Lucky Rentals New Zealand Review

If you want a trustworthy vehicle dont rent here there maintence department are very unprofessional, my first vehicle had loose wheel nuts on every wheel that nearly caused a accident that could of been fatal, broken plastic body parts everywhere,unuseable jack lift and no drinking water in supplied container.
2nd vehicle supplied with no gas,no sink plug a leaking roof and a table that was cracked witch they repaired with masking tape, what a joke....GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER.

Where do I start? Worst customer experience in ANY field, not just rentals, I have had.
- Meant to pick up our campervan at 8am, wasn’t ready until 4pm (previous customer was still using until 12pm, then central locking needed fixing- which then didn’t work for the whole trip).
- Terrible customer service, staff ignoring us when we came back to pick up the van, not shown around and if my partner hadn’t checked the cooker (it wasn’t working and needed replacing) we would’ve left with no way to cook.
- Van was dirty and extremely old (570k’s!). Sticker on the inside of the windscreen tells you you’re liable if you overheat the engine and to stop every two hours. This happened to us driving much less and taking care of the vehicle.
- We advised Lucky from the very start we would be returning the van outside of office hours due to an early flight. When we arrived the gates were locked and the key drop was on the inside of a barbed wire fence. Ended up leaving the vehicle outside and were later told you are not allowed to drop vans off outside of hours!!
- $2500 bond is held for THIRTY days on your card. Whilst this is in the T&C’s it is a ridiculously long time. When you ask about this you are immediately referred to your bank.
- To top it all off we had to pay an extra $160 when we returned the van because it was diesel (never mentioned to us at any stage prior). What a great way to finish the trip!
Would go nowhere near this company again and would not advise anyone to rent a vehicle from them.

This is the most unprofessional car rental company I have ever worked with. It all started when I wanted to pick up the car. The car was supposed to be ready at 11am and I got the keys at 2pm. Later, I had an issue with a flat battery on the road and called the road assistance. They told me that I was only responsible for the payment if there was no technical issue. The mechanic that came to see my car said that it was an old battery and things like that could happen but there was no evidence that it was my fault. To my surprise, the road assistance charged me NZD 120 (for kickstarting the battery btw). I talked to the road assistance and lucky rental but there was no agreement possible. Without further evidence they claimed that there was nothing wrong with the car, despite the fact that the mechanic said something else. I continuously asked to contact the mechanic himself but they refused. Instead, they wanted me to go to another garage and get the battery tested. Furthermore, I had to deal with false accusations. My words were twisted and turned. Eventually, they just hung up and told me to "get my ass to the car".
Lucky rental car showed a tremendously inaccurate approach.

We had to wait four hours after our pickup time for our vehicle altho they did give us a courtesy car for that time. We then had a problem with a split waste pipe that took 5 days and numerous phone calls to sort it out. In the meantime we were unable to use the waste water tank.

Good campervan, that doesn't look too flashy... but it took us out there and back. A bit long to pick up the vehicle... otherwise, good experience.

Dominic

Worst experience with a rental company ever. No help at all after our car broke down. Unfriendly staff.

I guess it’s called lucky because they’re challenging you... if you’re are lucky you will complete your journey with the badly maintained vehicles they have. Don’t get fooled by the price... there is no free lunch, it’s cheap, because it is awful. I rented a camper van and at the end of my journey, most of the features that I paid for weren’t working. The stereo and dashboard lights went down on the second day, I relied on the cooler to keep my food and the thing wasn’t working, I had to throw everything on the garbage. The internal lights and low beam front light also stopped working. I lowered the window to pay for the ferry boat and the motor did not have power to bring it up again. I had to count on of the ferry workers to bring it up again and after that I couldn’t touch it. Another scary thing was the burner, I could not use it. I tried to cook one day and the whole thing caught on fire for gas leakage. I was seeing the moment the car would completely stop. Fortunately I made it to the end... so I can call myself LUCKY! At the moment of the return I obviously complained and they fooled my again saying that they would refund 10% of the value after 30 days, when the traffic fines would process, in case of any. Well, unfortunately I had 1 infraction and I was charged in full and now they forgot or have no record at all of the promised refund. Make yourself a favor and stay away of this company!!! And spread the information to your friends and family. I will continue doing it until I get my refund.

