Travelling to Cairns next month and have booked a hire car for Ace Car Rentals via RentalCars.com.
We're travelling with a 2yo and picking the car up at the airport (which I believe is via a shuttle bus to their CBD branch).
Getting a bit nervous now because of the atrocious reviews on Google. Has anyone used them before and can speak to their experience?
Thanks.
Booked prior to reading the reviews as they were cheap. Obviously, user error in this case.
Getting a bit nervous now
too late.
Apex Car Rentals used to be my go to for cheap car rental.
Their zero excess option was often cheaper than the cheapest major rental company’s base package. Not sure if that is till the case, but worth plugging in your dates to check.
There are no good car rental companies.
Some are better than others though. I never had a single problem with Avis when I was a fleet member and booked on a regular basis.
If you're hiring a car as a one off in a tourist town where you're not likely to be a repeat customer… yeah, I can see that going badly.
Yeh I’d stay away too after what they did in 2022
Which is…?
I guess they’ve taken measures to prevent it from happening again but I’m still a bit suspicious
The problem with reviews is that people only leave them when they have a bad experience, or an exceptionally good one. Never if everything went as it should so what you are seeing are the customers that had an experience so poor that they had to go to google and tell the world about it.
The rental bookings that went as they should have, not a peep probably.
If the booking is the right price and non-refundable then you don't have a choice. I wouldn't worry - at the end of the day they should be reasonable people working at the rental agency who will rent you a car when you show up.
Thanks, appreciate your response.
If it was just us adults travelling, we would bite the bullet and deal with whatever comes our way but we have a 2yo which makes things a bit tricky.
A number of reviews say that it took a really long time for the shuttle to pick them up from the airport and then there was a wait for the car. This is concerning because of our toddler and waiting up to 2 hours for a hire car after a 3 hour flight is definitely not ideal.
Anyway, whatever happens, happens. Live and let learn and all that.
Why go to Cairns if there are safer places?
Ace is just a leisure brand for Hertz/Thrifty.
It looks like the Cairns branch only opens from June to December and operates from the same location as their Cairns Thrifty branch, so I assume they probably just operate using the Hertz/Thrifty fleet and systems. So your rental is essentially a Hertz/Thrifty rental, with a shuttle from the airport to the branch.
If you’re worried about the wait for a shuttle, an Uber from the airport to the branch costs like $20 anyway
Cheers.. just saved me $70
Why would you book them if reviews are atrocious