Australia: car rental recommendations

I'm finalizing my travel reservations for a November trip to Australia. I'll be staying at the Wyndham and Worldmark timeshares in Cairns, Surfers Paradise, Sydney and Seven Mile Beach, as well as hotels in Uluru, Melbourne and on the Great Ocean Road. Looking forward to the Australian trip of a lifetime

I'm a bit worried about all the negative car rental reviews I'm reading online, especially as I'll be needing five separate car rental reservations.

According to my research the two big local providers are Redspot and East Coast Rentals. Thrifty, Hertz and National also operate locally. Redspot seems to get the best reviews.

If anyone on TUG has experience with car rental companies in Australia I would greatly appreciate any feedback!

We just finished 2 weeks in New Zealand and we are currently at Seven Mile Beach in Tasmania. We used Holiday Autos to arrange our rental cars and got very good prices. They are like a broker. Our car in New Zealand came from Blue Sky Car Rentals and in Hobart the car came from Avis. Even the travel agent back home said the rates, were better than she could get. You do not want a car in Sydney. There is so much to do in Sydney you will never leave the City. In November 2010 we did Sydney and Coffs Harbour. We got the rental car when we arrived in Sydney and it sat in the garage for a week until we drove to Coffs Harbour. We are going to Sydney next week and we did not get a rental car. You can use mass transit or taxi to get from the Airport to Worldmark Sydney. If you use a taxi tell them to stay off the toll road or the cost will go up by about $15.00.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not planning to drive when in Sydney. Did you go to the blue mountains? I read it's a popular day trip from Sydney, but it sounds like it is easier to do with a rental car than with public transport.

How did you find the Worldmark/Wyndham properties in Australia?

You will need a car for the Blue Mountains. We did them during our drive from Coffs Harbour back to Sydney. WMSP Sydney was fine. No oven only a 2 burner Stove. We gave up on French Press and drank instant coffee. I do not think WMSP has ever heard of electric coffee makers. Like almost all big city WM Timshares the Units are smaller than normal. There was no cloth washer/dryer
in unit. There were shared ones every couple of floors. We loved the location. The only other WMSP in Australia we have stayed are Coffs Harbour and currently at Seven Mile Beach (Tasmania). If you stay at Coffs Harbour you have a choice of TreeTops (only about 6 years old, small condos, and more points) or Terraces (old and worn out, large condos, and fewer points). When we stayed at Coffs Harbour Terraces 5.5 years ago they were in bad shape and desperately needed updating. Rumor control has it that they still have no been updated. Part of the problem with traveling to different parts of Australia is its size and different weather patterns. The best time to be in Sydney (December through March) is not the best time to be in Cairns. In Northeast Australia this time period tends to be their rainy season.

We are loving Seven Mile Beach. It is a beautiful location. The staff is very helpful and kind. If you like whiskey. There are several good distilleries near by including Sullivan's Cove - which won the international competition a few years ago. The best place for Whiskey tasting is a shop in Richmond - $4 per taste. At Sullivan's Cove it was $25 to taste their 3 main whiskey or twice the price. If was $20 for 3 whiskey tastings at the distillery in Hobart. There are also a number of vinyards and wine tasting places in the country side.

I live in Australia and here's my two cents. The first tiers are the international ones such as HERTZ, Budget, thrifty, europecars. The 2nd tiers are companies like Alpha, Redspot, East Coast etc. I really don't have a problem with 2nd tier companies in terms of conditions of cars. The only thing is most of the second tier companies do not have presence in the airport to cut down cost. You usually have to ring them as soon as you arrive and they will send a shuttle bus. If you arrive out of their business hours, they sometimes park the cars in the airport carpark and you will have to find by yourself and pay for a few hours parking to get out. Now this has to be pre-arranged as well. So take that into consideration and yes it can be a pain in the neck.

geist1223 said:

