Queenstown Car Hire

Cons: Maybe would've been useful to have some signage with instructions since there was only one staff member around and I didn't want to interrupt him only to find out I didn't need to do anything other than drop the car off and deposit the keys.

Cons: Our flight came in late and we missed the pick up window. I emailed Budget to let them know, but this message didn't get through to the rental location. When we picked up our car, the woman was not very friendly and said we missed our window and it was given away. She said they had no cars left for us. She did not give us other options of where to rent or what to do in this situation. She did not show sympathy either. Do not rent from Budget. We went with Europcar in the end. They were nice and had a great car for us (and their counter was right next to the Budget one).

Cons: I think we were pressured into extra insurance and the rate was much higher than originally planned.

Cons: When we dropped the car off in Queenstown, we were shocked to find that our receipt said we were charged more than 2x as much as my reservation said we would be paying. We were in a rush and didn't notice this until after we left the lot, so we called the Queenstown Budget office. Luckily, they fixed the issue and we were charged the correct amount. Thank you Claire!

Cons: Economy Rent a Car (ERaC) turns out to be more of a broker and contracts other rental companies to provide cars. I arrive in Queenstown where I'm supposed to pick up my car at the terminal, but there is no counter for ERaC. I call the number, but I've been provided their Auckland number, and they tell me I have to call their Queenstown number. It's cold and rainy and I'm making phone calls instead of getting in my car. ERaC Queenstown inform me my car is provided by Scotty's and I have to call them. Scotty's says they are overbooked but they have arranged for another company, Hitch, to provide a car. A Hitch rep calls me and tells me to wait at the commercial car park. I wait. And wait. Then wait some more. A guy comes over and collects some other travelers. Now feeling quite cold, I message the driver and he asks where I am. After a while the guy who recently collected passengers comes over, he's apparently my driver. Turns out there are two commercial car parks and I'm at the 'wrong' one. Nu-huh, signs say otherwise. Now we ride for 10 mins to their office, a makeshift shack in a dirt parking lot. I wait for 25 minutes while he handles the other customers, talks on the phone and directs his staff. So, he doesn't have the car type I reserved but immediately offers to upsell me to a Prius. At this time I've been wasting my precious time in Queenstown and I want to get going, so I accept his offer. It's an extra USD50, but I figure I'll offset some of that with the Prius' better gas mileage. Turns out it's a six or so years old car with 70,000 miles on it, it's dirty and with plenty of nicks and scuffs and a big stain in the trunk. I can live with that, but asks if he has another compact car which is what I reserved. No, but he can give me a smaller car for the same price...I take the Prius. Later I notice that the tires are worn (unsafe in rain) and there is some smear on the inside of the windshield that causes a glare in the sun and other marks on the windows and windshield, similar to what car dealers do to write the price and year etc. It also has a Japanese language audio unit and the trip meter etc is also in Japanese. That's fine if you speak Japanese, but the majority of people visiting New Zealand don't, including me. It also makes a loud beep every time you start the car. The car lacks cruise control. However, the car didn't break down, it got good gas mileage and despite plenty of wet weather I didn't hydroplane with the worn tires. But I'll never use Economy Rent a Car again.

Cons: We swung by the office the next day to handle the paperwork. The office was open but no employees so we returned the following day to handle it. Glad we had been in town the extra day and our accommodations were near their office.

Cons: It wasn't clear to me that Economy does business as Scotties in Queenstown. Wasn't a big deal, but I was confused about where to wait for the van.

Cons: We returned the car early and advised the desk of such. When we received bill, the charge did not reflect the early return and we had to contact them to have the situation rectified. This should not have happened.

Cons: everything good