Get the app to book and manage your travel anytime Download now
Top Currencies
HideAll Currencies
Pick up date
Return date
Compare and book deals at the world's airport and city locations
No booking fees, no credit card charges*
Find great value rental rates and exclusive specials
Dedicated phone and email customer service
earned on selected cars
An affordable hire car is the ideal way to explore New Zealand, also known as 'The Land of the Long White Cloud'. With Airport Rentals, you can easily search, compare and book rental cars from multiple brands across the country. Find zippy Economy models, sturdy SUVs, and elegant Luxury vehicles, as well as plenty more options to explore, all from established car hire companies.
There are lots of local and international brands to choose from when renting a car in New Zealand. Here is a selection of the options available:
The number of brands available to compare will depend on your pick up location.
There are dozens of locations you can rent a car from in New Zealand, including airport and city depots. Our powerful search makes it easy to explore the options available in different places. Here are some of our most popular locations.
A Christchurch Airport Car Hire will put you within a day’s journey of almost any destination in New Zealand’s South Island, making this a brilliant place to start your trip. There are more than 20 rental companies to choose from at Christchurch Airport, including Avis, Europcar, Omega Rental Cars, Snap, Apex Car Rentals and more. The counters for the rental companies located at the airport can be found in the International Arrivals area. If you have rented a car that provides a free shuttle to their nearby depot, you will be given instructions on how to arrange this before you arrive.
Grab an Auckland Airport car hire and you can be at the remote beaches of the Coromandel, the geysers of Rotorua or the snow-covered slopes of Mount Ruapehu within a matter of hours. As is befitting of New Zealand's biggest city, there is also a huge range of rental companies to choose from. In addition to the well-known brands, you can also find U-Save, Yes Rentals, Big Value, Rental Cars 24/7, and Bargain Rental Cars. If you are arriving from within New Zealand, you will find the car rental counters on the ground floor of the carpark opposite the Domestic Terminal. International travellers can find the car rental companies in the arrivals hall.
Pick up a Wellington Airport car rental to hop across the Cook Strait to the South Island via ferry, taste your way around Wairarapa’s vineyards (with a sober driver, of course) or climb into the clouds at Mount Taranaki. At the airport, you can rent a car from the likes of Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Budget, Ezi and Sixt. Their counters are located on the Ground Floor, close to the domestic baggage claim area. If you have rented Big Value, YesAway, Ace Rental Cars, Bargain, Go Rentals or Omega, you can catch a free shuttle to their depot.
Picking up a car rental from Queenstown Airport allows you to discover the gorgeous locations around this South Island town. As one of New Zealand's most popular tourist destinations, you'll be well catered for when it comes to renting a car. There are more than 20 rental car companies at Queenstown Airport, with at least 8 of them located inside the airport terminal. Other rental companies are located nearby, with free shuttle bus services available to get you to the depot. It's worth noting that Queenstown Airport is approximately 30 minutes from downtown Queenstown, so factor that into your plans when renting a car from here.
Set right at the top end of the South Island, Nelson offers a very different experience to the typical “snowy mountains, chilly weather” South Island environments. The small regional airport has a range of hire car providers, including Omega Rental Cars, Snap Rentals, Apex Car Rentals, Avis, Europcar, Hertz, Enterprise, Dollar and Big Value. Nelson is about two hours drive from Picton, where the Cook Straight ferries depart and arrive from Wellington.
Rotorua Airport car rental gives you a handy central base for exploring the North Island in your New Zealand hire car. You can rent a car with Hertz, Avis, Europcar, Thrifty, Budget, Ezi Car Rentals, Keddy, Ezu and RaD Car Hire, all directly from the airport. The rental car counters are located within the arrivals terminal, making it easy to check-in, collect your keys and drive away.
Discover the second-largest city in the South Island when you rent a car from Dunedin Airport. You can drive your Dunedin Airport car rental to visit Fiordland, the Catlins coast and the lakes and mountains surrounding Queenstown, Wanaka and Te Anau. The rental car counters are located out of the main entrance and to the left. There will be signs to direct you there. You will have eight options of companies to rent from directly at the airport, with at least another three options a short shuttle bus ride away.
New Zealand has two major islands, the North Island and the South Island, which are separated by Cook Strait. Ferries travel regularly between Wellington, at the bottom of the North Island, and Picton at the top of the South Island and vice versa. In most cases, you can take your rental car on the ferry. For example, Avis allow this but specify that you are responsible for booking for ferry tickets. If crossing the Cook Strait it on your itinerary, then make sure to check with your rental company if this is possible.
It is possible to collect your hire car in one location and drop it off in another location. This can even include picking up a vehicle in the North Island and dropping it on in the South Island. Companies that allow this include Europcar, Ezi Car Rentals, Avis, Budget and Snap Rentals among others. Simply untick the 'Return car to same location' box in our search widget to see if this is possible on your route.