Takes the whole day to prepare a car. Poor treatment from the staff. Very bad maintainence to the car. And last one is that there's only older models of cars exists for rentals.

Poorly maintained. Air conditioner disconnected, no reason why. The van wasn't even worth what we paid to rent it and with a barely retracting seat belt, was hardly road worthy.

AVOID!!!!
The central locking system of our first van was brocken and we had to bring back the van to Auckland.

They made us pay for the oil we used (nearly 80 dollars) and were late giving us another van! End of the day, the people there were really not nice (It was nearly as if it was our fault), we lost a day and we had to pay for the oil! We should have paid a bit more and chose another company.

I do recommend you to avoid this company as other people next to us also had several problems...(van not available on time...)

We rented a camper out of Christchurch for a 2 week road trip around the South Island of NZ and had the best holiday of our lives.

When we arrived at the depot and checked in we were told they didn’t have many of the vehicle we had booked left, as such they were offering us a free upgrade to their top spec camper - a Lucky Rambler. We were stoked by this as it meant we were self contained (had shower and toilet) and we could freedom camp.

Unfortunately the vehicle wasn’t ready yet and ETA was 45mins. We hadn’t had breakfast so asked where we could grab some food, appreciating we had to wait they offered us a car so we could drive to a cafe and get some breakfast - great service.

I believe the girl that checked us in was called Alison - want to give a shout out to her as she was super friendly and helpful.

We didn’t have any problems with the van for the whole of our 2 week trip. Bed was comfortable and shower/toilet worked. We didn’t shower inside as it is quite small. Instead we fed the shower to the back door of the van and showered outside! I was amazed at how hot the water got, be careful not to burn yourself.

Yes the Lucky vans are a little older than some other companies but are well maintained and so you are getting a steal on the price. This is the second time we have rented from Lucky (once from Sydney) and I would recommend them to friends and family.

Booked a car and like everyone else had to wait over an hour before getting it only after complaining. No one has any idea what's going on and there is zero accountability as they continue to deliver the worst experience to anyone UNlucky to use them. Where are the regulators here.. how do these cowboys get away with it on the back of the worst reviews ever.

I booked lucky on a whim because they were one of the few rental companies who were willing to rent to an 18 year old. After booking, I decided to look more into the company, and read so many negative reviews. I prepared myself for the worst.

Upon arrival to Auckland airport, we took a shuttle to the Lucky building. The shuttle came in 10 or so minutes, I did need to call and clarify where the shuttle pickup was. They were very helpful on the phone. Once getting to the office, we did wait maybe 10 minutes to be talked to. They seem like a very busy company. They told us to wait another 30 minutes so they could change the tires on our van, as we were renting for 8 weeks. But the time flew by since they provided free wifi and couches.

The van did have a stuffy smell at the beginning, we ended up with a 1997 Toyota. She was definitely a trooper and struggled up some hills, but sure enough, she pulled through. We never had any mechanical issues with the van. Only complaint would be that some of curtains didn't secure properly, but we makeshifted our own way to close them. The cookers they provide are about 20 bucks at the KMart, not sure why the one they provided was very very old.

Anyways, with all that said, our van had character. We had an amazing time and enjoyed not having a blaringly green and purple JUCY van that screams "tourist" haha. We decided to not pay for any insurance, so we were a little nervous when returning the van. We had no accidents or scratches, only a little chip in the windshield. But we heard that they might accuse you of something that was there before. The returning process was very quick and easy. They didn't notice the chip ;) and sent us on our way.

Overall, I had a very positive experience. Don't go into lucky expecting a holiday on wheels. It's rustic and old, but as a young couple it was perfect for us.

