Mode Rentals

Put simply - pay a bit more money and go somewhere else. We hired with Mode for 2 weeks taking a car from Auckland to Queenstown. The price was extremely reasonable and the pick up etc. could not be faulted. Unfortunately, while driving in NZ the rear passenger tyre completely blew out. To summarise the support given, we had to pay for the AA call out fee then also arrange for a replacement tyre to be fitted on Good Friday - this cost us in excess of £400 and took out an entire day of our trip. Note that for Mode it is the customer's responsibility to replace the tyre regardless of cause and it is clearly stated in the Ts and Cs so we accepted this. We returned the car, however, and then upon return 2 weeks later, was hit by a bill for a further £500. Despite the AA mechanic reporting there may have been damage to the fuel breather hose (unclear whether this was due to the tyre at all), Mode had charged us to replace the entire fuel tank. I only found this out originally as they had charged my credit card without telling me, then later they just sent an invoice with the amount. Only upon request, did they send me a document that they had in fact taken the liberty to replace the entire fuel tank. It seems highly disingenuous that they can just bill you whatever they see fit and you have no defence whatsoever. A word of advice: if you do decide to go with them, get some seriously good insurance.

Easy and friendly on time drop off at airport and return was just as easy called and Max at Shelly Bay rd picked us up quickly as soon as we reached the pick up point which was awesome. Thanks team you made it easy and a pleasure to travel

Putrid scammers. Did a tranfercar job for this fraudster organisation. They gave me a car with a crack in the windscreen by the rego sticker. By the time I got from Wellington to Auckland, the crack had spread to along the top of the rego sticker and now these scammers are saying $600. This is what you call a scam. Like they have no brains in there heads to work out what happens when they don't get there cracks in there windscreens fixed.

Hired at the last minute out of Queenstown for 3 weeks as there was little sensibly priced car rentals available. From start to finish the staff were kind and helpful, particularly Lucy and Michelle. Yes the car was a bit tired and creaky but I'd rather that than pay double the price. The 4* rating is only because of that and that I had to take it back to check an irritating squeak which developed and I was worried it would become more serious. Adam their very professional mechanic established it was a minor issue, he tweaked it better and stated he would rectify it when I returned it for the next customer, which I was satisfied with. I also used the time to establish the damage I noticed on the car was not down to me well before I was on a plane back to the UK, but no drama involved. Would (have) recommend and use them again.

Mode rentals from start to finish 19th of Jan to 7th of March, from Auckland depot to Christchurch office, fantastic people, great car, super service. Big shout out to Lana at Christchurch for her kindness an help, one super lady. All of Modes staff are first class, use them people 👍

This is a strange review as we actually never took delivery of our booked hire car due to our error when booking the car. However this company provided the best customer service ever. We booked a hire car for 20 days but arranged for it to be collected at Christchurch Airport and we landed in Queenstown. Queenstown didn’t have any cars available and Jotl did a superb job and cancelled the booking with no charge to us allowing us to find another hire car. Thanks Jotl you made a significant difference to our holiday.

The guys that work for the company very professional and pleasant ( even though short staffed this morning when one didn't turn up ) would certainly use again ( thank you guys )

Overall a fairly unpleasant experience, starting with pickup it felt quite disorganised and was extremely slow. There was no screen that the customer could see, or documents to confirm what was being processed. Luckily I checked my bank account at the time because they had accidentally taken out $600 more than the agreed price. They were then unable to refund this instantly which was stressful since it was a public holiday and I wasn't sure when I would get this money back. They offered free tolls as a gesture of goodwill which was nice but still systems should be improved so you can correct mistakes like this instantly and confirm the transaction with the customer on screen or paper first. Moving to the car it was in average used condition, a rip on the passengers seat and some grime around the gearstick but passable. Towards the end of my journey the brakes started to feel a little shakey - I think the brake pads/rotors are probably worn out and need a service. On return I noticed a $55 cleaning fee had been charged, this seems unreasonable given there was just some dry sand/general dry dust in the car and a bit of dust on the back exterior. Also inconsistent with the examples of what would attract an extra cleaning fee in the contract such as stains/wet mess. If you want the car returned in as new condition then you should specify this. Future customers I suggest you give the car a 5 minute vacuum inside otherwise you will be charged $55 for this! Again this was added to my bill with no communication of explanation. I followed up to ask about some lost property and had no response - in the photos sent back to argue why they had to do $55 worth of cleaning (the argument was that I just don't understand the process) my jandals were clearly pictured yet they are not sure they made it to lost property? Very generous 2 stars as sure it's probably better than nothing in a pinch but double check all transactions. I would definitely use Avis/Hertz/Budget next time.

If I could leave this company zero stars, I would. DO NOT rent from them! Worst experience Ive had renting a car. Inept and unhelpful when an issue arose. Left stranded to solve problems with their car.

