TravelManKen

I booked a quick mileage run to Auckland that I've turned into a short 5 day visit. I'm on day #2, and survived driving on the left side of the road for the first time in my life. Driving from the airport up north to Orewa, I just kept saying to myself "keep left, drive left, left side" -- there are a number of habits this Californian has after 30+ years of driving :-)

For me the top tip to a right-side driver is pay attention to where the vehicle is in the lane. My biggest challenge has been calibrating my distance from the center of the road with it being on my right vs. left. Not sure why, but that and the little arrow/big arrow thing for right-of-way.

I'd also recommend reading the driver safety law book, I found that quite helpful in getting up to speed on the rules of the road.

number_6

Easy rule is driver side is always away from the curb, works for both LHD and RHD.

cgyroof

Every time I needed to make a turn in NZ, I would say out loud, "Short left, Long Right" to make sure I did not turn into on-coming traffic.
Also my windshield wipers got a bit of a work out, as that lever and the turn signal stick were reversed from my vehicle at home.

TravelManKen

This makes me laugh, because the #1 thing I kept getting confused were the dang windshield wipers/turn signal indicator!

TheBOSman

Me too, though it was worse when I got back to the USA and had adjusted to the sitting on the right . Did the same thing in South Africa and Australia too.

And just for reference, on the subject of speeding, I got one of those "speeding infringement" letters (or whatever it is they call the minor citation for speeding that isn't actually considered a speeding violation) for 106 km/h in a 100 zone somewhere north of Dunedin. I got bagged by one of the cameras. Wasn't very much, 30 NZD. Hertz was ever so kind as to pass along my address to enable the NZ police to mail the infringement notice directly to me in the USA . Probably spent more mailing the original notice and then a second notice of the original notice to me than I actually paid! So, keep it to 100 out there, even though quite a few locals still passed me anyway when I put in the cruise control at that speed.

number_6

An easy fix for that is to rent German cars which has unchanged steering controls for RHD (making the wipers on the "US" side even in NZ).

31570324

Anyone know aerodrivecarrental.com? Looks like they are new in business. They have great rates and according to their Facebook Information, their cars are from 2016. All other car rentals I found use really old cars or they are at least twice expensive. Only problem is, that I couldn't find any reviews.

Mwenenzi

I have never heard them They seem to be off airports, but close. https://www.aerodrivecarrental.com/
A new established company. From https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/...panies/5896332
75% owned by https://www.companiesoffice.govt.nz/...panies/5778331

There are many 2nd tier car rental companies in NZ. Some have on airport depots or close by. The cars tend to ~5 year old (or more) used Japanese cars. 10's of thousand of used cars, pickups & trucks are imported into NZ every year from Japan.

https://www.vroomvroomvroom.co.nz/

These are not recommendations,but I have rented from Apex & A2B
www.a2b-car-rental.co.nz/
http://www.apexrentals.co.nz/
https://www.acerentalcars.co.nz/
https://www.jucy.co.nz/
http://www.rentalcar.co.nz/
http://www.gorentals.co.nz/
https://www.omegarentalcars.com/
and others

www.transfercar.co.nz can be of interest. Many cars are rented north to south, so often a surplus at southern depots/airports

31570324

I know all, or at least most of the links you post, but as you said most of them use old cars. According to the Facebook Page of aerodrive they use 2016 cars while their prices are still lower than others with old cars. May they use this good prices to get into the market.

31570324

I asked them by email and they replied, that all of their cars are from 2016. With the 10% Facebook discount they offer, it's just 450NZD for a 2 week rental of a Toyota Corolla Hatch or 550NZD for a Hyundai Tucson. For this money you only get a 10+ years old car with other rental companies.

Mwenenzi

Would check if all insurances are included and unlimited distance.

"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is"

im-headed-west

Never heard of AeroDrive

Not really

Last year I did a 18 day one-way rental ZQN to AKL for $327NZ all-in from Jucy. The car was NOT 10+ years old lol, but a perfectly good/well maintained Mazda 3 ... guessing around 5 years old.

Got a similar deal from ACE in 2013.

Mwenenzi

Agree. Most of the cars in the 2nd tier rental companies cars are 5-7 years old in good condition.

Good deals south to north can be found https://www.transfercar.co.nz/search...ff=&from_date=

31570324

Unlimited miles are included, but of course no insurance. But you can get this cheaper with a own rental car insurance, which cost maybe 60€/year.

I know, but as we don't drive from the south to the north, it doesn't help.

Mwenenzi

Insurance is not an "of course". Varies a lot around the world. Be very careful about insurance. Insurance for 60€/year does not buy much cover. Less if not in your home country.
Get it in writing (English) that you compressive cover/CDW/LDW/liability insurance in NZ for a rental car. And have a credit card with a high limit.