We are going to Wanaka late August for 6 days. Usually we take a shuttle van and lump our stuff in the trailer and off we go. However this year we'll have our 9-month-old and my sister coming along so looking at renting a car. So what could you recommend if we want the following: ski rack childseat enough space for 3 adults + 1 baby and their luggage snowchain I wonder if we need an AWD car to navigate up to the mountains? We'll be skiing at Snow Farm. The cheapest deal that has all of these features is around NZD500. Does that sound ok? Thanks!
Haven't used Ace Car Rental in Queenstown, but have used their Auckland airport branch multiple times and never had a problem. Generally older cars with scratches, but they photo them and don't try to stiff you.
If you are okay with a ghetto car try Phil’s rentals... something like 25 bucks a day. Or if you want a nice new car stick to the name brands but expect to be paying 100ish a day.
Apex have a deal for NZ$59 a day Rav4 4wd, booked this last year in mid July for end of August dates, and came with free ski racks. Need to wait a month or so for the dates you need to be available, as currently the deal is only up till June 30.
Yeah, if it was just me I'd probably hitchhike. Mr EB is the fussy one. He has to tolerate the 100 per day rate then.
They have the same deal right now but it wouldn't work with our dates. However you can book now and pay later when you pick up which is fantastic. Other companies you'd have to pay a deposit. Thanks for mentioning Apex.
We hired a Subaru Legacy AWD through Ace Queenstown for three weeks early this year. It proved to be a remarkably reliable, well maintained and safe car despite having very high mileage. We were very grateful to be driving a Subaru when we had a very near miss when some French backpacker (not use to driving right hand vehicles) turn into our path on the Cromwell Road. We had previously had a bad experience hiring through Hertz in NZL when we discovered the upgraded Captiva we hired was not an AWD drive, as requested.
Seeing that you are going to be in Wanaka............If you are going ot be skiing Treble Cone, keep an eye out on Jucy.co.nz for their winter special "SKI4FREE". They have been teamed up with Treble Cone for some years now and have offered 1 free day pass per day at Treble Cone for 6 consecutive days of car rental. So over $600 worth of ski pass saving with their car rental.
www.nzrentacar.co.nz seem to have some good value options. I just organised a Subaru Legacy 4WD with roof racks and snow chains for $41 a day. We're doing a pick up in Auckland with a drop off in Christchurch but I see they also have a depot in Queenstown.
Man, you are king of the cheap deal. Sounds like a big road trip. I have also used https://4wdrentals.co.nz/. About $70/day inc chains and rack or pod.
Did I tell you I'm using FF points for the return flights and have a weeks worth of free lift tickets for the family at Cardrona.
Why am I not surprised? How long are you planning for that. It's a long way from Auckland to Queenstown.
Tomamu season passes from our trip to Japan in January. The four season passes cost us $650 and on top of all the skiing benefits in Japan you get over $2000 worth of free skiing at Cardrona. Bargain !
I’ve been leaning on hubby to book a car, but he prefers catching the bus up the mountain. I’ve been able to find a price that’s marginally cheaper than the hotel pick up, but he’s pulling the “we’re not going to want to drive down the mountain after skiing all day” card. My counter of “we kept missing the hotel pick up shuttle last year because the younger kid had a meltdown every morning that made us run late” falls on deaf ears. Does the wisdom of the forum think I should just book the car anyway and be like “surprise!” when we arrive? I have no issue with being the only one driving...
Book the car. Expecting young kids to follow a timetable is a nightmare as it seems you have already discovered.
I think you should file for divorce ASAP. Your husband is way off and you deserve so much better. Or just book the car and surprise him.
Actually, we’re going to be spending a couple of days at Christchurch at the end of the trip, and it could work out cheaper to hire the car and drive than to fly. Stuff it, I’m booking the car. Thanks wisdom of the forum!
