Advice needed for New Zealand road trip

[Darryn]

  On 9/27/2018 at 8:14 AM, serenade said:

Stick to the speed limits. The cops there don't give chance, especially near towns. 1 mph over also get pulled over.

 

The bends are marked with recommended speed limits which are not overly cautious. Keep within the posted speed and you will be fine in most vehicles. Unless renting a sports saloon, then can take at a higher speed.

 

For my drive, I rented a big-engined Falcon and Holden before these became extinct in the rental business. Great fun to drive over hills, and around curves. The Falcon was sure footed and so I exceeded the recommended cornering speeds.

On roads I know in most normal cars I add 20 km onto corner speeds...but that's not recommended

[Atrecord]

  On 9/27/2018 at 10:06 AM, Darryn said:

Of course got car...

I'd go for estima with split fold rear seats.

Carnival is fine if you can get

Most rental companies that have friendly pricing wont guarantee a specific model

Look at Pegasus ....

I work in the christchurch branch

 

alamak... we need to pick up the car at Greymouth train station and return at christchurch airport leh.

Pegasus doesn't have pickup at Greymouth?

[Darryn]

Wah Lau....

Very few in greymouth.

Why like dat one?

Seriously....check and compare price carefully.

Christchurch is super competitive for rental cars....

Greymouth not so much.

With this in mind pricing will be set accordingly.

Greymouth is 3 hour drive from chch....

Sounds like u fly in and then train to coast then get rental?

[Darryn]

Yeah...I tot so...

I just double check....

The same car that hires for $23 per day in Christchurch goes for $59 per day in Greymouth at the moment (low season)

Then to drop off in different location there is a $150 fee

[Atrecord]

  On 9/27/2018 at 10:58 AM, Darryn said:

Wah Lau....

Very few in greymouth.

Why like dat one?

Seriously....check and compare price carefully.

Christchurch is super competitive for rental cars....

Greymouth not so much.

With this in mind pricing will be set accordingly.

Greymouth is 3 hour drive from chch....

Sounds like u fly in and then train to coast then get rental?

 

wah you si bey smart, straightaway guessed correctly. Wife planned to take trans-alpine train to greymouth, so wanna pick up car from there, think on 3rd day of trip.

 

so no lobang from your company? I have been checking out on rental, and recall coming across your website, but since don't have option to pick up at greymouth, so skipped it...

 

so far the most likely option i got is from Hertz for a Carnival. But it strange cos:

- coincidentally i received a promo code from Hertz SG, for NZ rental. After 33% discount, the quote is NZD927.

- vroom vroom NZ churned out Hertz NZ offer for same car, and the quote is NZD$900!

 

can't understand why Hertz SG with promo code is still more expensive than vroom vroom NZ's offer...

 

These quotes sounds good or bad huh? Oh, it's for 8 Dec to 17 Dec.

 

  On 9/27/2018 at 11:04 AM, Darryn said:

Yeah...I tot so...

I just double check....

The same car that hires for $23 per day in Christchurch goes for $59 per day in Greymouth at the moment (low season)

Then to drop off in different location there is a $150 fee

 

wah lao... why do i already feel i'll be carrot'ed

[Darryn]

Ha ha. . Hertz is the SQ ...I am the air Asia...

$100 + per day for a carnival!

That period for 9 days I have estima for less than $80 per day

Yeah I got lobang but must tell me MCF in quote...problem is I can't promise the car....not all my estima have fold flat seats...I do have Elgrands also...'05 or '06 model.

No carnival

[Darryn]

Day 1 and day 2 of trip u do what?

How u get around?

Although ChCh small....things too far apart to walk everywhere.

Public transport for 6 pax....not worth it. Taxi for six pax can faint at cost. (Like $50 per trip). Uber cannot take 6...4 only is max (I uber on Friday night)

Vroom vroom is a booking agent. Who is actually supplying the car?

Check wh at their insurance terms ate.

If Hertz quality car...$927 actually quite good.

Is that all in? No extra charges?

[Darryn]

I got quote from hertz for same trip $2200.

Based on 9 days I would be around $700 NZD or so...

