LOVETRIP CAR RENTAL REVIEWS IN NEW ZEALAND

The staff at the store were very friendly.

Arrived at the Ibis late at night, and the company sent someone to the nearby hotel to deliver the car the next day. Very convenient.

Pretty good, everything went smoothly. It's close to where we were staying.

There was hardly any queue, possibly because of the time we arrived. We had a dedicated car to pick us up from the airport. It's a family business, and both the owner and his wife were very friendly. Unlike in China, you need to be aware of the deposit policy. It's not like Shenzhou Car Rental where the pre-authorization is immediately unfrozen upon return. The pre-authorization for my rental was 2500 NZD. Since we were heading to Sydney for our next stop, the owner's wife manually released the pre-authorization for us, although it might take some time to process. So if you have a tight budget, do prepare for this. Overall, it went smoothly, and I will rent from here again for a longer trip with family.

1. The airport shuttle has no Lovetrip Car Rental logo. 2. The staff are casual and poorly managed. They do not adhere to the agreed time, for example, promising to arrive in 5 minutes but actually taking 15 minutes multiple times. The store is often run by a couple who simultaneously run other travel booking businesses. The couple conduct cross-checks for pick-up and return inspections, where one person's inspection results are later overturned by the other. 3. Customers do not receive any copies of documents. In contrast, other companies provide copies of all signed documents, but this car rental does not. 4. The car inspection at pick-up is cursory, while the return inspection is extremely thorough, not missing even the smallest details. Other car rental companies usually have a policy stating scratches under a certain length are not pursued; this company does not. 5. After confirming everything was fine at the return inspection and completing the procedures, the customer is sent away. An hour later, the company contacts the customer via WeChat, claiming the fuel tank was not full and demands payment. If the customer refuses, they threaten to also charge for a 'scratch' from nearly two weeks prior that was supposedly waived, along with a refueling service fee. Before the customer boards their flight and after returning home, the company continues to attack the customer's character, defame them, and changes their statements, contradicting themselves. 6. The pre-authorization slip on the customer's credit card is not returned. 7. All customers are required to add the company on WeChat. 8. Regardless of the customer's situation, the company communicates via voice messages. Important information requiring confirmation and accuracy is not provided in text but through voice messages. Accusations and altered descriptions of facts are conveyed in text. 9. The car picked up was not a Corolla.

Fairly convenient

The company is run by a young couple. The owners are very friendly! The car was new. When an accident happened, they were very considerate. It’s comforting to have support from fellow countrymen when facing difficulties abroad. Overall, it’s a great New Zealand car rental company! Highly recommended! Next time I go to New Zealand, I can contact them directly without going through a platform.

The company is quite small, appears to be a family-run business and seems somewhat unprofessional. There was no one on the ground floor to assist us, and we had to ring the doorbell for a while before someone from upstairs came down to guide us to the second floor to sign the rental agreement. The same person handled both the car pickup and return. There were no other customers, so there was no waiting time.

Not bad, but the car was a bit old. Support during the trip wasn't great; you had to resolve issues yourself.

We picked up the car late and informed them before collecting our luggage, but still had to wait outside for about 20 minutes.

Charging for pickups and drop-offs outside work hours, 20 NZD for pickup and 10 NZD for drop-off. The company is pretty cautious.

The rental company has a poor service attitude and engages in malicious fraud against consumers. The experience was extremely bad.

Not bad

Called after landing and was told to wait at the pickup/drop-off zone outside the airport, but it took 20 minutes for them to arrive.

An extremely unpleasant car rental experience. I thought that renting from a rental company operated by Chinese people abroad would at least offer some convenience and not rip me off, given that we speak the same language. But I was completely wrong.

