Rental car booking : online vs counter?

[kevin301]

Kevin - I have been intensively hunting for Melbourne city. But it seems that also for Sydney their rate is quite good.
Unless I get any very negative review, most likely I'm going to go with Apex. Not only their rate is much cheaper (with zero excess, child seats and GPS included), the car model is also specified (unlike most others that say "XYZ car or similar").
I'm thinking of emailing them to clarify about their insurance coverage. Anything else that I should ask/clarify with them?

Hmmm can't think of anything else.
I'm probably more slack than you with regards to rental cars...!

 

[liemsc]

Hmmm can't think of anything else.
I'm probably more slack than you with regards to rental cars...!

Paiseh ah... noobie here, hence kiasu+kiasi loh
But seriously, the more I read those rental car's fine prints, the more cautious I become. So many different things / clause that could be not covered by the insurance. I just learnt recently that the tyres and windscreen are usually not covered. Single vehicle accident and multi vehicle (collision) is also different coverage. Headache ah..

 

[kevin301]

Paiseh ah... noobie here, hence kiasu+kiasi loh
But seriously, the more I read those rental car's fine prints, the more cautious I become. So many different things / clause that could be not covered by the insurance. I just learnt recently that the tyres and windscreen are usually not covered. Single vehicle accident and multi vehicle (collision) is also different coverage. Headache ah..

good to be prepared.
Had a friend who didn't take sufficient insurance coverage. Was caught in the freak hailstorm of 1999 where ice balls the size of tennis balls fell from the sky. Had to pay quite high excess for body and glass damage.

 

[desboo]

I usually book with the bigger companies such as hertz, budget or avis.

During my last trip to Melbourne, when I was returning the car at the airport, I noticed someone who was returning a car to one of the smaller companies, and the driver was arguing with the rental company rep on a mark which I could not see on the front bumper.

Seems like the rental company wants to charge the driver for the mark on the bumper. I could not see any dents on the bumper tho. I compare it to my experience with hertz which I rented from. My rental car was just accepted by hertz without this type of detailed inspection, and I just felt glad I paid extra for hertz.

 

[kevin301]

I usually book with the bigger companies such as hertz, budget or avis.

During my last trip to Melbourne, when I was returning the car at the airport, I noticed someone who was returning a car to one of the smaller companies, and the driver was arguing with the rental company rep on a mark which I could not see on the front bumper.

Seems like the rental company wants to charge the driver for the mark on the bumper. I could not see any dents on the bumper tho. I compare it to my experience with hertz which I rented from. My rental car was just accepted by hertz without this type of detailed inspection, and I just felt glad I paid extra for hertz.

I guess that rental company also had prior bad experience with renters causing too much damage to the car. Or just an overzealous staff member trying to get credit for increasing company profit

So far have not had issues, even with the more 'budget' rental companies such as Bayswater in Perth n Sydney. This despite also driving through some unsealed roads and returning a car covered in reddish dust... lol.

 

[laksanice]

Apex is good... their car are all less than 1 year old and the rates are fantastic too... it is a NZ company and their customer service is excellent too.. I rented from them in Melbourne and they gave me a car with only 17km mileage

 

[liemsc]

Apex is good... their car are all less than 1 year old and the rates are fantastic too... it is a NZ company and their customer service is excellent too.. I rented from them in Melbourne and they gave me a car with only 17km mileage

This is encouraging Let's also hear from leogeo when he comes back from Gold Coast. My trip is still in April
Ah one more good thing about Apex, their grace period for returning the car seems to be the longest too (2 hours). Others are mostly either 30 mins or 1 hour. So, if you start at 9:00am, you can return at 10:59am without additional charge

 

[kevin301]

This is encouraging Let's also hear from leogeo when he comes back from Gold Coast. My trip is still in April
Ah one more good thing about Apex, their grace period for returning the car seems to be the longest too (2 hours). Others are mostly either 30 mins or 1 hour. So, if you start at 9:00am, you can return at 10:59am without additional charge

wah first time I heard of grace period...

 

[leogeo]

i'm gg to Melbourne next month (15 Feb). Renting 2 days to go St Kilda and Great Ocean Road. Will check with my travel buddies if tey ok with Apex.

 

[leogeo]

mostly positive reviews, though a couple of negative ones
Apex Car Rentals Australia - Melbourne Forum - TripAdvisor

 

[nlee84]

yes yes please review when you are back... i think apex website is the easiest to understand... excess $500 for the middle package. the other website i don't even see how much is the excess...

felt scoot "scoot a car" also quite cheap as they crawl for all offers online and they allow you to buy a car insurance from singapore Allianz company for SGD 9.90 a day which cover excess up to 4k. anyone tried before?

 

[leogeo]

i booked 2 days for my trip to MEL on 15th feb. will review when back!

 

[nlee84]

i booked 2 days for my trip to MEL on 15th feb. will review when back!

thanks in advance!!!

 

[liemsc]

yes yes please review when you are back... i think apex website is the easiest to understand... excess $500 for the middle package. the other website i don't even see how much is the excess...

felt scoot "scoot a car" also quite cheap as they crawl for all offers online and they allow you to buy a car insurance from singapore Allianz company for SGD 9.90 a day which cover excess up to 4k. anyone tried before?

I notice that Scoot is also partnering "CarTrawler" for the car rental. I happened to check the car rental offered in Tiger Airways website a couple of weeks ago. It gave me surprisingly cheap quote for the car that I was targeting (Mitsubishi Outlander, from Hertz). I jumped to get my credit card to book the car (for my upcoming Australia trip). But at the final seconds, something told me to check the review for the car rental partner - which is "CarTrawler". Google result was surprising ; almost all are negative reviews, with each people telling various kind of bad experiences. Eventually I didn't dare to book with them.

 

[ddqwerty]

I notice that Scoot is also partnering "CarTrawler" for the car rental. I happened to check the car rental offered in Tiger Airways website a couple of weeks ago. It gave me surprisingly cheap quote for the car that I was targeting (Mitsubishi Outlander, from Hertz). I jumped to get my credit card to book the car (for my upcoming Australia trip). But at the final seconds, something told me to check the review for the car rental partner - which is "CarTrawler". Google result was surprising ; almost all are negative reviews, with each people telling various kind of bad experiences. Eventually I didn't dare to book with them.

hey bro =)

I was in perth jan 2014, prior to my trip I was looking at car rental companies and reviews, I was really scared as almost every car rental company has at least 80% bad reviews. even big companies like hertz and avis. but I ended up booking with hertz, and everything was alright, mayb cos I took full protection.

I cant really advise and tell you to go ahead with the booking, but I think the reason why you read so many bad reviews is cos ppl will complain/report everytime there's something bad, whereas good experiences are less often reported

I am such an example too, I have not yet gotten to writing sth nice on hertz's fb page, and reviewing all the hotels, opps

 

[leogeo]

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 $

 

[Beta_123]

Anyone tried ace car rental before? I'm going Melbourne in may. Wanted to book with apex but they only got pickup at the airport. So looking for alternative.

 

[nlee84]

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 $

hey... which package did you choose? the works?

 

[synapse]

Is it really necessary to get a car seat if traveling with a toddler?

 

[leogeo]

hey... which package did you choose? the works?

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+