Rental car booking : online vs counter?

liemsc

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so i Booked with Apex 2 days Hyundai Elantra in MEL.

no issues with them, just that you had to call them from the airport to pick u up and they will send a shuttle which will bring u to their office, about 8mins ride away.

Car is pretty new and in good condition. For the price of about $59 per day, it was good value for money. The Hyundai Elantra is a pretty responsive car with good pickup as opposed to Budget's Nissan Pulsar which we rented in Tasmania for the same price. Had Aux in/out and iPhone USB charger

GPS can be bargained down to $5 a day instead of the $9 per day quoted in the website. Just talk to them at the counter.

They were not fussy/particular about the condition of the car when returned - had no issues with them.

I would choose them again if I were in MEL - good value for $

Yay.. the awaited leogeo's review has finally come out (positively) :) I think this should end my car rental search already. Thanks :s12:
 

yangtan

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I have good experience with Apex in NZ 2 years ago. And have already booked them for coming Mar trip to Melbourne.
 

yangtan

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I have good experience with Apex in NZ 2 years ago. And have already booked them for coming Mar trip to Melbourne.

FYI, the car I reserved for Mar trip cost A$47 a day for a total of 9 days. Package inclue
Hyundai Elantra Mid Size Sedan
Zero Excess
Unlimited KMs
GPS Navigation.

Total cost A$423
 

leogeo

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FYI, the car I reserved for Mar trip cost A$47 a day for a total of 9 days. Package inclue
Hyundai Elantra Mid Size Sedan
Zero Excess
Unlimited KMs
GPS Navigation.

Total cost A$423
yea, that's good. mine was only 2 days, that's why prob more exp.

the Elantra is a nice car to drive - fast pickup and roomy boot
 

kevin301

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FYI, the car I reserved for Mar trip cost A$47 a day for a total of 9 days. Package inclue
Hyundai Elantra Mid Size Sedan
Zero Excess
Unlimited KMs
GPS Navigation.

Total cost A$423

That's a good price considering the point in bold... :)
 

nlee84

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ya the middle one with excess capped at $750

i booked with budget in Tasmania and the excess was at $2000+!!! was shocked. Had to pay a lot more per day (think it was $30 a day) to reduce the excess to like $200+

:) So did you buy travel insurance in sg to cover the excess capped at $750? think i will go for apex also! :) Thanks for your review.
 

CRViper

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After going through a few car rental company to ask for quotes, it seems that Apex is the cheapest one around after adding in all the insurance and GPS and child seat.

I've booked with them for my trip to GC, can anybody share on the last day after dropping off the car... Is the drop off point far frm the GC airport? Cos my flight is kinda early and I'm not sure if there is any issue dropping the car then getting back to the airport
 

liemsc

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After going through a few car rental company to ask for quotes, it seems that Apex is the cheapest one around after adding in all the insurance and GPS and child seat.

I've booked with them for my trip to GC, can anybody share on the last day after dropping off the car... Is the drop off point far frm the GC airport? Cos my flight is kinda early and I'm not sure if there is any issue dropping the car then getting back to the airport

Me booked APEX too, for this month end in Melbourne :s12:
For GC, I see in their website that it seems quite near to the airport (3 minute)? But I guess the more important question is what time is your flight.. because their opening hour is 7am.
Gold Coast Car Hire | Gold Coast Rental Cars | Gold Coast Car Rental
 

CRViper

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Me booked APEX too, for this month end in Melbourne :s12:
For GC, I see in their website that it seems quite near to the airport (3 minute)? But I guess the more important question is what time is your flight.. because their opening hour is 7am.
Gold Coast Car Hire | Gold Coast Rental Cars | Gold Coast Car Rental

I'm ok if the car return place is a maybe 10mins walkable distance away. Can always drop off the family at airport first before I go return the car.
Only afraid distance not walkable lol

Well if they open at 7am should be ok as flight is not so early unless flight kena rescheduled early n need to check in before 7
 

nlee84

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I'm ok if the car return place is a maybe 10mins walkable distance away. Can always drop off the family at airport first before I go return the car.
Only afraid distance not walkable lol

Well if they open at 7am should be ok as flight is not so early unless flight kena rescheduled early n need to check in before 7


pls update me as well.. my flight is leaving GC at 9am, so need to return car at 7am as well...
 