You will need a car for the Blue Mountains. We did them during our drive from Coffs Harbour back to Sydney. WMSP Sydney was fine. No oven only a 2 burner Stove. We gave up on French Press and drank instant coffee. I do not think WMSP has ever heard of electric coffee makers. Like almost all big city WM Timshares the Units are smaller than normal. There was no cloth washer/dryer
in unit. There were shared ones every couple of floors. We loved the location. The only other WMSP in Australia we have stayed are Coffs Harbour and currently at Seven Mile Beach (Tasmania). If you stay at Coffs Harbour you have a choice of TreeTops (only about 6 years old, small condos, and more points) or Terraces (old and worn out, large condos, and fewer points). When we stayed at Coffs Harbour Terraces 5.5 years ago they were in bad shape and desperately needed updating. Rumor control has it that they still have no been updated. Part of the problem with traveling to different parts of Australia is its size and different weather patterns. The best time to be in Sydney (December through March) is not the best time to be in Cairns. In Northeast Australia this time period tends to be their rainy season.

We are loving Seven Mile Beach. It is a beautiful location. The staff is very helpful and kind. If you like whiskey. There are several good distilleries near by including Sullivan's Cove - which won the international competition a few years ago. The best place for Whiskey tasting is a shop in Richmond - $4 per taste. At Sullivan's Cove it was $25 to taste their 3 main whiskey or twice the price. If was $20 for 3 whiskey tastings at the distillery in Hobart. There are also a number of vinyards and wine tasting places in the country side.

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Thanks for the advice. Hopefully travelling in November the weather will be tolerable in Cairns and Uluru, and already warm enough in Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania.

I'm happy to hear Seven Mile Beach is a great location as I've booked a full week there. At 38,500 points for a 2-BR it seems like a terrific use of points.

chrisdu said:

I live in Australia and here's my two cents. The first tiers are the international ones such as HERTZ, Budget, thrifty, europecars. The 2nd tiers are companies like Alpha, Redspot, East Coast etc. I really don't have a problem with 2nd tier companies in terms of conditions of cars. The only thing is most of the second tier companies do not have presence in the airport to cut down cost. You usually have to ring them as soon as you arrive and they will send a shuttle bus. If you arrive out of their business hours, they sometimes park the cars in the airport carpark and you will have to find by yourself and pay for a few hours parking to get out. Now this has to be pre-arranged as well. So take that into consideration and yes it can be a pain in the neck.

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Thanks for the feedback. Of the 2nd tier I think Redspot is always on airport, but not East Coast. Redspot seems to get okay feedback so I have half of my reservations with them and the other half with Avis who were a bit cheaper than the other first tiers.

I've noticed CDW excess in Australia is very high (around A$ 3000) - I will use the credit card as usual to cover that risk, but the excess is significantly higher than other countries where I have rented.

jpl88 said:

I'm finalizing my travel reservations for a November trip to Australia. I'll be staying at the Wyndham and Worldmark timeshares in Cairns, Surfers Paradise, Sydney and Seven Mile Beach, as well as hotels in Uluru, Melbourne and on the Great Ocean Road. Looking forward to the Australian trip of a lifetime

I'm a bit worried about all the negative car rental reviews I'm reading online, especially as I'll be needing five separate car rental reservations.

According to my research the two big local providers are Redspot and East Coast Rentals. Thrifty, Hertz and National also operate locally. Redspot seems to get the best reviews.

If anyone on TUG has experience with car rental companies in Australia I would greatly appreciate any feedback!

Click to expand...

geist1223 said:

We just finished 2 weeks in New Zealand and we are currently at Seven Mile Beach in Tasmania. We used Holiday Autos to arrange our rental cars and got very good prices. They are like a broker. Our car in New Zealand came from Blue Sky Car Rentals and in Hobart the car came from Avis. Even the travel agent back home said the rates, were better than she could get. You do not want a car in Sydney. There is so much to do in Sydney you will never leave the City. In November 2010 we did Sydney and Coffs Harbour. We got the rental car when we arrived in Sydney and it sat in the garage for a week until we drove to Coffs Harbour. We are going to Sydney next week and we did not get a rental car. You can use mass transit or taxi to get from the Airport to Worldmark Sydney. If you use a taxi tell them to stay off the toll road or the cost will go up by about $15.00.

