[captainxmas]

Hi gang,

We are due to be landing in AKL on 1st August (woohoo) - what did our predecessors do regarding cars?

Did you long term rent, before buying, buy straight off the plane or use public transport?

Luckily we are boarding at a motel 100metres from Sophies work, but I will need to be getting about looking for interviews and a rental.

Any thoughts or recommendations most welcome... :nice1

[Diny]

Can't give any advice - I can only say what we're doing.

We arrive late at night on Sunday 17th July. We're booked into an airport motel then on the Monday morning we'll be collecting the hire car that we have booked for 5 days. In that time we 'hope' to buy some wheels.

I have an aversion to any kind of renting as I see it as dead money - but sometimes we just have to.

Diny

[captainxmas]

Cheers Diny

Will probably do similar rental wise, rent-a-dent have always been good to me.

Spending my sleepless night playing Grand Theft Auto so i could always 'jack' a 'pimped up ride' I suppose...

We are currently circling the doldrums in that no-mans-land before the off, all those things I needed to do when I was working seem less urgent - until next weekend of course.. :eek

[FlyingDutchman]

We did the same as Diny is planning to do. Hire a car for the first week and it's easy to find a car. Well, in Auckland that is. Just go to the Great North Road, there are heaps of car dealers, new and second hand.
Good luck :nice1 .

[Biddy]

I'm on a 3 week recce in Aug and am renting from http://www.a2brentals.co.nz/
Bargain!!!!

They will deliver to my AKL airport hotel .

My plan is then down in Welly to go to http://www.turners.co.nz/
to buy a 4x4 type thing so that when we all fly back in Sept there is transport for us. Might have to get some help getting the 4x4 thingy to Welly airport though!

[catjlin]

We ended up buying fairly soon after we got here (1993 but only 90,000km in great shape). Just wanted to let ou know that if you join AA (no, the other AA, the Automobile Assoc.) they will check out (for a fee) any car you're thinking of purchasing and give you a 3rd party opinion of what needs to be fixed etc. Not a bad idea, and well worth the slight cost. And they give you all the free maps you could ever want and a handy little card to put in your wallet. Very nice.

[sarahw]

We rented for a week & by then had bought & taken delivery of a car.

Be a bit wary of very cheap car rentals (specially for those with kids) we rented from some such a couple of years ago & had a Japanese imported car (we now own a Japanese import but we had it fully checked out first) with a broken steering wheel i.e. we were on straight roads for 4 hours & Ian had wrist ache trying to keep the car straight on the road - it was all over the place! - we were meant to drive up to Paihia and back down to Rotorua before dropping the car back to Auckland - we just about made it to Paihia & back but abandoned all plans to drive to Rotorua as Ian (who is usually very laid back) was extremely worried about the safety of the car & whether it was going to break down. If we'd had kids I think we'd've taken it back after 10 mins & gone to Avis or Hertz!

[Moorf]

Bought our car the day after we arrived. Used buses to get to the car yards. :P

[jonSE]

You should get a good deal on a Hire Car by 1st August as all the Lions fans will have gone home, and it is not the tourist season.

For a comparison we paid $29NZ/day for a ten day hire - a 2000 Nissan Sunny - more than adequate for touring around and visiting car auctions etc. as this was in late Feb still hoiday season you shouldn't have any problems getting a similar price.

It is worthwhile not being under pressure to buy a car to a deadline as this will no doubt lead you into not getting the best deal.

The Sunday morning car fair at Epsom Racecourse in Auckland is a good source of 2nd hand cars. They have a service there to do mechanical check and a check that the car is not stolen or on hire purchase.- costs about $150NZ in total and well worth it unless you are a good judge of 2ndhand cars. HP check is only about $30

Jon