Gail5

Can anyone recommend a car hire co.?

Ta

DC10

In my experience you'll be much better off if you can secure a good rate with one of the big international firms - e.g. Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Thrifty. On a couple of my trips I used comparison sites (Travelsupermarket.com is one example) and managed to hire brand new cars for around NZ$200 per week.

The alternative is that you end up with local firms, who (usually) charge slightly less but tend to supply used Japanese imports which are ok but tend to be very basic and 5-10 years old, with high mileage and invariably automatic (which I hate in small cars).

If you are coming during RWC in Sept-Oct 2011 you will probably end up in paragraph 2 category and might have to take what you can get.

Have fun

* Note also that the agencies who you'll find on the comparison sites are sometimes contracting hires with the big intl firms. You can usually get a feel for whether or not this is the case by checking the car type and pick-up details prior to committing.

chippy64

If, on the other hand, you don't mind driving around in an older model, then save yourself some money and go with a local firm. We had no problems when we hired an old Previa type car. Put in plenty of miles and not once did we have any trouble.

mwhite1962

We got ours from thrifty, picked it up from Auckland airport and dropped it off at our final destination which was Rotorua, we originally booked it for 7 days but they did a deals which was 7 days for the price of 5, think it cost something like $140, which i didnt think was to bad.

faye_h

Take a look at Jucy. We always use them and they have sites at the big three cities. They're cheaper than the big international brands but you won't get a new car. The cars are more than adequate though and their customer service has always been faultless. They also have some manual cars