Rental car booking : online vs counter?

killachicken

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hahaha definitely, but better safe than sorry.. Best way is to clarify with the Apex rental guys themselves. Just make sure that you are also covered should u take over the wheel
 
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hahaha definitely, but better safe than sorry.. Best way is to clarify with the Apex rental guys themselves. Just make sure that you are also covered should u take over the wheel
Alright, will check with apex itself. really appreciate that you guys assist with my questions! Thank you chicken and Kevin. Cheers!
 

kevin301

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hahaha definitely, but better safe than sorry.. Best way is to clarify with the Apex rental guys themselves. Just make sure that you are also covered should u take over the wheel

Haha agree :)
When I first got my license I was also very keen to drive whenever the chance arose. I guess it's a natural thing.

Nightstalker, I don't have experience doing the exact same thing you plan to do, so I can't really answer with any certainty whether certain things can or cannot be done.
Basically in renting a car out, the cost to rent should be proportional to the risk borne by the company. Statistically speaking, P drivers are a much greater accident risk than experienced drivers. So if you put yourself in the shoes of the rental company, how can you charge the same when there is much greater risk of something happening?
 

ddqwerty

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Alright, will check with apex itself. really appreciate that you guys assist with my questions! Thank you chicken and Kevin. Cheers!

its not recommended to drive when you're not an authorized driver
unless you are sure you wont get the car damaged and you wont be stopped by any police
of cos driving on a P licence is not illegal for local aussies
but for tourists it might be a criminal offence taking into account there's a breach of the rental contract

but its a really big risk as others have pointed out that the aussie police are pretty strict
and also aussie roads are damn bloody fantastic to drive on but its really really easy to go over the speed limit (my experience is limited to WA)

sorry I have no punctuation at all spilt water on my keyboard
 

ly66844

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blue mountain~

Hello.

Am travelling to syd next week and intend to visit blue mountain followed by 2 nights farmstay. My friend would like to drive during those 3 days.. will be staying ard orwell area before blue mount trip.. which car co. is most recommended? cheap and reliable... I cant drive.. so only one driver~ :x
thanks in advance~
 

kevin301

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Hello.

Am travelling to syd next week and intend to visit blue mountain followed by 2 nights farmstay. My friend would like to drive during those 3 days.. will be staying ard orwell area before blue mount trip.. which car co. is most recommended? cheap and reliable... I cant drive.. so only one driver~ :x
thanks in advance~

If you're picking up the car in Sydney city, then you have a wide selection to choose from.
I have rented from Avis, Hertz, Budget, Bayswater so far.
No issues for me. BUT I stress that YMMV.

Probably just go to these few sites and enter the dates you wish to rent, then compare the rental rates. Should not take more than 20 mins to search?

Sorry I don't know where is Orwell area.
 

ly66844

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If you're picking up the car in Sydney city, then you have a wide selection to choose from.
I have rented from Avis, Hertz, Budget, Bayswater so far.
No issues for me. BUT I stress that YMMV.

Probably just go to these few sites and enter the dates you wish to rent, then compare the rental rates. Should not take more than 20 mins to search?

Sorry I don't know where is Orwell area.

Thanks kevin301! Seems like you travel to aust often.:) My friend decided to take hertz at katoomba area since it is apparently quite near to blue mount and is the only car rental there.. haha.
 

kah kah

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Dear all,

Apex offered an attractive deals for 6 days car rental at AUS$289, but my accomdation for first 2 nights is at Sydney center (Goulburn Street, Surry Hills) and metered car park is very expansive.

Any recommendations for budget car park around Surrey Hills for ~$20 per day?

Thanks
 
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kevin301

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Dear all,

Apex offered an attractive deals for 6 days car rental at AUS$289, but my accomdation for first 2 nights is at Sydney center (Goulburn Street, Surry Hills) and metered car park is very expansive.

Any recommendations for budget car park around Surrey Hills for ~$20 per day?

