Cairns Airport Car Hire Avis 

My wife and I visit Port Douglas every year and so far we have rented cars from the "big names" and had no complaints
It is be the first time that we be using a car from Cairsairporthire and hope that we will not be disappointed when it really counts.

Was concerned with arrangements for out-of-hours pick-up and drop-off, but they did follow through with e-mail and phone call the day before the rental, and all arrangements worked out.

Thanks guys. I will be seeing you in the near future.

Web site refused to accept booking without a flight number (but we didn't fly in); according to one rude staff member later when we were arguing about an overcharge, there's a secret code "WI" (for "Walk In") which we should have put into that box. WTF? How's a customer supposed to know that?

Wife booked for me, I paid, so I wasn't aware at pickup time that they simply gouged me an extra $50. The paperwork simply itemized the charges, and arrived at a total that was higher than the booking quote my wife received. "Friendly" operator didn't tell me about this... Wife was shocked when I told her the price later.

Upon return, the customary fight to get my $50 back began. Long story short, they gave it back, but seriously: how stupid does AVIS have to be to hire staff who are arrogant, rude, and full of lies, who enjoy arguing with customers who've got a plane to catch, in advance of giving the refund? Not only did they loose the $50 they stole, they also guaranteed that I'm never going to hire an AVIS car again.

Apparently, the $50 was because I "picked up early". They figured this out, because the "flight number" we put in (a random one we googled, which was the only way to get the web site to accept our booking) arrived at 10, but I picked up at 8:30. Of course - the pickup guy didn't tell me, and it wasn't itemized on the paperwork either, and it wasn't the $88 which they assured me was the price for hiring an hour or more over our contract, so no matter which way you cut that crap, it's all obviously lies.

So here's the bottom line: Someone has figured out that they can charge you more than what the booking said, and my guess is that they usually get away with this.

They also kept telling me that "coupon discounts aren't applied until the return". I didn't use a coupon, so it's abundantly clear that... (A) They've obviously got good coupons that can be used, and (B) their coupon system is also SNAFU, since they seem fully accustomed to arguing about that as well (my guess: they'll charge coupon users full price, unless you notice at the end and ask for the coupon discount a second time - which seemed to be the reason that multiple different staff kept mentioning this to me).

As for the $88 "argument" - I returned the car 12 hour early (for which I got no discount), but was told that if I'd returned the car 1 hour late, I'd be slugged $88. Yes, irrelevant to my situation again, but clearly something they're well used to arguing about.

Finally - as for the rude and arrogant part - the operator told me to "shut up" rather than listen to what I had to say, because she wanted to launch into her standard/misguided "this is why we overcharged you" spiel. LOL. What a great way to treat a paying customer hey? And, as you can see from their coupon and $88 arguments, neither of which were relevant to me, telling me to shut up and (wrongly) guessing which kind of their frequently angry customers I must have been was a pretty stupid decision!

Everything went very smoothly, we are looking forward to our holiday.

Found by Google search. On-line quotes, booking & deposit process was prompt and user-friendly. Follow up confirmation, contact details and instructions were quick and clear. I now look forward to on-ground service, which initial contact makes me feel confident about.

VERY HELPFUL AND QUICK ANSWERS WOULD RECOMMEND

So simple, nothing more than a few clicks and our rental car was sorted, and at a competitive price!

Worst experience we have had with car rental very very slow at counter led to believe car would be at airport,wouldnt rent to my husband because he was 76 and the list goes on ,and to add insult to injury we lost money on the deal because we chose to go elsewhere. Just awfull

Once I hired the car and landed in cairns, my receipt said that the pick up point for the car pick up spot was at the airport. After looking around the airport for company for 20 minutes I called them and find out I had to catch a shuttle bus to the city to pick up the vehicle.
I arrived at Ace rental car's with 2 other couple to find there was only one girl serving so it took another 40 minutes to actually get the car which in the end wasn't the car I was expecting. The website showed a Ford falcon family car so I expected a Aussie ford or Holden only to receive a Toyota Camry.
On the website when I booked I paid an extra $52 for premium insurance but on pick up I had to pay another $19 a day for the coverage through ace.
I will certainly not recommend these companies to anyone I know.

The booking experience was good, easy and simple, however it would have been even better if there was a way to know what type of cars (marks/models) belong to each group in order to have a better idea of what we are selecting.

In addition, after the booking I received like 3 or 4 emails about the booking so it confused me why I needed so many emails with the same information.
Thanks

As above, service has always been good in Cairns.

Easy to book.. Emails replied to promptly

We used Redspot Sixt primarily based on price. We usually get good rates through our Auto Club but their rates were better.
We weren't after a flash car but we wanted pickup and delivery from Cairns airport without any transfer coaches and waiting.
They were the best value for money and staff were very friendly.

Fortunately it was fine weather by the time we had completed the paperwork required to actually load ourselves and or luggage into the hire car as it was some distance from the airport building to where the car was parked. Had it been been otherwise I do not see how we could have got ourselves and our luggage into the vehicle without one of us having to extract wet weather gear from our baggage. Rockhampton seemed to be better laid out in this respect.

Very easy and straight forward. Booked and everything was ready. As it should be and would have no hesitation in using again.

I arrived in Cairns and got my vehicle within 10 minutes. I would do it again in an instant.

arrived off plane from NZ, found counter quickly, first in queue, as a couple more turned up as we were finishing, thank god.....
looked at option of changing pre-booked car but stuck with our very good deal we had got on the interweb. completed paperwork, got maps; and car just outside, so no delays, friendly operator, easy drop off when we came back 1 week later.

Definitely would recommend this, in fact already have to two friends

my experience with your company was outragious! i will never recommend you guys to anybody nor hire from you guys again myself. i feel completly ripped off and unsatisfied, my bill.accumulated almost double the price before i even left the airport! very unhappy customer!