North Island Free Travel

The car was very basic

Picking up the car at the airport took longer than expected as we had to wait over an hour for the shuttle to arrive from the rental office, which is about a ten-minute drive from the airport. When I called the office to inquire, the response was polite but impatient. The same person who answered the phone—a cold and impolite middle-aged Chinese man—handled the paperwork. I must have been unlucky to encounter such an unpleasant individual during my travels around the world. We received a different model than we had reserved; it was an older model Nissan ELGRAND, which isn't listed as an option in the selection menu. Apart from that, everything else was fine.

The Toyota Camry I reserved was not available on the day of pickup, so they gave me a RAV4 instead. I don't like driving SUVs; the hard seats caused back pain. The foreign female manager with tattoos and a shaved head had a very poor attitude and yelled at me. Later, I found out that the company had recently been robbed, with three cars and several thousand New Zealand dollars stolen, but that has nothing to do with me. In the end, I had to accept the SUV. The management doesn't know how to communicate or show apologies. Fortunately, the two Chinese girls who handled the reception were very polite to me, although they work under the boss's orders. It's tough for them to have this job in a foreign country. I thank them for the services they provided.

Car had a dead battery and cobwebs inside hood. Had an after hour pickup scheduled and paid for. Emergency no went unanswered. Pickup location jump started car. But it died again on reaching hotel. Next day was Sunday. Again no one answered phone. 3rd day a person came and replaced battery at 3pm. Wasted 2.5 days of trip.

The car was good but scratches indicated on the contract didn’t seem to be related to the car I rented. I had a breakout of the car - engine stopping and restarting while in the road - that can be very dangerous - I notified it at check out