Thanks

Perhaps park somewhere free and catch train or bus? Should be < $20.

Some suburbs nearby have free parking on the street.
 

kah kah

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Bro,

Thanks, i manged to amend my booking with Apex and they are really good, reply me within 30min w/o any penalty charges.

Leaving this Wednesday night to Melbourne and then follow by Sydney.

Thanks for HWZ friends sharing like visa, car rental, accomdation...

Wish all of you good Health and Happiness.:s13:

Cheers


Perhaps park somewhere free and catch train or bus? Should be < $20.

Some suburbs nearby have free parking on the street.
 
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Hi everyone,

I'm back from gold coast.. overall experience with apex is awesome. Rented 10days with $0 excess new model 2014 optima for $510 aud for 10days.

Me and my gf reached their office and told them that my gf is the main driver. And I tried my luck to pass them my license first. They registered me as main driver and was told that they do not need my gf details. Wooah I'm lucky do not need to worry much when I drive

Returning is easy everything took less then a min.

I would recommmend apex...

Now the bad news is... I drove up to brisbane to meet a friend....I got a ticket of $113 aud for "offense contrary to official traffic sign no stopping" I even ask my aus friend what is the dollar sign before I park. She says it's ok to park as long it's not blocking anyone. Alot of cars parked there. 3 hours later i came back n saw the tickets.

I would say it's unlucky as she was a newly qualified driver as well so I don't blame her.

I tried to pay the fines to apex when returning the car but was told to pay myself thru online.

Firstly I have not seen the sign before, do u think I can appeal as I'm a tourist.. I see lots of car parked there so didn't know is illegal.

Was told by my friend that I could ignore it and cancel my credit card. I do not want any trouble of cancelling card. And do apex need to fully responsible for it if I didnt pay the fine?
 
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kevin301

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Hi everyone,

I'm back from gold coast.. overall experience with apex is awesome. Rented 10days with $0 excess new model 2014 optima for $510 aud for 10days.

Me and my gf reached their office and told them that my gf is the main driver. And I tried my luck to pass them my license first. They registered me as main driver and was told that they do not need my gf details. Wooah I'm lucky do not need to worry much when I drive

Returning is easy everything took less then a min.

I would recommmend apex...

Now the bad news is... I drove up to brisbane to meet a friend....I got a ticket of $113 aud for "offense contrary to official traffic sign no stopping" I even ask my aus friend what is the dollar sign before I park. She says it's ok to park as long it's not blocking anyone. Alot of cars parked there. 3 hours later i came back n saw the tickets.

I would say it's unlucky as she was a newly qualified driver as well so I don't blame her.

I tried to pay the fines to apex when returning the car but was told to pay myself thru online.

Firstly I have not seen the sign before, do u think I can appeal as I'm a tourist.. I see lots of car parked there so didn't know is illegal.

Was told by my friend that I could ignore it and cancel my credit card. I do not want any trouble of cancelling card. And do apex need to fully responsible for it if I didnt pay the fine?

Your friend is quite a risk-taker, eh? ;)
So far my experience is that Aussie road signs regarding No Parking, No Stopping, etc are quite clear. Unless the signpost has been damaged or something, it should clearly demarcate the zone within which there is No Stopping.
My guess is that it would not be easy to appeal. Do you have photographs of the signs at that spot, by any chance?

My suggestion is to pay the fine. A$113, though quite high, I feel is a small price to pay to put this matter behind you, rather than resort to all sorts of underhanded tactics like cancelling c/c, etc.
 
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Your friend is quite a risk-taker, eh? ;)
So far my experience is that Aussie road signs regarding No Parking, No Stopping, etc are quite clear. Unless the signpost has been damaged or something, it should clearly demarcate the zone within which there is No Stopping.
My guess is that it would not be easy to appeal. Do you have photographs of the signs at that spot, by any chance?