Unfortunately, our rental experience with Lucky Car was the worse car rental experience we ever had (comparing services around the world). Stay away from this company!
We have booked the campervan for 9 nights to enjoy our holidays on the South Island. Already at the pickup, we were not welcomed very friendly or had the feeling the service lady took time to explain us how the van worked, even though we told her this is the first time we were driving a camper van. Even though the handover was rushed, it took quite a while for us to take off as the main battery under the passenger seat needed to be exchanged apparently because people prior to us forgot to turn off the lights inside the van. After a good 1hour, the car was finally ready and we could leave the car rental station.
As we planned to use as many freedom campaign sites as possible, we knew we need to drive quite a bit for the secondary battery to recharge and to actually use the water system, fridge and lights inside the car. However, after driving 5h the water system was still not working so we had already the feeling that something is wrong. We tried to call the rental station but without any success. No doubt, this is defiantly not an emergency hotline the company provides, and I pray for anyone not having a serious accident because it takes 24-48h for Lucky car rental to return your call!
After 4 days we could arrange to see a mechanic, who told us that the main battery of the car was flat and actually even a bigger issue than the secondary one. The main battery wasn’t exchanged correctly on the day of the pick up. Due to those issues, we were not able to use the water system in the van for five days, besides that the fridge didn’t cool and we needed to throw away our groceries. All in all, we lost money on that, lost hours calling lucky rentals without success of reaching anyone, as well as needing to seeing a professional mechanic. Instead of offering us any kind of compensation Lucky car rental only refunded us 5 days the value of the car rental (excluding insurance or tax)., the 5 days we couldn’t use the van properly as it wasn’t functioning as it should.
I really don’t recommend renting with Lucky car rental, as the only thing you wish for is a secure and working van. We don’t mind an older car model if it is technically working perfectly and CLEAN (another big issue). Attached some pictures of this very old, mouldy and dirty car…. Better investing $200 more, having a stress-free and save holiday and renting with juicie, maui, Berlitz or any other van rental company!

Voyageur du monde,

Après 17 jours de location du véhicule Lucky Rover de Lucky Rentals entre Auckland et Christchurch nous avons été totalement déçus et insatisfaits de cette agence et ces véhicules:
• Accueil déplorable (à la remise et à la restitution du van). La phase de présentation/instruction du van a été totalement bâclée.
• Le van nous a été remis dans un état que nous pouvons qualifier de « dégueulasse » (vaisselle nettoyée à moitié, sol et plan de travail crasseux, draps de lit aussi vieux que le van - de quoi gâcher l’enthousiasme de vos premiers jours de vacances).
• Évier bouché dès la première utilisation (l’assistance en ligne n’a pas été capable de résoudre ce problème que nous avons trainé durant nos 17 jours de location)
• La vidange des eaux usées des anciens locataires n’avait pas été faites (l’odeur de cette vidange restera ancrée dans mes souvenirs de vacances)
• Le plein d’essence n’avait pas été fait lors de la remise du van (notons que la compagnie exige de rendre le van avec le plein sous peine de pénalités)
• Le frigidaire ne fonctionnait pas bien (le joint d’étanchéité de la porte était totalement décollé). Nous avons dû bloquer la porte avec un sac à chaque voyage.
• Les rétroviseurs extérieurs se déréglaient constamment à partir de 80 km/h. Ce point est de notre point de vue inadmissible puisqu’il impact directement la sécurité !!!!
• Problème avec le système de verrouillage/déverrouillage du coffre (fonctionnement aléatoire)
• Le BBQ réservé en ligne ne nous a pas été remis avec le van sous prétexte qu’il n’y en avait plus de dispo (ce point fait partie des choses qu’il vaut mieux ne pas essayer de comprendre dans la vie),
• La politique de la bouteille de gaz est ridicule : « le loueur qui se retrouve avec une bouteille vide doit la remplir » (la notre nous a permis de faire chauffer 2 casseroles d’eau ? - à noter qu’il n’y a aucun indicateur de niveau sur la bouteille, ce serait trop beau),
• La batterie de service du van se baladait dans le compartiment à bagage (nous avons dû la fixer par nous-mêmes),
Et la cerise sur le gâteau de l’escroquerie Lucky : une fissure sous un joint du pare-brise qui nous a valu le coquette somme de 400$. Notons que nous aurions pu éviter ces 400 dollars en prenant l’assurance Lucky proposée au tarif de 25$/jour ; ce qui nous aurait coûté 425$.

Vous l’aurez compris, Lucky Rentals est ni plus ni moins qu’une entreprise peut scrupuleuse surfant sur le marché juteux des locations de van pour des touristes étrangers vulnérables aux arnaques de ce genre.