It’s a shared effort - he makes the porridge for breakfast and provides tall grumpy dad back-up when they need motivation to get out of bed or to concentrate on getting ready. I’m the one who makes sure they actually eat their breakfast and get dressed/ready to walk out the door.
If you're happy doing the driving then go for the car. But I know some who aren't comfortable driving mountain roads, hence prefer shuttles. If your husband is in that situation I wouldn't force him to drive.
I f I figure that absolute worst case scenario, we decide we don’t want to drive all the way up, we can just park at the bottom of the mountain and catch the shuttle from there. I’ve driven in alpine areas in Australia on the odd occasion, and I’ve carried chains, but I’ve never had to fit them. We both know how to fit chains in theory, so I’m sure we can figure it out between us if we need to use them.
Hmmm. Maybe hubby is right. Coronet Peak Rd is reasonable, but the roads up to all other resorts are ... interesting. But with added snow.
Yeah, we’ve caught the bus up to Remarks for the last two years, so I have an idea of what the road is like. From memory, they did actually have crash barriers up on the left side of the road going up last year, which I didn’t remember being there the year before. I figure that I just need to be sensible and drive to the conditions.
Silly ******** didn't use the base drop off then park option available to all. Drop kids and wife right at the base building then park. It ain't hard.....self drive opens up your holiday to go when and where you want. If Peanut is concerned about mountain driving........here is the place to ask about the do's and don'ts.
https://www.jucy.co.nz/ski4free/ The deal is on this year - the code is SKI4FREE2019. When you enter this code, it restricts the vehicles to those that are eligible for the Ski 4 Free offer.
I have hired from APEX a couple of times, good price, no hassles. Will use them the next time as well. The cars are not the latest models, but were clean and well maintained. Driving up the hills in NZ can be a bit scary the first few times, but if you take it steady you will not have an issue. Now I know at Cardrona, if chains are required they normally have a team of backpackers fitting them for $10.00. Not worth getting dirty for that. If you hire an AWD it will be rare that you will need to fit chains, if you do, its will be a great days skiing. And the car gives you much more flexibility. Its worth it for just that.
We have similar-ish situation. Our baby will be 9month old in August this year so no more shuttles and just winging it with the gang kinda routine. haha We figured that the car is an easier deal as the timetable will be ours. Same like what others said, if you don't want to drive usually there is some shuttle available before you drive up the mountain. The only thing about getting a car is all the little add-ons. The price jumps up when you add on car seat/booster seat, ski rack/snow chains etc...
Took me a few times of trying to get wife and two little kids from car park to base building with all the gear until realised they have drop including people to help carry gear, so easy now.
I use these guys every time I head to Q'town. Older cars but great value and I've never had any problems. The service is (or at least was - they've recently changed hands) excellent. https://www.queenstownrentalcars.co.nz
Lot to see in a Week. How much is the ferry costing? Or are you pick up drop off car at Wellington/Picton?
Another vote for apex, used them last season. Hired an AWD Rav4 which was cheap and had plenty of space. Apex's fleet of vehicle certainly isnt the newest but on the plus side the car we hired already had scratches and dings on every panel so i wasnt worried about taking it off sealed roads up the mountain or parking in the resort carparks etc.
Haven't booked the ferry yet but costs are coming back at about $240. That's 2 adults, 2 kids and a car. Car component is about $100 of that amount. Yes a lot to see in a week, but the wife and I have done numerous trips to NZ back in the 90s so we've seen much of it before. This trip is more about giving our kids a taste of New Zealand.
A lot of the car hire companies don't let you take the car on the ferry, and if you are doing this have you drop at the depot one side and collect another on the other side.
My rental company allow you to use the ferries. https://www.nzrentacar.co.nz/faq.html And they didn't even charge a one way rental fee. "Can I take the vehicle across Cook Strait ? Yes, you can take our vehicles across the Cook Strait using the two major ferry companies, Bluebridge and the Interislander."
