Car rental in Darwin - any tips?

Mal · #1 (**permalink**) 15th January 2007, 09:48 PM

Heading up to Darwin soon. Car rental there (just like the rest of the NT) is pretty crazy, with pretty much all rates from the major chains only offering 200Km/Day allowance. I will be doing something like 1000Km over a couple of days, so thats something like $150 above the rental just for excess Km charges!

I have seen Europcar cars advertised through http://www.standbycars.com.au/ with no km restriction (at pretty good rates) but I'm hesitant to book Europcar due to some reports I've heard about them. (Not sure if true or not... but definately would prefer Hertz or Avis). Will book them at a pinch if I can't find anything i'm more happy with.

So, any tips on getting a good unlimited KM rate in Darwin with either Hertz or Avis? None of the CDP's/Discount codes I've found so far (or normally use) give unlimited Km's.

[Oh, and I have checked ... even though it's wet season, the roads I will be travelling on should be open and OK to small 2wd cars. so not needing anything 4wd or tankish]

JohnK · #2 (**permalink**) 15th January 2007, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

Heading up to Darwin soon. Car rental there (just like the rest of the NT) is pretty crazy, with pretty much all rates from the major chains only offering 200Km/Day allowance. I will be doing something like 1000Km over a couple of days, so thats something like $150 above the rental just for excess Km charges!

Mal, I can't help you with finding a rental car with unlimited kms/day but just a warning as when I rented a car from Avis in DRW last June it was only 100kms/day allowance.

Code:

Your Base Rate for a 3 day(s) 21 hour(s) rental is: 117.68 AUD 
 
Surcharge : 36.81 AUD10% applies to all rental & additional charges (Goods & Services Tax)
$5.00 per day (Vehicle Registration Fee)
12.21% (Concession Recovery Fee)
One-Way Fee:   
Tax: 20.54 AUD ( 3.000% ) 
Approximate Total: 175.03 AUD 
 
Kilometers: 400 kilometers included 
Additional Kilometers Charge: .25 AUD per kilometer 

Estimated Total:175.03 AUD 
(Includes selected coverages and options.
If applicable, additional mileage charges are not included.
Child Seats charges are not included in the estimated total.)

Love2Fly · #3 (**permalink**) 15th January 2007, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

Heading up to Darwin soon. Car rental there (just like the rest of the NT) is pretty crazy, with pretty much all rates from the major chains only offering 200Km/Day allowance. I will be doing something like 1000Km over a couple of days, so thats something like $150 above the rental just for excess Km charges!

I have seen Europcar cars advertised through http://www.standbycars.com.au/ with no km restriction (at pretty good rates) but I'm hesitant to book Europcar due to some reports I've heard about them. (Not sure if true or not... but definately would prefer Hertz or Avis). Will book them at a pinch if I can't find anything i'm more happy with.

So, any tips on getting a good unlimited KM rate in Darwin with either Hertz or Avis? None of the CDP's/Discount codes I've found so far (or normally use) give unlimited Km's.

[Oh, and I have checked ... even though it's wet season, the roads I will be travelling on should be open and OK to small 2wd cars. so not needing anything 4wd or tankish]

Mal,
Not sure what you have heard about Europcar. I hired through Europcar in Darwin about a year ago with no km restriction (had to negotiate this). This was ideal as I did about 1200km in 3 days. I had a Magna 3.5, nothing special, but fine for a few days and most importantly for me the a/c worked great! For info I usually use Hertz but have hired through Europcar many times with no probs at all.

straitman · #4 (**permalink**) 15th January 2007, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Love2Fly

Mal,
Not sure what you have heard about Europcar. I hired through Europcar in Darwin about a year ago with no km restriction (had to negotiate this). This was ideal as I did about 1200km in 3 days. I had a Magna 3.5, nothing special, but fine for a few days and most importantly for me the a/c worked great! For info I usually use Hertz but have hired through Europcar many times with no probs at all.

Look at some earlier forums for problems associated. I've had a couple and heard (through our company) of several others.

NM · #5 (**permalink**) 16th January 2007, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

I will be doing something like 1000Km over a couple of days ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Love2Fly

This was ideal as I did about 1200km in 3 days.

Hmm, I think I understand why they impose the Km restriction for Darwin rentals. I expect rental cars clock up the miles pretty fast up there.

oz_mark · #6 (**permalink**) 16th January 2007, 01:24 AM

I am pretty sure that Thrifty and Avis offer Unlimited kilometre options, but not so sure you can find the option on the website.

markis10 · #7 (**permalink**) 16th January 2007, 12:32 PM

Darwin is not classed as a Capital City for rentals so its either 200 or 100km a day, also the companies are not corporate locations.

Mal · #8 (**permalink**) 21st January 2007, 10:45 PM

Well I rang Hertz in the end. They couldn't find me a quote with unlimited Km's.

As I said earlier, seeing I'm doing up to 1000Km in a 2 day period, I really don't want to get pinged for 600km x $0.25 (or around $150) and of course that's on top of the $150 or so for the 2 days anyway.

I ended up finding a prepaid rate on a major online travel portal which offers unlimited Km's at a reasonable price. That's the one I'll be going for methinks... Still with Hertz, and although it has a $3300 Excess, you can reduce it for only a few $. My travel insurance will cover me for the rest

Mal · #9 (**permalink**) 28th January 2007, 10:27 PM

Ok, here is how it worked out. Hopefully the information can be of assistance to someone else.

Several websites in Australia claim to be able to do rentals of unlimited KM in Darwin. Most seem to do it through EuropCar.

I tried making a booking through Expedia (which offered an unlimited Km Hertz rate)

I couldn't get it to take a booking correctly. It kept erroring out.

Hertz NT have an not widely published 500Km/Day rate which may be available for not much more than a standard rental cost. You'd have to call them to get it or perhaps via their website.

See their website for their latest specials (although the website's offers expired in Dec!)
Hertz Northern Territory - Car Rental in Darwin, Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Katherine & Tennant Creek

Also keep in mind the insurance exclusions that apply for rentals in NT. There are some interesting ones such as colliding with animals between dusk and dawn (which voids your coverage for that incident).