Need advice on car rental

Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin

"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
...
Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin


When I've been doing the reverse to you, ie booking rental cars in North
America, UK and Europe, I've used the services of a broker
www.holidayautos.com, who negotiate rates with the major car firms. I've
done far better that way than going direct thru the rental company websites,
and you'll find most of the necessaries such as CDW are included within the
rate, rather than getting an unpleasant surprise when you walk in to sign
the contract. They use the major companies, in the last couple of years
thru them I've had National (Canada), Alamo (UK) and Hertz (France).

I think you'll find that all the companies you mentioned are much the same
in terms of vehicles offered, quality of service etc.

Regards

David Bennetts
Australia

David

Thanks for your recommendation, it seems that the website you
recommend do not support one way rental.

I have been on the web looking the agencies for car rental instead of
trying direct to rental car companies. So far, all car rental
agencies come up the rate higher than what the direct car rental's
quote.

My thrithy quote is about AUD 210 for 4 days, departing sydney and
ending brisbane, while Hertz is AUD250. (I do not that the optional
insurance though, but tax, duty, registration fee included).

Calvin

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 17:01:56 +1000, "David Bennetts"
wrote:


"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
.. .
Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin


When I've been doing the reverse to you, ie booking rental cars in North
America, UK and Europe, I've used the services of a broker
www.holidayautos.com, who negotiate rates with the major car firms. I've
done far better that way than going direct thru the rental company websites,
and you'll find most of the necessaries such as CDW are included within the
rate, rather than getting an unpleasant surprise when you walk in to sign
the contract. They use the major companies, in the last couple of years
thru them I've had National (Canada), Alamo (UK) and Hertz (France).

I think you'll find that all the companies you mentioned are much the same
in terms of vehicles offered, quality of service etc.

Regards

David Bennetts
Australia

"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
...
David

Thanks for your recommendation, it seems that the website you
recommend do not support one way rental.

They claim to, but there seems to be some glitch in their website when I
tried to input a drop off location a few minutes ago.
Couldn't get it to give a drop down location. I notice at Sydney airport
that many rental cars actually have interstate number plates, cars are
interchanged very frequently between states.

I have been on the web looking the agencies for car rental instead of
trying direct to rental car companies. So far, all car rental
agencies come up the rate higher than what the direct car rental's
quote.

My experience in the other direction has been that brokers have been
invariably cheaper.

My thrithy quote is about AUD 210 for 4 days, departing sydney and
ending brisbane, while Hertz is AUD250. (I do not that the optional
insurance though, but tax, duty, registration fee included).

I don't think you'd get any cheaper than that Thrifty rate, even if you're
only getting a micro car.
Go for it.

Regards

David Bennetts

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 14:47:48 +0800, Calvin Chan
wrote:

Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin


I can only offer a general comment rather than anything specific but I
have used Hertz on three previous occasions to hire cars from Cairns.
On the first occasion the hire period was about 4 weeks and the car
dropped off at Brisbane.

On the first occasion they didn't have the car we asked for (a tiny
cheapo car) and gave us a big 4ltr V6 Ford Falcon instead. They also
only charged us the CDW for 2 wks because of the length of the hire
period and the other 2wks were free.

On the second occasion we were at the airport at about 0500hrs and
were surprised to find the Hertz desk open. Hertz let us have the car
several hours ahead of the booked time and again gave us a free
upgrade, though not quite such a big one this time. We also left our
passports and paperwork on their desk and when we reached the hostel
Hertz had already phoned and the hostel advised us to return to the
airport were Hertz had the items waiting for us. Given that we had
not even given them contact details for the hostel they would had to
have done some ground work themselves to find it.

On the third occasion we got what we hired (unfortunately) and there
was nothing of any note to the report.

In short, always gone to plan and had excellent service from them.
Hertz, unfortunately, I've found to be more competitive when hiring
small cheapo cars - in a couple of months we're actually hiring a much
bigger car and Hertz was not competitive. This time we're going with
Alamo, though the blurb we got says we actually have to attend the
Europcar desk. Fingers crossed they're just as good....

always good to keep an eye on http://www.standbycars.com/ for deals


"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
...
Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin

Jeff

Thanks for that, I have been to that site recent months, and the
normal booking is always higher than direct car rental companies, and
they do not offer one way.

The hot deal may be candidate but they post a lot of restriction, and
a lot of campervan.

Nevertheless, this is an option to keep an eye.

Calvin
On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:07:48 +1000, "Jeff"
wrote:

always good to keep an eye on http://www.standbycars.com/ for deals


"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
.. .
Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin

Calvin Chan wrote:
David

Thanks for your recommendation, it seems that the website you
recommend do not support one way rental.

I have been on the web looking the agencies for car rental instead of
trying direct to rental car companies. So far, all car rental
agencies come up the rate higher than what the direct car rental's
quote.

My thrithy quote is about AUD 210 for 4 days, departing sydney and
ending brisbane, while Hertz is AUD250. (I do not that the optional
insurance though, but tax, duty, registration fee included).

I have had good experiences renting through
http://www.rentnewcars.com.au/ previously. They have no additional fee
for one-way and will price multiple hires based on the combined number
of days. Cars are either through Thrifty or Europcar. A quick check
for the above SYD-BNE trip gives $52/day.

Giddy

This is a good alternative booking site. Which gives similar pricing as
what I had got.

It is a matter of either picking Thrithy or Hertz.

Rgds

Calvin

"GiddyJP" wrote:
Calvin Chan wrote:
David

Thanks for your recommendation, it seems that the website you
recommend do not support one way rental.

I have been on the web looking the agencies for car rental instead of
trying direct to rental car companies. So far, all car rental
agencies come up the rate higher than what the direct car rental's
quote.

My thrithy quote is about AUD 210 for 4 days, departing sydney and
ending brisbane, while Hertz is AUD250. (I do not that the optional
insurance though, but tax, duty, registration fee included).

I have had good experiences renting through
http://www.rentnewcars.com.au/ previously. They have no additional fee
for one-way and will price multiple hires based on the combined number
of days. Cars are either through Thrifty or Europcar. A quick check
for the above SYD-BNE trip gives $52/day.



--
Sent via Travel Newsgroups
http://www.travelnewsgroups.com

Hi Calvin

They used to offer one way specials, one of main ideas of the site was to
move cars between cities etc and get a few dollars instead of paying drivers
to drive them for the companies.

If you get a better deal direct, i suggest emailing standby and asking them
what they can do.
I am sure they want to remain competitive.

cheers
Jeff


"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
...
Jeff

Thanks for that, I have been to that site recent months, and the
normal booking is always higher than direct car rental companies, and
they do not offer one way.

The hot deal may be candidate but they post a lot of restriction, and
a lot of campervan.

Nevertheless, this is an option to keep an eye.

Calvin
On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 20:07:48 +1000, "Jeff"
wrote:

always good to keep an eye on http://www.standbycars.com/ for deals


"Calvin Chan" wrote in message
. ..
Hi folks

We are planning to drive from Sydney to Brisbane end of July.

I have reserved a car both from Thrithy and Hertz. Their prices are
comparable with Hertz being 15% more.

I am asking to see anyone out there has any advice as to which one I
should pick.

By the way, I also booked one from europcar at Cairns when we are
going there after Brisbane. Unfortunately that Hertz is sold out,
while others (Avis, Budget, Thrithy) are comparable more expensive,
how is europcar compared with others?

Your help is much appreciated.

Calvin