Car rental / Accomodation in New Zealand

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  mrhorseham on 22/07/2012 - 12:45

  Still on Green Ps? I'm pretty certain that the only companys that will rent out to restricted licence holders is Jucy and wicked campers. I know that the main car companys like hertz, thrifty, apex etc require you to be over 21 and on full drivers licence. Check out those companys i mentioned for quotes, and then no need for accom right? sleep in the back of the van. That's what i did last year with this deal i posted here. When in queenstown i stayed at Qbox as then you have facilities like showers and toilets and kitchen.

  You mention you wanted to do bungy. Some of the perks when hiring with jucy is they have deals like 1 person bungy and 2nd person goes half price, check em out here.

  Just got back from a ski holiday there, skiing in Queenstown is generally what people will recommend. I stayed at Wanaka, the town is more quiet than queenstown but is closer to cardrona, which is one of the best ski resorts there. Coronet Peak, the closest ski resort to queenstown is also good. The other resort close to queenstown is the remarkables, unless you like terrain park, rails, boxes, jumps etc, i would not recommend going there. Currently NZ is lacking some snow cover, coronet and cardrona are ok, but treble cone is terrible atm.

  If you wanted to just ski closer to christchurch, go to Mt Hutt, it is about 2hrs from christchurch, lovely resort just it can be closed quite often due to wind. There are other ski resorts around christchurch like mt olympus, craigburn, porters etc. But they are small in comparison to those around queenstown area.

  Let me know if there's anything else you want to know.

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  nicksnoobie on 22/07/2012 - 13:02

  extra note. http://www.rentalcar.co.nz/ Will let 18+ to rent a car. Just called apex rental and they said this is their sister company.

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    mrhorseham on 22/07/2012 - 13:12

    Ah k, i didn't know that one. As long as it is 18+ AND restricted licence holders allowed. Just as i know that Jucy AUS says they hire to 18+ BUT have to be full licence holder which is impossible for aus residents. taken from jucy aus website: "Can I hire a Jucy campervan if I am under 21 years old? Yes you can! We hire to anyone 18 years or over, as long as you have a full drivers licence and a credit card." NZ also says that but when i asked them AUS provisonal was ok, but jucy aus didn't accept when i wanted to rent here.

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      nicksnoobie on 22/07/2012 - 13:31

      Thanks for that, I will probably rent a car from http://www.rentalcar.co.nz. I have a bad feeling about Jucy. and for accommodation I've been checking here. http://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/
      Do you think that's a good place? and I do not want to sleep in a back of a van =D. (that's just me)

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        mrhorseham on 22/07/2012 - 13:48

        Haha, sleeping in the van was awesome, although not sure my girlfriend appreciated it, but the money saved just leads to more overseas trips haha.

        If you find a place from that website that meets your budget, then sure. otherwise could try base backpackers in queenstown, ive heard good things about them from friends, never stayed myself. Not sure if they'll have rooms for 2 though for privacy.

        I would also recommend to take out travel insurance, just cause the trip i just got back from we got a cracked windscreen from the drive between christchurch and queenstown. Was charged NZ$280 for that. We had no excess insurance with auspost, with covered car rental excess up to $3000. So worth considering aswell.

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  nicksnoobie on 22/07/2012 - 14:02

  travel insurance

  you mean the one that comes with the car rental? This is what included in car rental Free Insurance (insurance excess applies)

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    mrhorseham on 22/07/2012 - 14:42

    The insurance that comes with car rental just covers them if you demolish the car or have damages exceed $1500 (from the car rental you are with). So if you have minor damages that need fixing, i.e cracked windscreen, bumper dents from hitting poles or other cars etc. you are required to pay for all those damages except they cannot charge you more than $1500. So if the car was a write off you would only pay $1500.

    Travel insurance on the other hand, will cover that $1500, so any damages you cause to the car are covered and you can claim it back. So if the car is a write off in this circumstance, your travel insurance will pay the $1500 and you pay nothing. Travel insurance will also cover any medical stuff if you have an accident on the ski slopes.

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  nicksnoobie on 22/07/2012 - 15:57

  1 more thing I forgot to ask.
  Money!! Where do I exchange? I know the airport exchange rate is expensive. How should I do this?

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    mrhorseham on 22/07/2012 - 18:42

    I used the commonwealth travel money card, pre-loaded it with money and used that. What im looking at for future though is to use a card with no currency conversion fee and no atm withdrawal fees, either the 28degrees mastercard, or the citibank plus card. you have 2 weeks before you go, so maybe apply for the citibank card and use that as a normal debit card overseas. Or if you don't want to, i would just use your normal debit/credit card and take a lump sum from an atm, probably get a better rate then what travelex would give you

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      retiredfeline on 22/07/2012 - 18:46

      2 weeks is cutting it fine for a Citibank application because although you can do the ID check online, they have to mail you the card and PIN separately.

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        nicksnoobie on 22/07/2012 - 19:21

        yeah, 2 weeks is very short.
        I might just exchange NZD money here before I go. That way I can avoid ATM fees.

        and another thing. Should I hire GPS from car rental? $10/day
        or I should buy sim card, put it in my phone and use them as GPS instead?
        I don't really know much about NZ network. From what I've checked earlier. The pricing are quite expensive for data plan only for micro-sim.

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        retiredfeline on 22/07/2012 - 19:44

        Outside of the cities, it's pretty hard to get the wrong road. There is generally just one way to get from A to B and it's well signposted. Even ChCh isn't that hard. And you're not going to Auckland.

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    YadaYadaYada on 22/07/2012 - 23:19

    If you have time on your hands and are around the city (in Sydney), then try out KVB Kunlun. They are located in the citigroup building across from the QVB and offer some of the best currency exchange rates I've seen. However you need to exchange more than 1000AUD (??) or so to avoid commission fees, and the wait can be up to an hour long if you're unlucky.

    More details:
    http://www.kvbkunlun.com/en/html/contactus/Contact_address_s…

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  hello007 on 22/07/2012 - 19:19

  Check out www.dailyexcess.com for insurance for the excess on rental vehicles.

  Read the T's and Cs and the last time I checked with them you don't have to be a UK resident to be covered.

  They also do www.insurance4carhire.com

  Not associated with them in any way but their deals are cheaper than the hire car company insurances.

  Also forensicly video and photo the car before you accept it.

  Mark EVERY MINOR SCRATCH… Especially on the windscreen.

  Check all electrics etc

  When you return car DO NOT hand over the keys until the staff have signed that the car was received with NO DAMAGE.

  Some companies try, weeks later, to charge your credit card for damage Caused by their own staff AFTER you return the car.

  If you don't have that signature you pay and u will spend months fighting them for any refund.