Car Rental In Australia

[davemac250]

Guys I am in Autralia for Christmas and most of January.

We are doing the rounds of Family and will be in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth during the trip.

I've been searching on line and simply do not fancy hiring a Hyundai in each place.

Has anyone any suggestions on where to try for something more interesting??

[sday12]

Kings X used car market?

[stevlee]

There is the equivalent of Whipcar in Oz so google for drivemycarrental, there are lots of interesting neighbour cars to rent

[traffman]

We hired a Holden something or other , i wanted sat nav albeit it was a pretty st sat nav .

You need a decent mile muncher , we drove the coastline from Sydney all the way up the goldcoast and along to Byron Bay which is a must see.

In fact it was one of the best drives ever.

[traffman]

Or just buy a minivan or volkswagen camper , theres loads alongside the road, bit of a lottery though and may fook your perfect holiday.

[JCW]

I hired a Ford XR6 and its Commodore equivalent which were mildly interesting. Watch out for the cops/traffic cameras both of which have zero tolerance and no sense of humour, from which there's no escaping with a hire car as the rental company will keep forwarding the fines and charging admin fees.

[R11ysf]

JCW said:

I hired a Ford XR6 and its Commodore equivalent which were mildly interesting. Watch out for the cops/traffic cameras both of which have zero tolerance and no sense of humour, from which there's no escaping with a hire car as the rental company will keep forwarding the fines and charging admin fees.

^^^This plus 1,000.

Ford XR6, not too bad, bit of poke and looks ok. Aussie traffic cops It does concentrate the mind though when you are belting along some random route where you haven't passed a car in ages and a massive overhead gantry sign reads:

"YOU ARE SPEEDING! MINIMUM FINE $466 AND 6 DEMERIT POINTS"

Holy st! £300 for doing 150kmh in a 120kmh zone? Wow, that made me slow down

[Active75]

Used car prices are higher in OZ for the equivalent UK car.Make sure if you want to buy a car in OZ you have all your documentation and the car has a pink slip( MOT) You will also need to register it at the RTA office. There is one in every major town. Note that speed limits are generally lower in Australia than UK. The Pacific Highway from Melbourne to Sydney to Cairns and the New England Highway all have speed cameras ( grey boxes), and often the limit is 80k an hour, yes 80K not mph! 80k = 50mph, and at times on a straight road it can be tiresome. Remember at Holiday time in OZ speed limits are rigorously enforced. Also note that cars are allowed to overtake on the inside as well as outside.
One other little point on driving in Melbourne in the Tram areas if you need to turn RIGHT you do so from the Inside-ie left hand Lane on a multi lane road.

[SWH]

Thrifty always had a good price and reasonable choice, although the exchange rate was somewhat more favourable last time I was there. My selection criteria was to simply go for the largest engine choice, then pay the full damage waiver.

They're hot on speeding, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy getting there... or pretending you're doing Rally Australia on the dirt tracks.....

[davemac250]

Thanks guys.

I did the buy a van thing last time, planning on flying those distances this time.

Thrifty were quoting on some real dreary metal when I looked as were the European based brokers.

I'll have a look on that google suggestion.