Si vous cherchez la pire agence de location de la planète, prenez Lucky Rentals !!! Arnaque garantie ?

Having read the reviews for Lucky Rentals, my girlfriend and I arrived at their depot with considerable trepidation. We decided to write this in order to give prospective clients of lucky rentals an accurate description of the company, something which we did not really have. Their vehicles are very dated, we went for the Lucky Rookie option (the cheapest of the three campers offered by Lucky Rentals) which was a 21 year old Toyota Estima. Throughout our trip the car itself ran well in terms of getting us from A to B, however you should prepare yourself for the need to fill up the car regularly. The car guzzles through petrol, as you would expect from a 21 year old car, but this adds a significant cost on to your trip. We were averaging about 5 hours driving time to a tank of petrol, probably down to the windy and hilly nature of New Zealand’s roads.

Comfort wise, the car was provided with a blue mattress that you make in to a bed in the back area of the car. The downsides of this set up is that the blanks of wood you are provided with to create the frame of the bed did not always sit properly in to the groves they were supposed to, often resulting in the bottom of the bed collapsing. We ended up placing our suitcases underneath to provide more support and this solved the issue. The duvet was warm when the weather was nice but once it turned cold it was simply to thin. It should also be noted that the bedding pack (2x pillows, duvet and sheet) is not provided for free and costs $35 for the trip.

Our main piece of advice would be to take the ‘Sure Thing’ insurance option. This costs $25 a day but is definitely worth it as it reduces your excess to $0. New Zealand’s roads are hazardous and very often you have rocks flying in to the cars windscreen, which happened to us causing as significant crack. It is tempting to go for the free insurance which has an excess of $3000 should anything happen. What we noticed is that Lucky Rentals will ask for a preauthorisation amount to be placed on your card once you arrive to pick up your vehicle which we were told was the excess amount form the insurance option you have taken. For example if you take no insurance, you will still need to have $3000 in your account for the pre authorisation, that is what we were told in an email from an employee. If you get the sure thing insurance, you have a minimum of $250 which you get placed back in to your available funds again very quickly after you leave the depot. Lucky also have a surcharge for debit/credit cards of 5% so make sure you are aware of that before you go to pay. So basically, just get the sure thing insurance, it really does give you peace of mind. You also get free hire of a table and chairs and free extra drivers.

Our other pieces of advice include not buying one of the car chargers from Lucky. They are slow and only charge on item at a time. You are far better off stopping at any service station and picking up one for $15, they have two output points and actually charge your phone properly. Also, if you are thinking of buying an AUX cable for your music make sure you check the car if it has the point for an AUX cable first. Our car did not have this facility, and I doubt that Lucky would offer a refund if you were to raise it with them.

Overall, Lucky Rentals are a good company if you are on a budget and looking for the cheapest option. If you are happy with a little less quality of campervan then we would recommend them. I personally think we were lucky with our experience having heard stories from other people’s time and the issues that they have had. If you would like something with a little more quality and a more modern car which might be more economical, then it would be best to look in to JUCY Rentals, Britz or Spaceships as they seemed to be the most popular of the Campervans that we saw on our travels.

Picking up was a disaster from auckland... unfortunately those working had no idea what they were doing and understaffed. Besides everyone cutting the line in frustration due to the wait... took almost 2 hours to get our van. They rushed us through our look over. Which we wish now we took the time to make sure EVERYTHING worked properly. Cigarette lighter (only source of charging anything) did not work, we had to take the time to go to a mechanic... apparently ~12 fuses missing... water pump broke midway through the trip. Rivets were popping out through the trip, the battery source was not properly secured and we could hear it slide and rattle the whole trip, and only one speaker in the whole campervan worked. The girls at drop off in christchurch were lovely and sympathetic... but just for the 15 or so minutes there we heard literally everyone receive a "customer experience refund" per different faults. One poor girl tried to leave the parking lot and had to be towed in because the engine fell out... spend the extra money on another camper or at least take the time to review averything!!!

