East Coast Car Rentals

Rented car twice got screwed both times. Bond issues, cars all scratches and dents , all crap ! Thought I will give them a second chance, waste of time :((((

We made the grave mistake of hiring a vehicle from East Coast rentals in Auckland. What an utter nightmare.

We’d placed our order online and requested an 8 seater minivan for pick up at 4:30pm.
We arrived at the office at 5pm to be informed that the vehicle wasn’t available.
We were given the option to wait until 7pm when it would be ready by, or to come back tomorrow.
Waiting with a my wife, father inlaw and my 9, 7 and 7 month old fresh off the plane, waiting until 7pm on the vague promise of the vehicle being ready by then wasn’t viable.
Coming back in the morning when we had 2 hours to drive that night wasn’t acceptable either.
Doing a 4 hour round trip to make up for East Coasts’ stuff up wasn’t exactly an intelligent or appealing suggestion.

They then offered a second vehicle at cost to us…

After a further discussion on the matter, the second vehicle was offered at no extra charge.
Still a very inconvenient solution, but at 6:30pm at night, our options were now limited.

We’d also ordered a seat for our baby.
I’d had several email conversations with East Coast to confirm that the seat would be suitable for my child, and received confirmation that the seat to be provided would be suitable.
Surprise! The seat we received when we arrived was not suitable at all.
When we went back in to discuss this with the attendant, we were informed that that was all they had and they knew it wouldn’t be suitable, but provided it all the same.
Obviously in the hope we’d just take it and leave.
While pondering how to recover from this situation, my father inlaw happened to be looking through the available child restraint seats and actually found one that was appropriate.

At around 7:30pm, the vehicle which we’d ordered was returned.
Proof that East Coast had previously lied about it being ready by 7pm as previously indicated.
We were then informed that the car wouldn’t be ready for another hour if we really wanted to take that one…
We decided to get dinner to feed the kids if this was going to be the case as they were understandably irritable and hungry from the waiting while the car was being prepared, while were were out, it was magically made ready within 10 minutes. More time wasted.

We then set about trying to fit the carseat we’d located to the vehicle.
The seat wasn’t able to be fitted. The straps were not long enough to be fitted to the vehicle.
We managed to jerry rig the seat enough to get us to where we needed to get to and then had to purchase extension straps to secure it properly. $70 out of pocket to purchase something which should have been included in order to provide a legally suitable child safety restraint solution.

I have never encountered a more incompetent business in my life.
In the end, our family was left to stuff around with improper equipment in a substandard situation for 3 hours until the vehicle we’d ordered was returned and then we were left to transport our 7 month old in a child restraint seat which was not able to be legally secured.
An absolute horror start to our holiday. Thank you Eastcoast.

Worst car rental company ever! Gave them 1 star because their prices are low and competitive. But what use is that if you don’t actually get a car! They left us stranded at the airport on Xmas day and after being on hold to their number for an hour to arrange a shuttle pick up, they closed the office! Disgusting service and there were 3 other families in the same boat. Never use these guys!

Customer service what service?
Bond was not released for a week after Return Of vehicle after being told it would be 24-48hrs.
Called there office only to be told they would look into it and call back never did.
We did get the same vehicle booked, but child's car was not in the car.
Yes it did meet our needs.

We have used the Cairns office for the last eight years and find the service excellent. everything goes as explained, re the Bond etc. they also give you ample time to check the car for any blemishes before you take it, so you are not charged for something missed on the inspection. You can only review on your personal experience with the company and ours is great! Roll on this year. I ask for a Suzuki, as I love them and get one every time, no problem. I told three of my friends and they used East Coast Cairns on their holidays, no complaints!!

We collected our vehicle (a fairly new Corolla) from the downtown Brisbane office, which was quiet and friendly. All was made very easy. We then drove the car for almost six weeks, with a super-efficient drop-off at Brisbane airport. The only very minor problem was an out-of-date GPS satnav, for which we were readily refunded. Cannot speak highly enough of East Coast Car Rentals. Great value and great service.

We rented a car in Launceston for one day. We were led to believe the car could be picked up and dropped off at Launceston airport. As it turned out it was located 1.5ks up the road

The car was very run down with dents and scratches all over. The boot was due to damage very difficult to close. The windows were also dirty on the inside.

When we picked up the car the staff manually wrote on our documentation that the car had a full tank and crossed out the printed wording that stated tank was not full.

I did not think to check, but trusted the company. We did 60ks in total and when we filled up the car prior to returning to the office, it turned out the car had not been re-fuelled and we had to buy 11 litres. When we informed staff, they said there was nothing they could do because the computer entries were locked and could not be amended from one day to the next. I informed them we picked up the car this very day, they then said this was our problem we should have checked the fuel level ourselves when we picked up the car. Staff was extremely rude and very unprofessional and the car was in anything but a good condition. We will never use East Coast Rentals again.

Great east to work with . Don't push upgrades on you. Cars new and work well. Clean and no odours.

Good customer services, vehicle was ok, met our requirements.
We paid for insurance when we booked online, that apparently wasn’t through East Coast car rentals but the online company we used online, I wasn’t aware of that.
Would definitely use again,

Great customer service with good condition of car, pickup and drop off from the Cairns airport around 5-10 minutes, Staffs were friendly. I rented a car during 28th December 2018 - 4th January 2019 and after I send a car back with good condition I received my bond money just in the same day.

Happy to choose East Coast Car Rentals again next time.

I pre-booked my car and paid them in advance through the third party agent rentalcars.com. My flight got delayed and despite informing them over phone in advance they gave my car to someone else just because they could get better money elsewhere and got a chance to do so. Their staff and management is very rude and totally irresponsible. Stay away from these scamsters.

