Car Hire in Port of Tauranga

[BoopTennis]

Any recommendations for a company I can rent a car for a day that will pick us up at the cruise port in Tauranga?

[abatlin]

After many emails and lots of searching, we have opted for Pacific Auto Traders.  They offer two different options. One is specifically for cruisers,$110 New Zealand dollars, picked up and dropped off at port with unlimited mileage.  The other option is to Uber to their depot office, paying $59 New Zealand dollars, or $69 for intermediate, giving you 150 km’s a day. Uber runs $15 New Zealand dollars.  If you want more km’s, it is $15.  We are doing the Uber option.  Hope this helps.

[pink845]

What about insurance.   How much was the excess insurance to cover all eventualities.  

[possum52]

41 minutes ago, pink845 said:

What about insurance.   How much was the excess insurance to cover all eventualities.  

Excess is not insurance, it is an amount you are required to pay if you have an accident and it is your fault. For rental/hire vehicles it may be a large amount. Usually you have the option to pay a fee each day on top of your rental charges to bring that excess to $0. Typically comprehensive insurance, which covers you if you are involved in an accident which causes damage to your vehicle and another vehicle or property, is included in your car rental charges.

 

Leigh

[andlep]

9 hours ago, possum52 said:

Excess is not insurance, it is an amount you are required to pay if you have an accident and it is your fault. 

 

 

Pink845 is talking about "excess insurance" which is an insurance policy you can take that covers the excess in case of an accident. Also a lot of travel insurance policies cover hire car excess.

[possum52]

 

1 minute ago, andlep said:

Pink845 is talking about "excess insurance" which is an insurance policy you can take that covers the excess in case of an accident. Also a lot of travel insurance policies cover hire car excess.

Andlep, I don't think I have ever seen an excess insurance for car rental. The car rental companies I have seen  and used charge an extra fee per day to bring the excess down to a cheaper amount or to zero. Who provides the excess insurance? They are not referred to as insurance cover. This is the Avis NZ's coverage options for excess - https://www.avis.co.nz/en/products-and-services/protections

Budget NZ refers to ER - excess reduction as an optional coverage added to the cost of daily rental. 

 

Perhaps Pink845 should check whether her travel insurance covers the excess for car hire. 

 

Leigh

 

 

 

 

 

[Globaliser]

10 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Andlep, I don't think I have ever seen an excess insurance for car rental. The car rental companies I have seen  and used charge an extra fee per day to bring the excess down to a cheaper amount or to zero. Who provides the excess insurance? They are not referred to as insurance cover.

 

Here's an example: https://www.icarhireinsurance.com/

 

Although the name of this company will not be familiar to most, the insurance is underwritten by a name that is familiar: Zurich Insurance.

[andlep]

16 minutes ago, possum52 said:

 

 

16 minutes ago, possum52 said:

 

Andlep, I don't think I have ever seen an excess insurance for car rental. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you click on the links I included? There are companies that sell insurance specifically for excees reduction. eg here is one😀

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by andlep

[possum52]

10 minutes ago, andlep said:

 

Yes I did click on it but I have never seen excess insurance before until your link. Is  it cheaper than paying an extra fee to have cover from the rental company?

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by possum52

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, possum52 said:

Is it cheaper than paying an extra fee to have cover from the rental company?

 

It depends in part on what sort of policy you get, and (if you get an annual policy) how many days you're renting for over the life of the policy. But that is basically the idea of buying excess insurance separately.

 

If I'm only going to be renting a car for a few or perhaps half a dozen days a year at locations where the car rental company's fee is affordable, I don't bother with excess insurance. There's less hassle if you've reduced the excess directly with the company because you can just hand the car back without needing to worry much about whether they will spot any damage. In addition, if the excess is reduced to zero, you basically don't need to bother to check the condition of the car before you drive off because they won't charge you for damage whether or not it was already there when you collected the car.

 

But if I'm renting at locations where the company's fee is high, or if I expect to rent for many days in a year, then I will get an annual policy because the saving is then worthwhile.

[possum52]

6 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

It depends in part on what sort of policy you get, and (if you get an annual policy) how many days you're renting for over the life of the policy. But that is basically the idea of buying excess insurance separately.

 

If I'm only going to be renting a car for a few or perhaps half a dozen days a year at locations where the car rental company's fee is affordable, I don't bother with excess insurance. There's less hassle if you've reduced the excess directly with the company because you can just hand the car back without needing to worry much about whether they will spot any damage. In addition, if the excess is reduced to zero, you basically don't need to bother to check the condition of the car before you drive off because they won't charge you for damage whether or not it was already there when you collected the car.

 

But if I'm renting at locations where the company's fee is high, or if I expect to rent for many days in a year, then I will get an annual policy because the saving is then worthwhile.

Thank you for your reply. I looked up the travel insurance we use for cruising and they cover excess for car rental. 
 

Leigh

[andlep]

10 hours ago, possum52 said:

Yes I did click on it but I have never seen excess insurance before until your link. Is  it cheaper than paying an extra fee to have cover from the rental company?

 

 

I also had not heard of excess insurance until I hired a car in Queensland years ago and I did not have travel insurance. It was cheaper than paying for excess reduction from the rental company since I rented for a few days. When cruising I always have travel insurance and check to see that it has enough cover for car rental excess (eg hertz charges $5000 excess and Budget insurance only covers up to $4000 ).

[pink845]

I actually checked with Budget at Tauranga airport 12 minutes from the cruise port and the cost of renting an intermediate car was almost $300 NZ dollars including unlimited mileage, standard insurance, plus excess reduction insurance and GPS, plus all the taxes.  Oh, the Excess goes down from $3400 to $345.  Wow, can't get it down to zero. In Europe, we have rented and we can drop the car off a cliff and be covered totally for 80 Euros.  What a difference.  We rent cars all over the US on our travels.  I have never paid more than $60 bucks including insurance to rent an intermediate car.  New Zealand gives highway robbery a new meaning!     

[andlep]

27 minutes ago, pink845 said:

I actually checked with Budget at Tauranga airport 12 minutes from the cruise port and the cost of renting an intermediate car was almost $300 NZ dollars including unlimited mileage, standard insurance, plus excess reduction insurance and GPS, plus all the taxes. 

Wow, outrageous price. I rented a midsize car from Hertz last January for around 60NZD . Didn't recommend them to the op because they don't deliver to the port, and I had an issue with that particular licensee  (has since been rectified by head office). When I was googling for that trip, there were quite a few cars for hire from the port for around 130NZD from memory.

Edited February 13, 2020 by andlep