katnwill

We will be on the South Island for three weeks and need a rental. My husband has contacted one rental agency...ACE Rentals in Christchurch...not sure where he found their web page, but I cannot find an address in CHC. Any information would be helpful.

Melnq8

I considered renting with ACE on my last visit to the SI. Someone here on Fodor's mentioned they thought there were actually two companies called ACE.

I got two different quotes from ACE, but I only found one address, so perhaps they just have multiple booking sites on the Internet.

Here's the address I found in Christchurch:

237 Lichfield Street, Christchurch
Freephone 0800 20 20 29
Phone 03 366 3222
Fax 03 377 4610

And the web sites:

www.acerentacar.com
www.acerentalcars.co.nz/

Melnq8

This link will take you to a thread here on Fodor's regarding ACE:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35075084

jcasale

We rented a car from About New Zealand Rental Cars and were very pleased with them. I chose them partly because I could pick up the car in Greymouth and drop it off in Christchurch and partly because they were very responsive and gave me a decent rate. I was very pleased with the car and the service we got from them. I always like to get several quotes before deciding on a car rental, so you might want to contact them. Their website is: http://www.rentalcar.co.nz/
Enjoy the South Island!

georgewoodie

Good Morning katnwill:

We rented from Apex last winter and got a better price than what rentalcar now quote. I do not know Apex rate now.

Apex were dependable and have drop off in many towns.

Hope this is of help to you.

Woodie

mlgb

One caution on car rentals in NZ, is that some agencies will expect you to prepay. This always makes me nervous. I also have found that you will probably not be able to exchange a vehicle or shift dates if you've gone with a smaller independent vendor.

Some times you will get just as good a rate with a major such as Avis if you go through Costco or your airline. It is worth checking. Avis, Budget and Hertz are all represented. I've had good luck with Avis.

georgewoodie

migb:

When I booked with Apex we gave a credit card number to secure the vehicle. However, they did not charge anything to my account until I picked up the vehicle.

Apex were the only company of those I contacted who had this policy.

Woodie

mlgb

Woodie, I have also had a good experience with Apex. There are some smaller agencies that wanted to pre-bill me with a cancellation penalty, so I did not use them.