We are a family of 4 (2 kids < 3y) and booked a 23 day trip in a 4 berth camper van with “lucky” rentals. We arrived at Auckland after an exhausting 30h journey from Germany and received this Email on a Friday afternoon at 4pm the day before the pickup (11am) of the camper van:

“Hi Benjamin,

Unfortunately, due to a large number of on road incidents we will be unable to offer you the camper van you have booked with us, and due to the time of the year are unable to offer any alternatives ourselves. This means we have had to cancel your booking with us we will of course refund the deposit in full.

We have managed to source an alternative camper van from Rental Car Village, at a rate of $62.12 per day which whilst not quite as big does offer 240v electricity, double stove and the usual amenities. This is only an option however, and you can choose any provider you would like to, please have a look at the website and see if the vehicle is suitable. As such when you arrive in Auckland please go to Rental car village and ask for Grant. Their address is ‪12 Pavilion Drive, Mangere, Auckland.‬

Kind Regards,

Connor Moss
Operations Manager at Lucky Rentals”

No apologies, support or help was offered at all. The alternative he mentions was a 2 berth or afterwards two 2 berth. Both options are absolutely unacceptable for a family of 4 and one driver. I would rather call this a joke than an alternative!
I got no replies on emails I did send to lucky rentals after that.
So we had to book another camper which is only available for 2 weeks and about 1500 Dollar more expensive plus a hotel for the missing 1,5 weeks.
In total this was not only a financial disaster due to unplanned extra expenses of multiple thousands of Dollars but also our whole holly days got messed up. And all caused by “lucky” rentals and their very friendly and competent staff.
Of course unforeseen things can happen but then an appropriate compensation and help should be offered. Absolutely NON of that was the case with “lucky” rentals!! After first denying him self on the phone, the author of the Email above said we should think twice before trying to claim our money because of the terms and conditions (which by the way are not attached to the booking confirmation Email!).
That was the was the perfect example of a “I don’t give a f*** about you and your family” attitude paired with a “you better be careful what you do” warning.
That is nothing I would expect from an Operations Manager.

In general a situation like this has to be covered by the rental company and their own insurance and it must not be the responsibility of the customer.

Thank you lucky rentals and to be continued...

Arrived at the pick up location near to Christchurch airport and went to collect our van. We waited almost 2 hours to collect both our vans, and were dealt with some of the worst customer service I’ve ever had the misfortune to experience. As the wait was so long, naturally we complained, but that didn’t stop the very rude lady at the desk having a go at us and getting rather aggressive at our group. Anyway, got the vans and set off on our 2 week holiday, the pricing was very good and we were happy enough despite the service. The 2 man van we had seemed to have a battery issue and needed jumpstarted regularly, also the door fell off while were about 30 miles from a mechanic able to reattach it; anyway it all came to a head at Wanaka where it refused to start entirely, a mechanic sent by Lucky came and took it away, we were then left 2 days in limbo without a van and no advice on whether we would get a replacement or our own van back. Though wanaka was lovely so we sat put until they offered us a car in Queenstown, so we had to manage to get 2 of us to queenstown, meanwhile we had to spend nights in hostels as we had no van to sleep in. The rest of our holiday was then in a car and forking our 30-40$ per night on hostels for another week. Lucky reimbursed us a total of $150... personally, I’d recommend to spend a few more quid on a half decent company, arguably the least professional out of any company that I’ve had the misery to deal with.
On another note, New Zealand is stunning and don’t let this put you off going to visit the country.

Our first campervan experience and it was for 7weeks in New Zealand and was amazing!
We had read a lot of bad reviews about Lucky but our experience was great.

Picking up the camper was straightforward friendly staff who made sure our van got a good check over as it was a long rental. The camper was a bit battered on the outside but what do you expect for 15yrs old. The staff also gave us loads of bits like salt, pepper, washing up liquid, tea bags etc when we asked if there were any leftovers.

The campervan was easy to drive and we did 6,500kms. It was a bit slow up the hills but we weren’t in a rush as you need to enjoy the beautiful scenery. We had an issue with the headlights but we got it sorted at wanaka which was easy.

Returning the van at Auckland was great. They checked over the van and no issues. Then due to the headlight issue they refunded us $100 which wasn’t expected.

Overall a great campervan and great company. I would use them again.