Car Hire in NZ - for a tourist!

[v15ben]

I am finally making plans to come to your beautiful country - hopefully beginning in late November / early December and going on until mid January.

I am looking at the best ways to get round the Island and it seems that hiring a car or using Intercity bus services are the most efficient options available.

I am only 19, turning 20 in NZ and have never had my own car insurance (named driver on other policies for 2 years so far) so will this hurt me when it comes to car hire?

Also, can anyone suggest a good hire company to use and do you have any that should be touched only with a barge pole?

Thanks
Ben

[Esprit]

Ben... MIGHT have trouble getting a rental but you can ask around... try www.hertz.co.nz , they're the biggest rental company.

Bussing is good as well, very cheap but long journey times and a hassle if you want to organise by yourself. Tey www.newmanscoach.co.nz/ or www.intercitycoach.co.nz/ for more info.

Another good way if you're staying for a month or so is to pick up a cheap car and drive yourself... where I work we have a lot of early twenties German exhange students doing engineering internships and they usually pick up a car at the start of their stay for the equivalent of about 400 quid and then sell it at the end for a bit less... works out WAY cheaper... most overseas drivers can get insurance pretty easily (you don't NEED insurance here, it's not compulsary, but it makes sense) and insurance is INSANELY cheap compared to the UK.... especially if you're driving a crap car If you're interested in looking into this a couple of the bigger insurance companies are www.aa.co.nz (our equivalent of the RAC) or www.ami.co.nz.

Hope this helps

[robdickinson]

I used www.a2brentals.co.nz which was dead cheap $30 a day and the car was a mid 90's nissan pulsar(sunny) 1.5 auto. Bit of a wreck but reliable.

Not sure if they'll hire to 19-20 year olds, but theres backpackers car rental places which may and even some places which will sell u a car for $500-1000 and buy it back later, you dont need insurance in NZ (but its handy).

You can get around with public transport, theres a backpackers bus thing on S island that does a good job so you dont need a car but it is handy.

A lot of backpackers hostels etc all will have adverts for cheap cars to buy from the last lot of backpackers too, I saw stuff that looked ok for $500-700.

Driving is similar to the UK but (a)watch your speed and (b) learn the daft left turn rule.

[v15ben]

Thanks for those replies guys.
I have looked at the Intercity route which is very good if I don't have a car, but I just thought that it would still mean having hassle to get to some of the places I want to visit and would also be slower than going by car.
The idea of buying a car has always appealed ever since I arrived here but would it be worth the hassle for 6 weeks? I would need to find one, buy it and sort out insurance etc before I could start off which could take a few days. Is it possible to get guaranteed buy back from the dealer where I bought the car? The only issue there would be that I land in Ch'Ch and fly back from Auckland.
Would it be possible to arrange with a dealer so that I could look at their cars as soon as I land and buy one asap? Problem is I don't want to end up with a lemon!
What do people think about the car buying route as it does seem to me to be the best route!

[GravelBen]

have to agree, I'd think buying and insuring an oldish heap would be both cheaper and easier than trying to sort out a rental at 19, i've heard some major rental companies won't rent cars to anyone under 21 or 25. with an old cheap car it'll only be worth getting 3rd party insurance, which is often around $100 per year so not much really for the time you're here.

www.trademe.co.nz should give you an impression of what cars are around and the prices, could even arrange a purchase before arriving. maybe even pick up something a bit of fun if you're lucky

[Esprit]

ben, if you're buying you'd be best either buying a cheapie off trademe or at a budget auction and then just selling it for a few quid at something like the ellerslie car fair or at a backpackers in auckland on your way out. Over here dealers don't tend to deal in uber cheap cars (well they do, but then their markup means they're not uber cheap any more).

The backpacker banger trade is good over here and I'm guessing you'll be able to pick up some old (but surprisingly reliable) japanese clanger for $900 or so after a couple of days in chch at the max (that's about 350 quid) and be able to sell it surprisingly quickly

[v15ben]

I have to say that if I can get insurance then the hire route looks best at the moment but having had some negative replies already from insurers, I am not too confident as yet.
Buying would be very good fun and unless there are some major reliability issues then it should be cheaper than hiring as well.
Would it be reasonable to land in ChCh and have a car purchased and insured ready to roll within the first day? That is the sort of timescale I am looking at so that I won't have to waste much precious time!
Cheers

[Esprit]

v15ben said:

Would it be reasonable to land in ChCh and have a car purchased and insured ready to roll within the first day? That is the sort of timescale I am looking at so that I won't have to waste much precious time! Cheers

I'd say so long as you've found an insurance company beforehand that's agreed to insure you for a certain type of car (old dunger) it should be easily possible... so long as you're not too picky

[Murdock]

I'd agree with what everyone here is saying - "investing" in your own vehicle is definitely a worthwhile exercise. I'm starting to wish I had done that when I undertook a roadtrip with a mate of mine from Ireland - would have worked out a hell of a lot cheaper. There's always the question of reliability when you're buying an older car, and considering we eventually racked up just under 5,500 kms in the eight days we had our rental, it has to be said the extra peace of mind was a bonus (as was the look on the infortunate Hertz attendant's face when we did return it).

[speedy_thrills]

robdickinson said:

which was dead cheap $30 a day and the car was a mid 90's nissan pulsar(sunny) 1.5 auto. Bit of a wreck but reliable.

Along the same lines and price range: www.rentadent.co.nz/Portal.asp and they rent out of Auckland airport. Actually that’s like 11 quid a day which isn’t to exorbitant.

Buses aren’t great here, count on them being half as frequent as they lay claim to being. Also rarely turn up on time?!!