DriveAway  Reviews

Great prices. Great info provided. Would improve the information provided if the excess insurance waiver was explained in more detail. I note the site's "refundable excess" only covers up to $7,000 which is not clearly visible during the booking process.

Date of experience: 14 June 2024

I had to prepay for my tank of gas (over $60 for a Ford Fiesta, which works out to well over $5/gallon even though the local price was $4.35). Since it's impossible to estimate the last few days of driving I returned the car with 1/4 tank, which was just a donation to the rental car company. For that reason I'm unlikely to ever use Driveaway, they should be able to negotiate better deals with their suppliers.
Like all Fords I've ever driven the Fiesta was a flimsy badly designed piece of junk but Dollar wouldn't give me any other make of car instead.

Date of experience: 20 August 2013

Booking was fairly straight forward at Edinburgh Airport although there is a good walk from arrival to Europcar base. Didn't really have much in the way of road maps available, just a general one from the Tourist Board.
Drop off at Aberdeen was straight forward as well. Nice car although a few modern features (for me) took a while to work out.

Date of experience: 09 August 2015

The service at Driveaway is excellent, both cars they arranged for us were ideal for our needs, with them ready on time, easy to pick up & deliver. The cost wasn't true, there was always more to pay when picking up, so don't get caught short. The advice on pick up was good except that we were up graded to a Ford which didn't like hills & was a bit gutless when trying to accellerate.

Date of experience: 21 October 2013

Price quoted was very competitive. However when we went to collect car in Las Vegas we found DriveAway had advised Dollar Rent a Car of the wrong date for collection and the length of rental period was for 1 day less. We were able to rearrange collection date but had to return the car 1 day earlier that planned. Drive Away have admitted they made the mistake and agreed to refund 1 days rental.

Date of experience: 06 March 2013

I booked a Europcar rental through DriveWay online and was given the options of GPS, child seat etc. I live in Northland and flew to Wellington to attend the funeral of a longtime friend who died very unexpectedly. When I picked up the car from Europcars I asked about the GPS and was told the car only had a 'slow GPS' ???? That was a lie, the car had NO GPS. I was 20mins late to the funeral and was gutted. DriveAway takes no responsibility for rental agents not providing the selected options offered on the Online booking and neither did Wellington Europcar. A case of taking a bite of the apple with no responsibility

Date of experience: 13 July 2022

Have only booked car so far; actual use period is in three weeks time. So far everything has worked smoothly and efficiently. My usual hire is from Driveaway in Australia, not NZ as it is this time. I have always found Driveaway Australia good and, on occasion, valuable help in using their buying power to get refunds on false charges debited up to three months after actual hire.

Date of experience: 06 September 2018

We always book through Drive Away so we can avoid aggressive American sales techniques and select terms and insurance before we arrive jetlagged.
BUT Driveaway should be warning people if they choose Dollar they will have to queue for 2 hrs to get their rental which is not what you need after a 12hr flight to LAX. Plus when we went to get the car they were none in the class so we had to take a smaller less suitable vehicle. This happened to 3 parties in Sep Oct 2013 on different days so beware!!
Apparently they have merged with another rental car coy and it all flows through Dollar to the detriment of the customer.

Date of experience: 12 October 2013

Great dealing with Driveaway holidays. Nice going to Los Angeles with peace of mind knowing everything was covered with a fixed NZD price. It was our bad luck that the local Budget rental place was packed when we got there and had to wait over an hour in the queue (apparently busy end of summers weekend). We weren't very impressed with the customer service there, except for the guy that was handing out water to the tired and hot travellers in the queue. The car we got was in great condition and suited our needs perfectly. We also Currently renting through Driveaway holidays at the moment in Mississauga/Toronto (Thrifty 3660 Hurontario) and our experience so far has been perfect.

Date of experience: 01 September 2015

We travel a lot and over time have tried various car rental web sites. As a result we have found Driveaway always reliable and gives good value for money, better than many other sites. It is also truly international, so we can use Diveaway in Oz, in Europe etc. When we turn up with our voucher at the car rental desk, there is never any query, the price is as quoted on the www and the car is ready.

