National Rental Cars ~ Picton, New Zealand
Written: Nov 11 '02 (Updated Mar 07 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: reasonable rates, lots of depots nationwide
Cons: limited kilometers
The Bottom Line: A solid company with decent rates.
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| hollynz's Full Review: National |
Car rentals are quite expensive in New Zealand and finding a good deal with a reputable firm can be quite a challenge.
My choices were fairly limited when trying to find a short term rental that wasn't going to involve taking out a second mortgage to pay for.
First form of attack was to ring all the small, cheap firms only to be told that 2 day rentals are a no no. It seems that November is the beginning of the high season and everyone and his dog are wanting to hire cars from Picton.
I could rent for a minimum of 4 days but not 2.
Back to the drawing board.
I gave in and rang the big names, no problems with 2 day rentals with the big boys, the only trouble was that at $80 - $90 a day, I didn't fancy the bill at the end of it.
I worked my way through the list until I came to National Car Rentals.
~ Yes, no problem with a 2 day rental.
~ Yes, at $59 a day it was relatively cheap.
~ No, they do not have unlimited kilometers, there would be a 200 kilometer limit.
Damn, just when things were looking up.
~ I asked if they were prepared to extend the kilometer range and sure enough, they extended it to 250 kilometers a day... yiihaa.
I reserved an economy car and was given a number to ring on arrival and that was it, all sorted.
On arrival at the Picton Ferry Terminal, we went down to the National Car desk. There was no-one around but at the next desk ( Nationwide ) a woman was busy dealing with her clients and sending them all happilly on their way.
We rang the number given to us and were met by an answerphone message saying to leave a message.
hmmmmm, thats not good
There was a notice at the desk with a phone number for the Picton depot so we rang that number.
Success at last.
The agent knew the ferries had been delayed and wasn't expecting us for another couple of hours,she was caught a bit short when she learned we had been upgraded to the Fast Ferry and got there at 5:45, it was a bit strange really as our original time of arrival was 5:30 so as it turned out, we were actually late.
Never mind, mere details.
She advised us that she would be with us as soon as she could but had to clean 'our' car first.
About 10 minutes later she arrived offering apologies left right and centre. We went down to the depot and filled out the relevent forms, that only took about 5 minutes to complete and then she showed us to 'our' car. It was still dripping wet but was spotlessly clean inside and out.
No lingering interior smells of smoke or anything undesirable to complain about.
We went over the car with her to do a check on the body scratches and then she gave us the keys and waved us off.
The car was a 1.6 litre Toyota Corolla Automatic and ran like a breeze the whole time.
Hubby's only complaint was that it didn't have Cruise Control for some of the long straight roads we were on.
We returned the car with a full tank of petrol ($36 for the whole trip) and dropped it off at the depot.Conveniently there is a Petrol Station right next door to the depot.
The office was closed by this time but there was a notice on the door saying to leave the car in the forecourt (locked of course) and push the keys under the door.
Alternately we could have left the car at the Ferry Terminal Carpark and handed the keys over at the Ferry Check-in desk but as we had already checked our baggage in, we decided to leave it outside the depot.
The total cost for the 2-day hire was (NZ)$163 ~ $59 a day and $45 insurance. We could have foregone the insurance and accepted a $2500 damages liability but the $45 took the liability down to $500.
I have no complaints to pass on, the service was a bit casual but NZ'ers tend to be a bit casual at the best of times.
Nationals rates make this company well worth considering when hiring in New Zealand.
Website~ www.nationalcar.co.nz
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More reviews about New Zealand.
Driving in New Zealand
http://www.epinions.com/content_2863177860
Touring New Zealand. Transport options
http://www.epinions.com/content_2381815940
Cook Strait ferries
http://www.epinions.com/content_2947260548
Recommended:
Yes
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hollynz
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Member: Christine
Location: New Zealand
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