I booked a car for my family trip in Tasmania, Australia. My original plan should arrive at the airport at 5:30 pm. However, due to the weather issue in Melbourne, the flight was delayed to 6:30 pm. I called the East Coast car rental company that my flight was delayed because of the weather condition. They said they knew that, but their company close at 6:00 pm, and there was nothing they could help.

East Coast Rental Hobart Airport.

They do not have a counter. You have to call them, and they will direct you to a bus stop where they will pick you up. On my first call the customer agent directed me to the yellow bus stop, we waited for a few minutes, and called back again. The second customer agent directed us to another bus stop. Which is the correct one. We could have missed the pick-up van if we did not call again.

The wait for the pick-up is around 15-30 min. At the car rental office, we waited for about an hour to get our car hire because there is only one staff working there. She drove the van and she is also the one who served us at the counter.

I have used other car rental company, but this one surprised me and others at the office. The staff requested AUD$1,000 on our card to put on hold during our time in Hobart, as we opted not to reduce the insurance excess on the vehicle. So make sure you got enough cash or you got your credit card with you!

Our vehicle was special. I booked a Hyundai i20, but they gave me a Suzuki Swift. I am not all about false advertising. I want to get the exact car that I booked on the website. If you are giving me a Suzuki Swift, they should have put up a Suzuki Swift photo. Just be aware that this can happen to you.
We waited for the vehicle to be cleaned up because it was just dropped off by another customer. I felt it was a bit unsafe, that they were rushing to give it to use and not even taking the time check whether if it still safe to drive.

We got to our hotel. Drove the car to the city. Me and my friend noticed that the vehicle was running a bit strange and it was vibrating. The amber engine warning light was on the dashboard. We parked at Woolworths in the city. We went to a bar for a while, we came back to our car and the vehicle did not start. They have given us a faulty vehicle.

We had to call the car rental company at around 10pm, called the RACT serviceman to check it. We waited in the dysfunctional car for 50 minutes before he arrived. We were tired as we spent a day in Melbourne, we were cold and stuck in the city. The serviceman checked the vehicle and told us that the vehicle's battery is flat and only running in 3 cylinders which suppose to be 4. He got the car running back again, but the amber engine warning light is still on, the vibration still continues. The serviceman was kind enough to follow us back to our hotel. Because he knew that it was unsafe for us to drive the car.

The next day I call the rental company, and asked me to call towing. I was on a holiday and I'm not there to make calls and stress myself. The customer agent told me that they are busy and she will give me a call back. About an hour later i called back and she said she will get he colleague to call back in 15 minutes. When he called, he asked about the condition of the vehicle and requested that I drive back the car to the rental office location to get a new vehicle. I told him i am not going to risk driving it back. i told him that is it risky for me to do that. We had an issue the night before, I'm not going to risk driving on the express way and have more issues.

We have arranged RACT to tow the vehicle and drove us back to the car rental company. We got a new car but it's full of scratches, so I took photos for evidence and asked the customer office to take note of them. I don't want to be blamed for the scratches. Make sure you check! This dilemma has set us back, our itinerary was ruined, and my friend and I spent half a day in our hotel, which I didn't like. We could have drove somewhere if we've got a good car hire.

If you are thinking of going to Hobart. Go for another car rental company. You'll save up time.

My flight was delayed which postponed my arrival slightly out of their operating hours.
They refused to wait for my arrival to deliver the vehicle.

This is the worst customer experience I have experienced with a car rental service. Any other rental agency would have prolonged their opening hours to deliver the service. It was an outrage as I was stuck in Brisbane without a vehicle which I needed to drive to the sunshine coast.

Imagine being stranded until the next day because the rental service which you are relying on doesnt want to wait 20 min longer to accommodate a delayed flight.

We reported an issue with the wheels of our vehicle after hearing a suspect noise during our first day of travel. We took it upon ourselves to get them checked (as we were 250km from a CBD), it requires a wheel balance which was performed FOC. Unfortunately as there was torrential rain at the time the mechanic was unable to adequately listen for a wheel bearing issue. Following this the vehicle failed to start on numerous occasions and we were told we could drive it the 2 hours to the closest depot and swap for another vehicle - of course, why would we do this in a car with suspected wheel bearing problem and when it only started intermittently, and run the risk of an accident or breaking down on the Bruce Highway in the middle of nowhere on our holiday? We persisted with the car until the day it completely failed to start and we had to call RACQ, who replaced the very very old battery. On returning the car to the depot we were told it was marked as due to retire from the fleet and it would be pulled out for mechanical check. Really if the battery was that old that it was practically dead when was the last time this car had any mechanical check? Unsafe to have been let out for hire. To this day we have still not heard any response from our email to the Manager of East Coast Car Rentals in the Brisbane office. Will not recommend.

Our whole experience at the Cairns International Airport was great, easy to find the mini bus and within a few minutes we were checked off the list and were whisked away to pick up point and after 2 minutes in office we were out on the road with our car, fantastic would not hesitate to use again.

Tried to ring the office and they were closed, before closing hours mind you, then called the after hours number only to be brushed off and told to ring the office the next morning. I would not have been trying to ring if I didn’t need assistance immediately. No help and no interest, will never be going with this company again.

Private use to attend functions in Tauranga.. the vehicle was well maintained and clean and fuel efficient...delivered on time in good working order.

Their terms and conditions are so easy and transparent! The pick up and drop off from Gold Coast Airport was smooth and fast. Highly recommended.

I heard about East Coast Car Rental from new friends I made on a flight from Sydney to Uluru who recommended renting from East Coast Car Rental. I changed my car rental plans as a result, and I’m glad I did. East Coast Car Rental has reasonable prices, good, quick service, and I was given a nice car. When I asked if they had adapters to charge my iPhone, they tracked one down and gave it to me at no cost!