CRViper

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pls update me as well.. my flight is leaving GC at 9am, so need to return car at 7am as well...

Heh yea typical scoot flight timing. Think scoot usually is ask peeps to check in 60mins before. So if 9am flight, 8am check in, if kiasu 7.30 return car should be ok I hope lol
Will update when I'm back..

Hopefully before I go somebody can share info how isit like lol
 

nlee84

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Heh yea typical scoot flight timing. Think scoot usually is ask peeps to check in 60mins before. So if 9am flight, 8am check in, if kiasu 7.30 return car should be ok I hope lol
Will update when I'm back..

Hopefully before I go somebody can share info how isit like lol

hehe... i think i will kiasu 7am return car... lol... then can slowly slowly make my way around.. can eat breakfast ma..
 

yangtan

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FYI, the car I reserved for Mar trip cost A$47 a day for a total of 9 days. Package inclue
Hyundai Elantra Mid Size Sedan
Zero Excess
Unlimited KMs
GPS Navigation.

Total cost A$423


Just returned from Melbourne yesterday. This is a review on the Apex Car rental.

Condition of car : New but the company did not clean the car properly - The car boot cover has yucky stain on the left when we open the boot.

The drinks compartment besides the driver seats also has sticky stain left uncleaned.

We cleaned up the drinks compartment area using wet tissues. It took us about 10-15mins to clean up the stain. I suspect the stain must be left there for quite awhile.

Colour : White

-------
The Apex office in Melbourne only opens at 8am. I called them and the friendly male staff instructed us to wait at the pick up point (between the front entrance of airport & Parkroyal Hotel). There are a lot van picking up their customers from same area, just look out for a big white van with "Apex" on it.

Friendly driver :)

Apex office is about 5-10mins away from the airport.

We were served by a not-so-friendly female staff :-( . No smile, straight face throughout - maybe too early for her haha

Our car is filled with full tank (less one bar) but we returned our car with less two bars. They charged us 2 bars + A$10 service charge which is about A$24. Alternatively, we can also top up at the kiosks just outside their office (but hubby lazy haha). We didn't argue on the initial pick up "less one bar" issue cos we thought we just returned and they would charged us less one bar instead of 2 bars. Anyway, a good lesson to learn for all.

i also feed back on the "dirty car" when we returned the car . If you have a cleaner car next time - thank me :)
--------------------

Petrol is cheaper in big city/town like Melbourne, Geelong than smaller towns along Great Ocean Road.


Hope all these help.
 

nlee84

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Just returned from Melbourne yesterday. This is a review on the Apex Car rental.

Condition of car : New but the company did not clean the car properly - The car boot cover has yucky stain on the left when we open the boot.

The drinks compartment besides the driver seats also has sticky stain left uncleaned.

We cleaned up the drinks compartment area using wet tissues. It took us about 10-15mins to clean up the stain. I suspect the stain must be left there for quite awhile.

Colour : White

-------
The Apex office in Melbourne only opens at 8am. I called them and the friendly male staff instructed us to wait at the pick up point (between the front entrance of airport & Parkroyal Hotel). There are a lot van picking up their customers from same area, just look out for a big white van with "Apex" on it.

Friendly driver :)

Apex office is about 5-10mins away from the airport.

We were served by a not-so-friendly female staff :-( . No smile, straight face throughout - maybe too early for her haha

Our car is filled with full tank (less one bar) but we returned our car with less two bars. They charged us 2 bars + A$10 service charge which is about A$24. Alternatively, we can also top up at the kiosks just outside their office (but hubby lazy haha). We didn't argue on the initial pick up "less one bar" issue cos we thought we just returned and they would charged us less one bar instead of 2 bars. Anyway, a good lesson to learn for all.

i also feed back on the "dirty car" when we returned the car . If you have a cleaner car next time - thank me :)
--------------------

Petrol is cheaper in big city/town like Melbourne, Geelong than smaller towns along Great Ocean Road.