Date of experience: 18 November 2013

Using Driveaway holidays to book our car hire in Ireland,England,France and Italy has made everything simple and successful. Cars have been fantastic. Will use again next time we're overseas and will pass on to anyone travelling.

Date of experience: 04 August 2013

Quick & Easy making this booking online. There were some hidden charges though at the other end with the actual car rental company which added to the cost. Frustrating when all charges arent clearly outlined from the beginning. Other than that the booking experience was good.

Date of experience: 16 February 2013

I have been using Driveaway for some years and they are excellent. Other than being conned into an upgrade by AVIS in Lyon which I did not know was happening everything has been excellent with them. I should have picked up the upgrade but the salesman was very smooth so my problem. Will always deal with Driveaway = latest pickup in UK excellent and no upsell.

Date of experience: 21 July 2015

We've used DriveAway for several years now. We especially like that their prices include the insurances that we need in the USA. When we had a problem obtaining a refund from one of the rental companies, DriveAway provided excellent service in expediting the refund and were helpful and easy to deal with. We don't look anywhere else when hiring a vehicle.

Date of experience: 07 November 2017

We have used Driveaway fore rental cars in Australia and the United Kingdom. There has not been a time when their prices could have been beaten or their service and communications been delivered at a higher level. We will continue to use Driveaway and have recommended them to several friends and colleagues.

Date of experience: 12 June 2013

Making the booking in New Zealand was a breeze.
The staff in France however are something else.Picking the vehicle in Nice was okay, but the staff at Brive for the drop off were shocking. I was told off for parking in a private space behind the office, there was no signage to indicate otherwise and when I asked where I should park, the reply was " wherever you can find something on the street". The lady was quite rude somi left the vehicle where I had parked it. The lady seriously needed a personality transplant

Date of experience: 30 June 2013

We used Driveaway as we have used them before and found them both reliable and cost effective. We two Kiwis arrived in Dover on a cruise ship, picked up our hire car and drove it to Devon. It was a one way hire so we dropped it off in Exeter the next day. This was so much better than the alternatives e.g. train Dover to London, lug suitcases across London on the underground, and then board a train at Paddington to Devonshire.
The car was almost brand new. It was a Hyundai and was incredibly economical with fuel.
As the car hire was prepaid via Driveaway there were no unpleasant arguments over prices either at checking on arrival, nor at drop off.
We shall continue to use Driveaway to source our car hire needs in different countries as we travel a lot.

Date of experience: 23 June 2014

I booked an air conditioned van for two weeks in the USA, I had to return the vehicle after just one day, the van shook vigorously, the air con kept breaking down and most of the interior was damaged. When I rang to advise them I would be returning the vehicle, they made my whole family wait 5 hours for a replacement even though we called earlier. The next van looked nicer but half the seat belts didn't work, the air con was not working and in peak summertime you need it working especially with 8 kids travelling 6-8 hour days but the excuse was that it was normal for a 15 passenger vehicle to do this. There was no discount offered only excuses. There vehicles are dangerous so renter beware!!!!

Date of experience: 05 November 2013

Tried to order a car from a couple other websites but confirmations never came through. As soon as I booked with driveaway confirmation came through in five minutes. Prices were really competitive and the car we ended up renting was awesome. Next time I am looking for a rental car I will definitely use the service again.

Date of experience: 02 April 2013

I had arranged a prepaid car hire online from NZ as the exchange rate made it favourable to do so.
My computer printout was handed over at Hertz the appointed agency, in Dover UK. It's not handy to the cruise or ferry ports. This was not of interest to me.
The small Fiat Panda met our (spouse and me) needs adequately for the 10 weeks. The deal included the choice of returning the car near empty and the pre-fixed petrol tank fill would be added to account. I felt with the current price at the time of departure, I was better economically to fill the tank before returning car.

Date of experience: 04 June 2013