Airportrentals.com offers great deals all over the world. Compare and save!
New Zealand has fairly well-maintained roads - perfect for a road trip in a hire car. In some rural areas though, you can expect narrower and winding roads than what some international visitors are used to, so be extra cautious.
Here are a few things that you will need to remember in order to have a safe car hire experience on NZ roads:
Drive your rental car on the left-hand side of the road - All rental vehicles will have the steering wheel on the right-hand side. This is different from most of the rest of the world, so make sure you keep this in mind especially when turning and at intersections.
Always drive clockwise on Roundabouts - Also known as turning circles, these are a major feature on New Zealand roads, replacing traffic lights at many intersections. The key to successfully navigating a roundabout is to remember to always drive clockwise and give way to traffic coming from your right. Just before you exit the roundabout, indicate to the left to signal that you’re about to turn off.
Don’t use a mobile phone while driving your hire car - Handheld operation of a mobile phone (whether for calls or texting) isn’t permitted while you’re at the wheel of a New Zealand car, even if you’re stopped at a traffic light.
Speed limits in New Zealand are posted in kilometres per hour - The usual speed limit in urban areas is 50 kph, while on motorways or the open road, the limit is usually 100 kph. Any New Zealand rent a car will have a speedometer which is also in kph.
There are a few toll roads in New Zealand, one of which is located just north of Auckland. It is a part of State Highway One and makes a more direct route for those heading into Northland, but it can easily be avoided with a short detour through Orewa and Waiwera (Unless the traffic is particularly bad, this will only add around ten minutes to your car rental journey). The tariff is $2.20 each way, and there are no toll booths to hold up traffic. Vehicles are recorded on camera, and then payments can be made online using a debit or credit card and the license plate number, or at the self-service kiosks in marked locations before and after the camera banks. There is also a toll road in Tauranga, heading south. This can also be easily avoided and is clearly signposted.
Road signs are a unique language, designed to be easily interpretable by car hire NZ drivers of all cultures and tongues. The road signs you’ll see when driving in New Zealand are no exception, and it shouldn’t be hard to figure out what it is they’re telling you. Here are a few guidelines to make sure you’re fluent:
Red and white signs, as a general rule, denote compulsory actions or limits. These include speed limit signs, which are white circles ringed in red with numbers in black. The limits are always in kilometres per hour. Other common red and white signs are hexagonal STOP signs, round NO ENTRY signs and triangular GIVE WAY signs. No turning signs use simple symbols or pictographs to show where you cannot go, as do many others such as the ones marking bus lanes. No Parking signs use a P with a slash across it, or a blue circle with red cross over it, combined with arrows, to tell you where you may not park your rental car.
Blue and white signs are also compulsory signs, and they give simple information using arrows to indicate where you need to turn, continue straight or keep left on your vehicle hire. One way roads are marked with blue and white ONE WAY signs, and pedestrian-only zones are marked with a white pedestrian symbol on a round blue background. Where parking is allowed but regulated, you will see square blue signs with a white P, arrows, numbers indicating time limits in minutes and sometimes further information including a disabled parking symbol.
Yellow and black signs are classed as permanent warning signs. These include advisory speed limits (not legally enforced), information about upcoming intersections and other hazards, road condition information (such as “slippery when wet”) and things to watch out for - trucks, low-flying aircraft, etc. Most of these use simple symbols or pictographs which speakers of all languages can recognise. Some will specify for how many kilometres the warning applies.
Orange and black signs are temporary warning signs, and are similar to their yellow and black counterparts but usually used for road works and temporary conditions such as slip risks.
Green and white signs are commonplace, and they are the friend of any tourist travelling in New Zealand in their car rentals. These are the information signs, telling you how to get to where you need to go and how far away it is. They include directional arrows, place names, distances in kilometres, state highway shields and symbols denoting places of interest such as airports. When you’re feeling lost, keep your eyes peeled for a green and white sign!
New Zealand offers many free and easy parking locations - be it by the side of the road or in a designated parking lot (Kiwis call them “carparks”). Most tourist attractions, national park visitor centres, trailheads and beaches have carparks or plenty of roadside space. Use common sense when parking - lock your car, take valuables with you and do not leave any children or animals in a locked car unattended!
It can get tricky when looking for parking lots in city centres, and you will have to pay attention to the parking signs mentioned above. Some areas offer parking only at certain times or days of the week, some use a “pay and display” method which requires buying a ticket at a machine and displaying it on the dashboard, and there are also parking buildings in the city centres which are privately operated and charge anything from a few dollars to a hundred or more for parking, depending on the length of your stay and the location.