Click to expand...

chrisdu said:

I live in Australia and here's my two cents. The first tiers are the international ones such as HERTZ, Budget, thrifty, europecars. The 2nd tiers are companies like Alpha, Redspot, East Coast etc. I really don't have a problem with 2nd tier companies in terms of conditions of cars. The only thing is most of the second tier companies do not have presence in the airport to cut down cost. You usually have to ring them as soon as you arrive and they will send a shuttle bus. If you arrive out of their business hours, they sometimes park the cars in the airport carpark and you will have to find by yourself and pay for a few hours parking to get out. Now this has to be pre-arranged as well. So take that into consideration and yes it can be a pain in the neck.

Click to expand...

We're planning (2 yrs?) for an Austrailia/NZ trip. First time. Would love to hear a suggested itinerary/must-see list for a 2-week trip. Also feedback from your rental car/TS stays.... when you have the chance after your trip!

cheers and have fun

taterhed said:

We're planning (2 yrs?) for an Austrailia/NZ trip. First time. Would love to hear a suggested itinerary/must-see list for a 2-week trip. Also feedback from your rental car/TS stays.... when you have the chance after your trip!

cheers and have fun

Click to expand...

I think it's going to be hard to put together a 2-week trip, I quickly came to the conclusion that 3-weeks would be the bare minimum. I've used Fodor's Australia to help with research.

The time of year you travel will also restrict what parts of Australia are good to visit weather-wise. I chose to go in November - which I thought would be a good compromise - not too hot in the red centre and Cairns, not too cold in Sydney and Tasmania, and no local school vacations.

Here's my itinerary - hope it helps. Happy to receive feedback as well. Flying between each of these places. Other than the direct flight from Uluru to Cairns, flights are short and cheap (around US$100). It's a very busy itinerary, but that's usually how I visit a new country for a first time.

- Uluru (2 days) - Ayer's Rock and Kata Tjuta
- Cairns (4 days) - Kuranda, Great Barrier Reef (boat/flightseeing), Daintree NP
- Brisbane (3 days) - Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary/Currumbin wildlife sanctuary, Tamborine NP, Steve Irwin Zoo (maybe)
- Sydney (4 days) - with maybe a day trip to Blue Mountains
- Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road (3 days)
- Tasmania (7 days)

Places I had to leave out of this trip due to lack of time:

- Perth and Western Australia
- Adelaide and Kangaroo Island
- Coffs Harbor.
I could possibly stitch together another Australia trip with these three destinations.
- Darwin (November isn't a good time), a potential future trip would be to combine Bali and Darwin as they're connected with short flights and their short prime seasons match.

Using AA miles before the upcoming increase in mileage requirements, and Wyndham timeshares where available to keep accommodation costs under control.

Happy to report back with feedback on car rental and timeshare when I return from this trip.

Dear Rob and All others:

This is our 3rd trip down under in 5.5 years. Our first trip was 1 week Sydney and 1 week in Coffs Harbour in November 2010. Weather was good in both locations. 1 week in Sydney was not enough time and 1 week in Coffs Harbour was about right. In Febuary 2014 we spent 10 days in Fiji and 11 days in Rotorua New Zealand. It was supose to be 7 days Fiji and 14 days Rotorua but Patti came down sick last night in Fiji. Worldmark was able to rework our Reservations. Patti was under the weather the whole time in Rotorua. So 2 years later (now) we returned to Rotorua for one week. Would not have been enough time if this was our first trip. There is so much to do within a 2 hour drive. (Next trip to New Zealand wil probably be 2 week trip to Sourh Island.) Then one week to Paihia Bay of Islands. Had a wonderful time though a bit humid. We are now at Seven Mile Beach. Our week ends in 1.5 days. Not enough time. We plan on coming back for 2 weeks. We are looking forward to our next week in Sydney. Having been there 5.5 years ago. We know what we want to do.

My advice to all that think about coming down under - Do it. But make it as long of trip as financially possible. Patti and I are in our 60's. Our poor friend in her 70's is getting run ragged. Luckily she skipped our 9 mile trek/2.5 mile kayak day trip in Paihia.

Hi Everyone!

It's been a few years now, but I've travelled the east-cost of Australia, and one of the best things I did was renting a car and go on the Great Ocean Road. An amazing streatch of road, with beautiful scenery and a LOT of people.