First, let's talk about their attitude. My flight itinerary said that my flight would arrive in Auckland at 23:15, and after consulting with the rental company, they suggested setting my pickup time at 00:15. I booked the car for 00:15. On the flight, I found out the plane was supposed to land at 23:45, thankfully it wasn’t delayed. As soon as I turned on my phone after landing, I got a call from the rental company, with an extremely impatient tone, saying things like “Do you know you booked the car for 00:15? What time is it now?”, “Do you think you can make it here in time?”, and “Hurry up, I need to sleep.” Is this a normal service attitude for a rental company? If you want to sleep, don't take midnight bookings. And while their competitor offers free airport pickups, they charge 20 NZD. They've got the nerve to complain after taking the money! Out of the desire to keep things peaceful during a holiday, I apologized to her. Luckily, the attitude was better when they came to pick me up.

Second, the insurance issue. I bought supplemental insurance from the rental platform, which was said to be the most comprehensive. They advised against buying any additional insurance from the rental company. But the rental company told me that their insurance only covers their own car, not third parties. So if an accident involves a third party, I would need to bear those costs personally. I was skeptical but decided to buy third-party insurance from them for safety. Later on, when I rented a car in the South Island, I was told the same thing. So I believe it's the platform's insurance that’s problematic.

Lastly, the main issue. It was my first time driving a right-hand drive car, and I misjudged the position of the front left wheel and scratched the wheel against the curb while parallel parking. This kind of minor curb rash is something I've experienced before in my home country, and it usually doesn’t cause much damage because most wheel rims are recessed. However, the car I rented had protruding rims, which got scratched before the tire even touched the curb. In New Zealand, rental cars typically have this type of rims, while private cars don’t. After the scratch, I immediately contacted the rental company, who said it was fine as long as the car was drivable and that we would deal with it upon return. The next day, while returning the car, I pointed out the scratch to them. They conducted the inspection and said everything else was fine except for the rim scratch, which would cost around 30 NZD to fix. So, I returned the car and flew to the South Island.

That night, I received a message on WeChat from the company saying, “This scratch is from yesterday, just to let you know,” with a photo of a scratch on the car body. What? I returned the car over seven hours ago, and the inspection showed no issues. How can you suddenly blame me for a scratch that appeared during those seven hours? I suspect they are trying to charge me for other damages now that I’ve filed an insurance claim. The scratch in question was on the left rear fender in a straight line. How is it possible to scratch the left front rim and simultaneously scratch the left rear fender? What a scam. Even if I had created that scratch, isn't it the rental company's responsibility to notice it during the inspection? If I missed a scratch when picking up the car, they would surely blame me. If I had really caused the damage, I wouldn't deny it since I have full insurance coverage. But blaming me for something I didn’t do just because you know insurance will cover it is outrageous. This rental system is flawed. Since I didn’t buy their full insurance, they held a 2500 NZD credit card pre-authorization, allowing them to charge whatever they want. This is why they could just send me a photo with a “just to let you know” message, conveniently placing all these charges on me.

Finally, regarding repair costs. With 2500 NZD held by the rental company, I was prepared for their charges and asked them to settle the repair costs quickly and provide the bills for my insurance claim. When I received the bills, I was shocked. They charged 30 NZD to fix the rim, as stated, but the scratch on the fender cost 299 NZD. Are New Zealand car paints made of gold? While I’m not familiar with repair costs in New Zealand, I have no choice but to accept their claim. The most unacceptable part was an additional 250 NZD for labor and management fees. Are they really that busy? 250 NZD for minor scratches! It’s about the same as two days of car rental plus insurance. There were over ten similar scratches on the car when I picked it up, and they didn’t bother to fix them. Now, they want to c

The attitude was extremely poor. They seemed to think that people from mainland China know nothing. This was the worst car rental experience in my travels to over 50 countries. Initially, I chose to support a car rental company run by fellow Chinese, understanding the challenges of living abroad. It was only a one-day rental, and I was curious about the business. However, this experience made me vow never to rent from a Chinese-run car rental company again.

It's okay

The car was in good condition and the interior was fairly clean. The process of picking up and returning the car was relatively smooth. However, there was some urging when getting on the car from the airport, and the pick-up location was not clearly indicated. Service quality needs improvement.