Road Trip from Sydney to Melbourne

Hertz has a counter right at the T2 exit. Initially, there was no one there, and we almost got lost. Fortunately, someone arrived after a while. Service was acceptable; people in Sydney generally aren't very enthusiastic, maybe it's just how city folks are. We had to walk around a bit to find the pickup spot; without guidance, it wasn't very convenient.

Hertz is very good, the vehicles are new, and the service is excellent. I always choose this company to rent a car. Picking up the car, handling the paperwork, and returning the car is quite convenient. However, when there are issues with the vehicle and you need to negotiate, it is difficult to find their customer service. This is specifically referring to my recent trip in Australia. It could be due to a lack of staff, or maybe our country's services are too convenient in comparison. During this trip in Australia, I had a flat tyre. Since I had PRAS, the time spent calling for assistance was much longer than the waiting time for help to arrive. The phone line was constantly busy. Eventually, assistance arrived, but because the spare tyre was a different size, they just inflated it and couldn't repair the tyre. Later, I went to a nearby repair shop and found out that the tyre was aged and not fit for long-term use, and it needed to be replaced. The important issue was that many repair shops didn't have the same size tyre in stock, and it would take a couple of days to get one. Since I was in a hurry, I couldn't wait that long. After numerous negotiations and waiting, I found a nearby airport where I could exchange the car, but it wasn't close. So I drove the car with the leaking tyre to the exchange location, which took up most of my day.

Hertz is really great, especially with zero excess insurance, which gives me peace of mind.

No Chinese service available, they aggressively promoted additional insurance and extra services like fuel exemption returns. During pickup, they did not guide us to the parking spot, inspect the car together, or direct us to the parking lot exit, they just handed over the keys. Worse, I rented a Nissan Xtrail but received a Hyundai Tucson, which are not in the same class. The vehicle length difference is 20 cm, yet the price remained the same, which was very disappointing.

Our flight was delayed, so we arrived late. The store saw our luggage and gave us a Nissan Pathfinder, which is even bigger than the Toyota Highlander we originally booked. We were very happy, and there were no extra sales pitches. Returning the car was also easy because we had full insurance, so they hardly checked anything. Very convenient, a great experience.