Relatively very good value in comparison to other rentals ( about 1/2 price) Efficient communication Easy pickup from airport Very good vehicles with AA service Prepaid road tolls Friendly staff Note- book directly through their website, not through intermediaries

A bit worried after reading these complaints but we had a good experience and our car was much cheaper than elsewhere. Picked up from the airport in about 5-10min, taken to their yard a 5min drive away. The mode Christchurch people were a little relaxed (very kiwi) so when we saw that the car had some sand on the interior and dents at the base, they said they don’t worry about that sort of thing. That left us feeling a little more relaxed about the bond. Drove 2500km with the little hatchback and worked just fine, great fuel efficiency. At the end we damaged the hubcap (possibly in a car wash) but they were friendly about it and said it’s a simple repair- 59 bucks. That’s very fair, it was pretty shredded. Booked under Chris M

We rented a large van for our group of 9. Upon arrival I called for the shuttle and learned I had to wait 15 minutes for the shuttle to arrive, go for a 10 minute drive to the rental agency and then drive 10 minutes back to the airport to get my group. The shuttle came in 20 minutes so after 30 minutes I was finally at the agency. Once they found someone to help me out we started the check-in process. 5 minutes in to the process another client came in for their off-airport parking service. The lady promptly stopped helping me to help her through her 5 minute process. I finally got another person to help me finish the process which took another 5-6 minutes. At this point I'm 50 minutes into the process and my group is texting me "where are you at?" Once the process was done I was taken out to the same vehicle they picked me up in and said "here you go." The van they picked me up in was the van I was renting. It barely made it to the rental agency, the ride was horrible and it didn't looking anything like the pictures. The van itself had a loose muffler, zero suspension and, not to mention, it was wrapped in the company's logos. There was no way I was going to drive my family around in this unsafe vehicle. I walked out, called an Uber and told everyone else to find their way to the house. I would never use this company again. I highly suggest renting at the airport or using Turo so you don't have to start your vacation with a tour of the airport and a check-in process that could easily have been done online prior to arrival.

Location d'un véhicule pour 4 semaines. Le modèle correspond, mais le kilométrage.... 168000 kms au compteur. Incroyable de louer un véhicule avec autant de kms pour une période si longue. 4300kms plus tard, nous rendons le véhicule et là, véritable pluie de photos pour comparer avant/après. Jamais vu ça. On attend pas loin de 15mins la comparaison des photos avant de pouvoir partir. J'aurais préféré plus de zèle sur le choix du modèle proposé. On voulait faire travailler local, on s'en tire pour cher sans bénéficier du service.

We had no idea we were booking with Mode as we booked through a site called Holiday Cars, they then booked the rental with Mode, Holiday Cars is in the UK, we paid in full at the time of booking including full insurance cover, when we went to pick up the car we had to have a $3,000.00 bond taken against our Credit Card as the insurance we had taken out was not with Mode. The car was dirty with cobwebs in the wing mirrors it rattled over every bump in the road, when I check the odometer it had 170,000klm on the clock, windscreen washer was useless and in this day and age no satnav, just not good enough.

Absolutely horrible. Was never told about the $3,000 BOND TO HIRE. Already paid deposit and when arrived, they did not help in any way except an offer to pay minimal bond for $150 more. Do not rent with these guys!

Rented a Toyota Corolla for 6 days for North Island drive.Everything was good.When I returned to Australia I was sent a note that they had to top up the petrol,cost NZ$15 with admin fee of $25.The petrol was filled in a station that was 3 minutes from the depot,fuel gauge showed it was full. No details of how the $15 was arrived at. They had my credit card deducted,nothing much I could do. Left a bad taste to an otherwise good rental experience William,Melbourne,Australia

I rented a car from the Christchurch branch. Car is clean and reliable. However, be careful of choosing the option for a guaranteed model and paying extra. I chose a guaranteed 2018-2020 model Toyota Corolla Hatch and i got an older model instead. When i emailed in to check, they said the model is registered in 2018, hence it's the correct model. This is extremely misleading, especially when they are charging extra for a guaranteed model.

The staff were super friendly. Jerry communicated with me thoroughly so we were able to book into the Heartlands Hotel Auckland, as arrived late on an international flight and picked up the car from the hotel after brekky in the morning.

My recent encounter with Mode Car Rentals was nothing short of a nightmare. After returning the vehicle and leaving the place, we were informed that the company had found damages. It was evident that somebody had kicked the door, an incident that did not occur during our rental period. Despite our protests, we were forced to cover the repair bill, with the money automatically deducted from our security deposit. To add insult to injury, we received no documentation whatsoever during both pickup and drop-off. This negligence left us exposed and uncertain about our rights and obligations. It's shocking that a car rental company could operate with such disregard for their customers' rights and trust. My experience serves as a stark warning to anyone considering renting from this company.

We were served by a very professional and friendly man from Mode Rental / Christchurch airport. His name is Ryan and he helped us very good, so we left as satisfied customers! Thank you Ryan!