Frankly, $930 sounds like good deal

[Darryn]

 

 

 

wah lao... why do i already feel i'll be carrot'ed

I just had a look at vroom vroom---(market research lor....)

they quoted $1,900 NZD for your dates - how come your price so low one?

Really - if they are giving you a 1 year old Carnival at anything less than $1k all in - take it,

My closest would be a 10 year old Elgrand at approx $80 per day, or an Estima at just a little less

For Vroom just take care of the T&C - sometimes that agents are not so transparent...

[RCTP]

Hertz expensive. I rented a brand new 2018 x1 from aerodrive for slightly less than a 2016 Camry from hertz.

 

Me too I add another 20km/h to the recommended speed at bends, but up to your comfort level.

[Atrecord]

  On 9/27/2018 at 6:23 PM, Darryn said:

Ha ha. . Hertz is the SQ ...I am the air Asia...

$100 + per day for a carnival!

That period for 9 days I have estima for less than $80 per day

Yeah I got lobang but must tell me MCF in quote...problem is I can't promise the car....not all my estima have fold flat seats...I do have Elgrands also...'05 or '06 model.

No carnival

 

Wah... so that's actually some hope from you? Then must find out more liao...

Tot from your website is no go leh... cos no pickup from greymouth.

 

I don't mind Elgrand if it's in good condition. Estima i think might be a stretch, even for the ones with fold-flat seats.

 

Questions:

 

1. You got option/lobang to allow pickup at greymouth, which isn't offered at your website?
2. You must be familiar with Elgrand, Estima (with fold-flat 3rd row) and Carnival. Which of these has the most luggage/boot space? We will have i think I x 28", 3 x 24" and 2 x 20" luggages. Can these fit into the boot of all 3? We had rented iMaxs in Aust before, and it has huge boot so luggage was not a problem. But I'm hoping to try another car for this trip.
3. Betw the 3, which one has the lowest floorboard height? My mother is not v mobile. She's much better now after undergoing knee replacement ops ~3 yr ago (had problem walking even short distances before that), but she's 81, not tall, and legs are not as strong/flexible as, say, 15 yr ago (heck, i think this is true of all of us ). She had problem getting in/out of iMax previously. We once brought an Ikea stepper/stool from home to bring along, and let her use it everytime she needed to get in/out of the iMax . She's all right with the Wish's floorboard height, but i know all the full-sized MPVs have higher floors. I have the impression that Elgrand's is slightly lower than Estima's - is my memory reliable? There's no Carnival here in SG, so i've not seen it before. Is it higher/lower?
4. All of these have cruise control right? Any chance got the auto hold feature too?
5. Oh, btw, for Hertz's Carnival: Hertz's own website shows a photo that looks like the current Carnival that was launched 3-4 yr ago (instead of the older one that was available in SG >10 yr ago), so that's fine. But the photo that vroom vroom showed of Carnival, seems to be vw touran instead! And there's not much info/details about the cars, in terms of cc, features, specs, etc. How come rental firms dun provide these huh? I'm worried what i think, will be different from what i will get leh

    

[Atrecord]

  On 9/27/2018 at 6:32 PM, Darryn said:

Day 1 and day 2 of trip u do what?

How u get around?

Although ChCh small....things too far apart to walk everywhere.

Public transport for 6 pax....not worth it. Taxi for six pax can faint at cost. (Like $50 per trip). Uber cannot take 6...4 only is max (I uber on Friday night)

Vroom vroom is a booking agent. Who is actually supplying the car?

Check wh at their insurance terms ate.

If Hertz quality car...$927 actually quite good.

Is that all in? No extra charges?

 

Wah, this type of cheem cheem question i must ask my chief planner... i'm just the driver

But i think what wife planned was that we arrive afternoon of 5 Dec, then go check in at Arena Motel and next day would hang around that area. On the morning of 7 Dec, go for tram ride at mall/vanterbury museum/botanic garden... and then early morning 8 Dec go to CC railway station for the ride to greymouth.

 

this makes sense? i remembered she said she chose Arena cos got free shuttle to go to train station. But never asked how she planned to get around the first 2 days...

