Rental car booking : online vs counter?

nlee84

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thanks all for the reviews so far...

anyone used apex at gold coast before? hehe.. am wondering if the distance from airport to apex to collect car is walkable... saw from google map like not very far...
 

alphakim

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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.

How long have you wait for the shuttle to arrive and send you to airport? I was a bit worry on the timing as my flight back to Singapore is 9am morning. I will return the car to them on the same day - 7am at their office.
 

liemsc

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How long have you wait for the shuttle to arrive and send you to airport? I was a bit worry on the timing as my flight back to Singapore is 9am morning. I will return the car to them on the same day - 7am at their office.

Allow 15-20 mins waiting time, and 5 mins journey time. You will rent at which city? 7am already open? I think MEL and SYD office is open 8am. Please recheck that to be safe.
 

kevin301

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Anyone has any experiences on Bayswater Car Rental? Good or bad ones?

Rented quite a few times from them. Really lives up to their "no frills" branding ;)

Cars are in good condition.
Rental package includes insurance coverage that lowers your excess significantly.
Other companies (e.g. Budget, Hertz, Avis) may seem to have competitive rental rates, but the insurance cover is the difference. When you rent from the bigger companies and choose the 'excess reduction' option, then the rates climb a great deal.


Overall no complaints about Bayswater.
Would rent from them again.
 

Beta_123

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Anyone has any experiences on Bayswater Car Rental? Good or bad ones?


overall experience is good.. nice service too. downside is that they got very limited car type. i rented a toyota hatched back which is in tip top condition and save petrol hee
 

bluegum

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Rented quite a few times from them. Really lives up to their "no frills" branding ;)

Cars are in good condition.
Rental package includes insurance coverage that lowers your excess significantly.
Other companies (e.g. Budget, Hertz, Avis) may seem to have competitive rental rates, but the insurance cover is the difference. When you rent from the bigger companies and choose the 'excess reduction' option, then the rates climb a great deal.


Overall no complaints about Bayswater.
Would rent from them again.

overall experience is good.. nice service too. downside is that they got very limited car type. i rented a toyota hatched back which is in tip top condition and save petrol hee

Thanks for the reviews! I am probably going to rent from Bayswater since it has a more convenient city location in Sydney. Will post a review when I am back.
 

Cheepoozz

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Just check thrifty . Offering 15% discount on popular makes. Got a corolla for 6 days at aud 240
 

drexo5354

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Do regulars with Apex know if they have a different monthly special? They have a deal on the Outlander @50 per day fully loaded.
 

alphakim

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Do regulars with Apex know if they have a different monthly special? They have a deal on the Outlander @50 per day fully loaded.

i am not too sure. I just booked their outlander for 4 days @ aud 295. Package is 0 excess.
 

kevin301

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Thanks for the reviews! I am probably going to rent from Bayswater since it has a more convenient city location in Sydney. Will post a review when I am back.

more convenient compared with...?
William St (where Bayswater is) has most of the rental companies located there. At least 8-10, I reckon.
 

tkdboi

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Thanks for the reviews! I am probably going to rent from Bayswater since it has a more convenient city location in Sydney. Will post a review when I am back.

Will be renting tmr from the fremantle bayswater branch. Let you all know how it goes!
 

tkdboi

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Will be renting tmr from the fremantle bayswater branch. Let you all know how it goes!

picked up the car this morning from bayswater fremantle.

no fuss, was done in abt 15 mins.

car was in good and quite new condition with a full tank (I did pay a bit more for the New corolla hatch, the one I got had just 13k on mileage and still had the New car smell).

excess of just 50 as I took up the 6 per day, to lower the excess from 400.

do note though, they do not allow return to another location, so you have to pick up and return only to the same office.
 

kevin301

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picked up the car this morning from bayswater fremantle.

no fuss, was done in abt 15 mins.

car was in good and quite new condition with a full tank (I did pay a bit more for the New corolla hatch, the one I got had just 13k on mileage and still had the New car smell).

excess of just 50 as I took up the 6 per day, to lower the excess from 400.

do note though, they do not allow return to another location, so you have to pick up and return only to the same office.

Thanks for the review.
What's the total damage for your 6 day rental including the excess reduction?
 

bluegum

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more convenient compared with...?
William St (where Bayswater is) has most of the rental companies located there. At least 8-10, I reckon.
I was comparing with Apex. I was only considering this 2 rental companies as they don't have young renters surcharge.
 

bluegum

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picked up the car this morning from bayswater fremantle.

no fuss, was done in abt 15 mins.

car was in good and quite new condition with a full tank (I did pay a bit more for the New corolla hatch, the one I got had just 13k on mileage and still had the New car smell).

excess of just 50 as I took up the 6 per day, to lower the excess from 400.

do note though, they do not allow return to another location, so you have to pick up and return only to the same office.
Thanks for the review!
 

ddqwerty

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Does anyone know if Bayswater car rental's Corolla sedan is the new 2014 sedan or the old one?

and all their cars have the yellow logo on the front doors?
 
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oozzzzzz0

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Apex Rental Car

Hi all,

any idea if we need to register our APEX rental car with GOVIA for the toll charges during our trip?
Tqtq..
 
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Not_So_Blur

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Share my car rental experience with Hertz in Melbourne Franklin Street.

Have book the car on-line due to Maybank 10% discount and only Hertz car could board ferry to Kangaroo Island.

Went to collect car, but was informed that my selected car (Hyundai Elantra) was not available. The counter staff talk through walkie-talkie with ground staff and managed to upgrade me to the Toyota RAV4 without any additional cost.:)

After happily settled paper work and collected key, found their computer unable to release the car to me. Again through walkie-talkie with ground staff, they upgrade me to a new Hyundai i40.:s22:

A total of my precious 1 hours was wasted at the Hertz office.:(
 
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