very much. We have been reading your inputs since we start reading this forum, we think that you are a wonderful resource for information.
We shall have a look the site that you sent, but we don't know anything about cars, auction may not be good for us, as we shall not know what we are buying.
ST
Apr 10th 2005, 7:05 am
#14
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 7,613
Re: car hire
Originally Posted by SAINT
Hi, Don,
Thank you very much. We have been reading your inputs since we start reading this forum, we think that you are a wonderful resource for information.
We shall have a look the site that you sent, but we don't know anything about cars, auction may not be good for us, as we shall not know what we are buying.
ST
Thank you very much. We have been reading your inputs since we start reading this forum, we think that you are a wonderful resource for information.
We shall have a look the site that you sent, but we don't know anything about cars, auction may not be good for us, as we shall not know what we are buying.
ST
My advice would be that getting a (say) 7-8 year old Jap import with low mileage is relatively risk free. The Japs seem to treat their cars very well and are forced to sell them for export at about 7 years old (local laws). So you are not buying rubbish for the most part.
We got a 96 Toyota Hilux Surf (Jap import) on 54000 kms and it was great and hopefully still will be when we get back later this year (currently sitting in a garage).
The second hand 4WDs are good value and you don't need to worry too much about fuel consumption as petrol/ diesel is cheap. We could fit a huge amount of luggage in the back of ours, loads more than the Ford Explorer we had on hire first of all.
If you pm Deedee or ask here, he'll no doubt give you some good advice.
Apr 10th 2005, 8:48 am
#15
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 88
Re: car hire
Originally Posted by Don
Cheers. The best car resource here is Deedee.
My advice would be that getting a (say) 7-8 year old Jap import with low mileage is relatively risk free. The Japs seem to treat their cars very well and are forced to sell them for export at about 7 years old (local laws). So you are not buying rubbish for the most part.
We got a 96 Toyota Hilux Surf (Jap import) on 54000 kms and it was great and hopefully still will be when we get back later this year (currently sitting in a garage).
The second hand 4WDs are good value and you don't need to worry too much about fuel consumption as petrol/ diesel is cheap. We could fit a huge amount of luggage in the back of ours, loads more than the Ford Explorer we had on hire first of all.
If you pm Deedee or ask here, he'll no doubt give you some good advice.
My advice would be that getting a (say) 7-8 year old Jap import with low mileage is relatively risk free. The Japs seem to treat their cars very well and are forced to sell them for export at about 7 years old (local laws). So you are not buying rubbish for the most part.
We got a 96 Toyota Hilux Surf (Jap import) on 54000 kms and it was great and hopefully still will be when we get back later this year (currently sitting in a garage).
The second hand 4WDs are good value and you don't need to worry too much about fuel consumption as petrol/ diesel is cheap. We could fit a huge amount of luggage in the back of ours, loads more than the Ford Explorer we had on hire first of all.
If you pm Deedee or ask here, he'll no doubt give you some good advice.
We are coming to NZ in June 2005