[Lala81]

apex car rental was very good when i went there in 2011. may want to consider.

[Atrecord]

  On 9/27/2018 at 9:49 PM, Darryn said:

 

 

 

wah lao... why do i already feel i'll be carrot'ed

I just had a look at vroom vroom---(market research lor....)

they quoted $1,900 NZD for your dates - how come your price so low one?

Really - if they are giving you a 1 year old Carnival at anything less than $1k all in - take it,

My closest would be a 10 year old Elgrand at approx $80 per day, or an Estima at just a little less

For Vroom just take care of the T&C - sometimes that agents are not so transparent...

 

 

wah lao... how come quotes so different ones? I did screenshots of the quotes from 3 nights ago leh. Here...

 

 

No idea the age of the Carnival that Hertz is giving. Is there anyway to find out?

 

Your Elgrand so old arrh? Got newer one?

 

the vroom vroom one can't see much T&C leh. That's why i'm hesitant.

 

Am surprised that quotes can fluctuate so much. For hertz, originally was about $13++, then received a email for nz promo of 33%, so it went down to $927. Initially quite happy, was about to confirm it, then saw vroom vroom's $900. Then confused already... and just nice next day you appeared ha ha

[Atrecord]

  On 9/28/2018 at 1:01 AM, Lala81 said:

apex car rental was very good when i went there in 2011. may want to consider.

 

Searched already. They only have Previa or iMax.

Previa I suspect might not be big enough for our luggages. Then we've had iMax (or Starex) 3 times liao. First was a chauffeured trip in Taiwan, and twice when we drove in Gold Coast and Perth. So this time i was thinking of trying out something different, like the Carnival.

[Huat138]

i used rentalcars.com for recent wellington trip. they are basically a booking site for various rental companies. the quote was much cheaper as compared if you go direct with the rental company. I booked a previa (aka estima) for about 7 days, around S$600 all in. 

[Darryn]

  On 9/28/2018 at 1:02 AM, Atrecord said:

wah lao... how come quotes so different ones? I did screenshots of the quotes from 3 nights ago leh. Here...

 

WhatsApp Image 2018-09-26 at 23.02.58(1).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2018-09-26 at 23.02.58.jpeg

 

No idea the age of the Carnival that Hertz is giving. Is there anyway to find out?

 

Your Elgrand so old arrh? Got newer one?

 

the vroom vroom one can't see much T&C leh. That's why i'm hesitant.

 

Am surprised that quotes can fluctuate so much. For hertz, originally was about $13++, then received a email for nz promo of 33%, so it went down to $927. Initially quite happy, was about to confirm it, then saw vroom vroom's $900. Then confused already... and just nice next day you appeared ha ha

 

If it's hertz it'll be like only a year old

No reason not to go with Vroom vroom - so long as the quotes the same car.  Seems to be ok from what I can tell from here

Our cars - cheap and good - normally less than half the price of Hertz, that's why I'm so surprised at your quote...is quite a bargain from what I can tell

If less than $100 difference between direct and vroom I'd go direct - $100 is bugger all compared to what can happen if they are hiding something from you

[Atrecord]

  On 9/28/2018 at 1:31 AM, Huat138 said:

i used rentalcars.com for recent wellington trip. they are basically a booking site for various rental companies. the quote was much cheaper as compared if you go direct with the rental company. I booked a previa (aka estima) for about 7 days, around S$600 all in. 

 

Thanks. I'm wondering how come booking through those booking sites (who will keep a cut) is cheaper than direct at the rental companies... But if it's good, then good lor.

  On 9/28/2018 at 1:38 AM, Darryn said:

If it's hertz it'll be like only a year old

No reason not to go with Vroom vroom - so long as the quotes the same car.  Seems to be ok from what I can tell from here

Our cars - cheap and good - normally less than half the price of Hertz, that's why I'm so surprised at your quote...is quite a bargain from what I can tell

If less than $100 difference between direct and vroom I'd go direct - $100 is bugger all compared to what can happen if they are hiding something from you

 

I see.

OK, thanks then. Will go for the hertz direct offer per your advice.