Hope all these help.

thanks for your review... :)
 

liemsc

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Just returned from Melbourne yesterday. This is a review on the Apex Car rental.

Condition of car : New but the company did not clean the car properly - The car boot cover has yucky stain on the left when we open the boot.

The drinks compartment besides the driver seats also has sticky stain left uncleaned.

We cleaned up the drinks compartment area using wet tissues. It took us about 10-15mins to clean up the stain. I suspect the stain must be left there for quite awhile.

Colour : White

-------
The Apex office in Melbourne only opens at 8am. I called them and the friendly male staff instructed us to wait at the pick up point (between the front entrance of airport & Parkroyal Hotel). There are a lot van picking up their customers from same area, just look out for a big white van with "Apex" on it.

Friendly driver :)

Apex office is about 5-10mins away from the airport.

We were served by a not-so-friendly female staff :-( . No smile, straight face throughout - maybe too early for her haha

Our car is filled with full tank (less one bar) but we returned our car with less two bars. They charged us 2 bars + A$10 service charge which is about A$24. Alternatively, we can also top up at the kiosks just outside their office (but hubby lazy haha). We didn't argue on the initial pick up "less one bar" issue cos we thought we just returned and they would charged us less one bar instead of 2 bars. Anyway, a good lesson to learn for all.

i also feed back on the "dirty car" when we returned the car . If you have a cleaner car next time - thank me :)
--------------------

Petrol is cheaper in big city/town like Melbourne, Geelong than smaller towns along Great Ocean Road.


Hope all these help.

Thanks for your info ; I'm going this weekend (and getting APEX car!) :s12:
 

stam

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thanks all for the information. very good for my trip planning to mel next mth.
 

liemsc

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Let me contribute back, by sharing my review of APEX. I rented from them twice: in Melbourne for 7-days, and in Sydney for 1-day. Took the Hyundai i45 for both times.

In Melbourne, as I called them from MEL airport and was told the pick-up spot, the APEX van was already there when I reached the shuttle pick-up location, so no waiting at all. In the office, "check-in" process was quite fast too. The lady was still patient enough when I asked to see the Mitsubishi Outlander for my final consideration (I have 3 adults + 2 children with child seat). Clearly Outlander was not big enough for this requirement, so i45 was the choice.
Everything's good with the car throughout my usage (drove about 1,000 km to Belgrave, Phillip Island, GOR up to Port Campbell). The car itself was quite new (29K in odometer), so no issues expected after all.
Not so lucky with the "check-out" (return) process. Well, the check-out itself was pretty straight forward (they're not too fussy in checking), but it took quite some time to get my shuttle ride back to the MEL airport (to catch my flight to SYD). Plus, as I took Tiger Airways (which departs from Terminal-4 which is separate from T-1/2/3), and APEX van is too big to be allowed into T4 area, I was dropped in the main terminal, and had to run to T4 - almost missing my flight check-in.

In SYD, the "check-in" took me a whole lot of time. From the time I called them from airport to pick me up, I only got the ride about 30-minutes later. Upon arrival in their office, after paperwork done and going to get the car, found out that the 2 child seats have not been installed. So took some more time to get and install the child seats. Afterwards, as I was to drive the car out, I noticed the "check engine" indicator in the dashboard was on (which is quite weird as this i45 is also around 30K in odometer). Returned to the office, and got a replacement i45, had to move the car seats again. All in all, spent about 1 hour.
Throughout my usage, everything's fine with this car (this time only went to Blue Mountains area). No problem during "check-out" process, and no long wait for shuttle van to drop me back to SYD airport too.

CONCLUSION:
APEX is great value for money ; new cars with very good rates. (and they are not small company at all ; I saw at least 20+ of their cars parked in the Melbourne location, don't know how many more are out). Just need to allow yourself some buffer time for the shuttle pick-up / drop back to airport, because it may take time if you're unlucky.
In both locations, there are petrol station very near to their office, so refilling the petrol before returning the car is no problem at all.
 

kevin301

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thanks for your review! :)
it's good that APEX are providing strong competition to the established players, which will hopefully give consumers better value for money.
 
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