We rent from APEX when we visit NZ and have been very pleased with them.

We never buy insurance, as we're covered by our US Visa Platinum card, which covers even the excess (dedictible) when we rent in NZ and Australia.

All rental cars in NZ come with basic CDW:

From the APEX website:

<All cars hired by Apex include Standard Insurance for no extra charge. Standard Insurance has an insurance excess (or deductible) of $1,500. This means that in the event that the rental vehicle is damaged, you are liable for the first $1500 of any damage, irregardless of whether you are 'at fault' or not.>

Buying additional CDW insurance just lowers your deductible, but in our case our Visa covers this, so we don't need it.

You're also covered for third person liability.

Here's some info I posted a few years back regarding insurance on rental cars in NZ:

"In New Zealand, Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) and theft protection are included in car rental rates. The CDW excess (deductible) is the responsibility of the renter, however some credit cards, such as my US issued Platinum Visa, will cover the excess.

Not all credit cards work this way. For instance, Mastercard requires that ALL insurance be waived for their coverage to apply, and you cannot waive the insurance already built into a NZ car rental, due to local laws.

Third party liability insurance is included in NZ car rentals too, up to the limit required by NZ law (I don't know the figure, but you can probably find out easily enough).

Contact your credit card company and ask, and then request a written copy of their rental car benefits.

Thank you so much Melnq8. Your info was so helpful. I called my Hyatt VISA provider and they agreed that although they normally require you to waive all CDW coverage that in NZ they allow you to accept the CDW insurance in NZ and would cover the excess.
Since it sounds like you are an NZ expert, do you have any input on car types to get. There will only be 2 of us and not a lot of bags so we'd normally get an economy car but was wondering if we should get something with a bit more horsepower due to the mountain roads in NZ. We will be driving around Queenstown, Glenorchy, Central Otago area.
Thanks again for your help.
Paul

BTW I just checked and economycarentals.com does rent in NZ and their prices beat Apex significantly so you might want to check them out next time. But I guess it may matter where you are renting from.

Paulo -

We like APEX for several reasons, one of which is the option to rent older cars. The advantage of an older car is that it's already been bumped and bruised so we don't fret about taking it on unsealed and dubious roads, which we do quite alot of in NZ. Rates and excess are generally lower on older cars too.

We used to rent a Camry, but have found that a Corolla is plenty for the two of us - better gas mileage, and plenty of trunk space. We've never, ever had a problem with horsepower in NZ (in 10 visits). Most of NZ is at sea level, so the mountain passes aren't all that high in the scheme of things.

We rented from Avis and had good luck with them-picking it up at on location and dropping off at another location in the North Island and then picking up again in the South Island and returning to another location in the South Island.

We rented a Ford Monteo and a Camry for two of us-both cars had good trunk space so if you stopped you did not worry about your bags.

Quite a few roads this past month on both islands had construction work going and we had a stone crack the windshield so know your insurance.

I have used Avis, for their relocation deals. You can't dawdle much, but if you are on a fast paced trip they are cost effective for a one-way rental if you get lucky. I've used them on my arrival day (pick up airport, drop off city). This allows me to do a bit of sightseeing on the way in at places more difficult to reach by transit or foot. Also I'll pick up a bag of groceries and other supplies at one of the big markets which are usually on the outskirts of the city. I also used them last trip to drive north from Wellington to Auckland. You don't need to be a NZ resident to book these rates.

Go to www.avis.co.nz

I like Apex as well, although they don't have as many locations.

Sometimes when you book a rental with a consolidator (I'm using that expression for a company that just farms you out to a local NZ company), you don't get the best service or vehicles. I did this a few times, got cars that were strippo models. No trunk cover, no cruise control. Some of these can be "penny wise, pound foolish".

Speaking of speeding, don't!. The coppers are hiding just on the other side of little hills, behind bushes and all over, even in the most rural locations where you'd never think there would be a chance of a ticket.

Thanks everyone. Do I need to get an international drivers license for NZ or will my US license and passport be fine?