During my time in NZ, we hired a vehicle from United Vehicle Rentals. They did not tell us about a 5000 dollar excess that had to be paid in order to pick up the vehicle from them. So upon arrival in NZ we went to pick up the vehicle and were demanded to pay the 5000 dollars.

As we were not prepared for this it took several hours and many phone calls to get the money sorted and an extra 250 dollars in fees. After this we got van drove 10km and the camped for the night, only to realize that the hot water doesn’t work. and that the van is very dirty with mouse poor and mussel shells in there. Also many pot handles were loose, and the side rails on the van were loose too.

Furthermore the table which is designed to become part of the bed didn’t fit in the allocated spot as the table was too wide this made the bed very uncomfortable and added to the overall poor experience with United Vehicle Rentals. On one of the last few days of having the van we were parked on the side of the road and left to use internet. When we returned the rear window was broken but still intact, and a witness who was parked behind said that she heard a loud noise and suddenly the window broke. She said no one was around the vehicle at the time.

We called the 34hr free roadside assistance number to get help and they told us that a shop on the other side of town had a window ready to go. So we drove around there and they said no we don’t have a window we were just going to patch it with a plastic bag. So I called United Vehicle Rentals again and they said just get it patch and continue your holiday.

As the van is effective our house and our car having a plastic bag over the rear window is not satisfactory as we wouldn’t be able to sleep due to noise and security issue. Furthermore how could we leave to van to enjoy the sights of nz with a bag over the window. We waited a day and a new window came and we had it fitted at our expense. and finished the trip.

When the window was being replaced the workman replacing it made the comment that the window frame is buckled and that no spacing seal was put in during the last repair. This caused the window to foul on the metal frame and hence most likely caused it to break. However United Vehicle Rentals denied that the frame was buckled and refused to pay for it.

During the time spent in NZ, United Vehicle Rentals showed very little compassion, were incredibly unhelpful, very rude and I will never rent another vehicle form them and I urge everybody to do the same.