I hired the car from Auckland depot going to and drop off in Wellington. It was meant to be a small hatchback, and I recieved a giant prehistoric sedan. The car gps was dead when I hired it, so it wasn't till after using my mb as a gps for an hour while I let it charge did I realise it was set to German and I couldn't work out how to change it - so it did not get used *at all* on my 10 day trip. The car reeked of urine and was filthy when I collected it, but to changed it I would of had to wait again in the queue I had already spent 40 minutes in (at 6am). I accepted it and moved on. Later while driving it at night I realised one of the headlights was out. Awesome!! I wrote a email to the Auckland depot requesting a different car and, well, months later, still waiting on a response, despite their promise to get back in touch in 24hrs. Pushing on to Wellington I found the car would skip across the road on the turns or even straight stretches. I feel Auckland wanted this car out of their inventory so they sent it to Wellington, and I was the courier. The only redeeming quality was that a lovely consultant in Wellington who refunded me for the gps and a bit extra. So to recap: • 40 minute wait. • Prehistoric sedan, not hatch. • Dead gps set to German. • Stank of Urine and was filthy. • Headlight out. • Dangerous on the road. Wouldn't recommend them to my ememies.

Was looking to save some money, but not put my families life on the line. First clue should have been the lack of customer service from the moment we arrived at the office in Christchurch. Not a single friendly hello, welcome what so ever. No map in the car, and I was just told "we ran out" No offer to print one off, go buy one from the corner store, nothing... The car was at about 175000KM when we jumping in. After driving a bit I noticed the tires seemed low on air, so to get them where they should have been it was 30 psi in one, and about 15-20 in the other 3! We had molding falling off the car against the passengers side window, windshield wipers I had to fix several times during the trip, A/C and Heat that didn't work. Topper was when I was filling the tank just before returning the car in Picton, turned it off to fuel and it would not start after i filled it. I found the battery cable was so loose you could just lift it off, hand my son hold the cable against the battery post to start it and drove the clunker to the return office. Explained my concerns about the car and our experience and received a blank stare and "well its back here now and you made it" No apology, no offer to compensate us in any way. It was amazing no one in the office could care less about any of it.

We rented two cars from About New Zealand last month, one for the South Island for 10 days, and one for the North Island for 10 days. We were looking for value so we didn't expect a brand new fancy car. Our car worked perfectly on the South Island. When we picked up our second rental in Wellington, after 2 days our car began experiencing problems. We called in and were referred to a local mechanic. After a couple phone calls it was clear this approach wasn't going to work. That SAME DAY, they sent a mechanic up from Wellington, a nearly 5 hour drive, with a different upgraded car, so we could continue our trip. And they didn't charge us extra for all their time and trouble. Sometimes problems arise with car rentals, and it's how a company deals with them that is telling. We had a terrific experience with About New Zealand and would highly recommend them for value and service.

This company is also known as About New Zealand rentals. While the prices are competitive, the service is terrible and they will try to charge you extra. Just not worth it when you are supposed to enjoy your holiday. I recommend you use some other company.