1 June 2018

Car rental policies

We compared the contracts of 12 rental car companies and found some concerning T&Cs buried within.

You hired the car, even paid for the extra “peace of mind” insurance. Only after the accident happened did you learn of the fine print forcing you to pay for all glass and tyre damage plus salvage costs. You could be on the hook for thousands.

We compared the contracts of 12 rental car companies and found some concerning T&Cs buried within. Our Wellington mystery shopper also hired vehicles from Avis, Enterprise and Hertz to assess how excess-reduction cover is promoted to customers.

Fine lines

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mal g.

10 Sep 2020

Aerodrive

are you able to review this company there are alot of bad reviews

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Wayne H.

01 Oct 2018

Travel insurance

I understood that your travel insurance only covered you if you had taken all the excess cover the car hirer offered. Ie that you had paid to reduce the excess as far as possible

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Nick W.

22 Sep 2018

Rental Cars Excess Insurance

Two comments. Firstly, relying on your travel insurance is not a good idea. Often damage costs are restricted to your vehicle only, with damage to other vehicles and property specifically excluded. Two, I have bought 3 policies now from RentalCover.com, much cheaper than from the Rental Car companies, and no exclusions for glass and tyre claims etc. Check out their web-site. We have used them in both the UK and in Australia - will use them in NZ from now on.

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Paul S.

11 Jun 2018

Additional fees for collecting at Auckland airport

We recently had a trip to Auckland, and booked our ticket through Air New Zealands airpoints. When we arrived at Budget, they said that we had to pay an additional $50 Airport fee. Nowhere on our confirmation email did it mention any additional charges. When I challenged it, they wouldn't let us take the car away and insisted that we had to pay it.

I have contacted Budget customer care with a complaint, but they have just sent back a standard reply without any specifics to the complaint I made.

Very disappointed with Budget and won't use them again.

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Richard & Christine A.

09 Jun 2018

I cannot believe that you are not covering annual car excess policies!

We run an annual excess insurance cover for rental cars, costs around $100 year, and covers all excesses, worldwide, so we can take the cheapest option the rental company offers. When we returned a car in UK with a simple puncture needing to be repaired, Hertz charged us for a new tyre (we wish we had got the puncture fixed!) but our excess company fully refunded the cost to us.