Broken yellow lines at the side of the road mean no parking is allowed. Bus lanes, taxi stands, transit lanes and bike lanes are also no-go areas. You must not park your hire car on the footpath (sidewalk), the berm, less than one metre from a driveway, or in a position which will disrupt traffic flow.
You can find more useful parking information at the New Zealand Parking Association.
If you need the police, an ambulance or the fire service, call 111 and your call will be directed to the correct service. You can report unsafe driving and hazards on *555, a non-emergency number. For break-ins and the like which do not require an urgent response, go to or call the local police station which you can find on the NZ Police website.
i-Sites are the best place to find visitor information all over New Zealand. Run by Tourism New Zealand, a government-funded organisation, they are reliable and impartial - they are not trying to sell you on a specific service. There are 80 i-Sites nationwide, so you will find one in any major centre and a number of the minor ones too. They provide free maps, visitor guides, advice, information, and booking service. All of the staff are friendly and knowledgeable about their town or region. Find out more about i-Sites including all the locations on the 100% Pure New Zealand website.
The internet is always a good source of information. We recommend newzealand.com as good starting point for your research. Apps are also great for travel tips and finding your way. Here are a few which might help you when you hire a car in New Zealand:
itravelnz allows you to search for nearby places to eat or stay and things to do or see. It can integrate with other apps including Skype, Tom Tom and Google Maps, and it is free!
The Essential New Zealand app by Tourism New Zealand is a treasure trove of information which you can access offline when needed.
Google Maps comes with most smartphones, and it's always useful for finding your way around.
The CamperMate app includes maps of all the country’s most important places as well as maps and information for all campsites and necessary facilities like supermarkets, public toilets and free WiFi.
The Airport Rentals app is all you need to book a cheap car hire for a road trip in New Zealand, with a huge range of car hire locations, suppliers and fleet of rental vehicles.
This information is provided on a 'best intentions' basis. While we do our best to ensure the information is error free, we do not warrant its accuracy or adequacy for any intended purpose.
Airportrentals.com offers great deals all over the world. Compare and save!
Car rental rates in New Zealand vary widely between about $40 per day for economy models to around $320 for luxury models and high-end SUV. Make a search now to see up-to-date pricing and availability. Hiring a car in New Zealand is so simple, convenient and secure with Airport Rentals.
The absolute minimum age to rent a car in New Zealand is 21 years old, though many major rental companies will not hire to those under 25, or may have a surcharge for drivers under 25 years of age.
When you hire a car, New Zealand rental prices will fluctuate based on season and availability, but the cheapest car hire you could reasonably expect to find costs around $30 per day for an Economy or Compact model.
We recommend you book in advance to secure the best rate for your hire car. Prices go up the closer to your travel dates you are. It is especially important to book in advance if you are travelling during peak periods, like summer or ski season in the South Island. You can also keep an eye on our deals page for exclusive offers throughout the year.
When driving a hire car in New Zealand, you will need an up-to-date valid full driver's license. If your license is not in English, you may be required to provide an English translation or have an International Driving Permit. This will be outlined in your rental agreement.
The most frequently booked car rental in New Zealand is Economy (Hyundai Accent or similar). For longer distances, SUVs are a popular class of vehicle because of their extra room and comfort.
According to our customer’s reviews and ratings, the companies in New Zealand that have excellent ratings and offer quality rental cars are Go Rentals NZ, Alamo, and Dollar. Airport Rentals shows rating for each car company during the booking process.
Airport Rentals offer numerous car rental locations across the country. The most popular cities where you can rent a car in New Zealand are Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown.
You have the freedom to pick up your New Zealand rental car from an airport location such as Christchurch Airport and Dunedin Airport or collect the car hire from an off-airport location. Click our handy filters and see possible matches location index. Browse all your options and choose the best car rental company for you.
Hiring a car in New Zealand for a month will cost around NZD $351 per month ($12.10 per day).You may also use a discount code before finalising your booking to save more.
When renting a car New Zealand rates cost a lot cheaper if you book them by the week. Depending on the length of time and the dates you wish to hire, weekly rates could be around NZ $194 ($27/day).
Renting a car in New Zealand is easier with Airport Rentals. The booking process is pretty straightforward, just enter a few details to help you choose the right vehicle with no booking fees. Rental car companies charge per day, and credit card is the best way to pay for a NZ hire car. Any additional charges such as excess protection reduction and other options can also be purchased when you pick up your New Zealand rental cars at the depot location.
Most of the car hire New Zealand suppliers offer unlimited mileage. You will be able to find if this is available in the listing. If not, check the additional charges or contact our support team for a more accurate rental estimate.
Airport Rentals wishes you a safe and happy self-drive holiday in beautiful New Zealand in the comfort of your own car rental!
Airportrentals.com offers great deals all over the world. Compare and save!