My suggestion is to pay the fine. A$113, though quite high, I feel is a small price to pay to put this matter behind you, rather than resort to all sorts of underhanded tactics like cancelling c/c, etc.
It's was a S with a circle-cross. Yeah we didn't ask much as its was fully parked of vehicles and we took over a lot when a car just left. We even ask her that are we allowed to park here. She stayed in Australia for 10 years. When she said it's okay as long as we don't block anyone. We just trusted her.. okay best thing I guess I just try to appeal online. If it's rejected then I'll just pay the fine.
 

kevin301

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if it's this sign
525px-South_Africa_-_No_Stopping_sign.svg.png

then it's quite clear that it's no stopping. I'm surprised that many other cars were parked there, in that case.
Most aussie drivers are alert enough to check the signage.
It gets tricky when there are timings involved. For example if it says 9AM-5PM, and there are no other signs displayed, you are technically allowed to stop or park after 5PM.
 
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Yah this sign, I see many car just parked there and she was saying it's fine as long we don't block anyone. Too bad, she's wrong! Anw I've already appealed online, waiting for them to revert back. Once again, it's really easy to rent from apex. 10/10. Will rent again once I'm back there again.
 

savetotravel

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hihi
we have our own gps. is there any website where we can purchase aussie map at reasonable price?
or anybody rent car frm baywater? i realise they have the cheaper rate even i include gps and top cover. however i read for top cover, the excess damage is only $400. is this ok?
 
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kevin301

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hihi
we have our own gps. is there any website where we can purchase aussie map at reasonable price?
or anybody rent car frm baywater? i realise they have the cheaper rate even i include gps and top cover. however i read for top cover, the excess damage is only $400. is this ok?

Assuming you'll be getting a prepaid data SIM when in australia, my suggestion would be just to use Google Maps for navigation. The cost of purchasing a map (Garmin, TomTom, etc) is not going to be just a few dollars. Might as well just use the 3G data.
Have rented from Bayswater numerous times. So far all ok. Yes the excess is lower than pretty much all other rental companies at the same price point. Reduces your risk, for sure.
Only bad thing is that all vehicles are Toyotas in white, with the yellow sticker. Kind of boring ;)
 

savetotravel

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Assuming you'll be getting a prepaid data SIM when in australia, my suggestion would be just to use Google Maps for navigation. The cost of purchasing a map (Garmin, TomTom, etc) is not going to be just a few dollars. Might as well just use the 3G data.
Have rented from Bayswater numerous times. So far all ok. Yes the excess is lower than pretty much all other rental companies at the same price point. Reduces your risk, for sure.
Only bad thing is that all vehicles are Toyotas in white, with the yellow sticker. Kind of boring ;)

thanks for reply. frm wat i know baywater office is not at airport. is there any taxi stand for us to tk cab back to airport after we return the car? the reason y i hesitate to use 3G data is becos im worried that the signal is not good when we are out of perth city
 
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kevin301

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thanks for reply. frm wat i know baywater office is not at airport. is there any taxi stand for us to tk cab back to airport after we return the car? the reason y i hesitate to use 3G data is becos im worried that the signal is not good when we are out of perth city

I remember it was relatively easy to grab a cab to the airport after returning the car.

If you add in the cost of getting a cab from the airport on 1st day, and then back to the airport on last day, it may be quite worthwhile to just rent from the airport. Perth City - Perth Airport is I think $40+ to $50 by cab. Can't recall exactly.
So if renting from airport costs $100 more, it's pretty much square one :)

To be frank, navigating in the Aussie countryside isn't really so difficult, even without GPS at all. There are only a few main roads usually, road signs are good, traffic is generally light, and the turns are some distance apart. It's not like you come to a junction every 1km and you need to know if this is the correct turn or not.

With Google Maps, I can either pre-load the map page when I have data connection, or actually download it first (Google allows downloading for offline use). So even when I have no data I can still navigate.
 
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