Often relocations (as they are called in New Zealand) or standbys (as they are often called in Australia), are seen as short term travel options that get you from A to B far cheaper than taking on a regular rental deal.
Over the past few months I’ve begun to see the relocating trend change. As the recession has passed and people have become more budget conscious, transferring vehicles have become more popular.
However, instead of Transfercar being a means of securing a quick relocation between towns and cities, the trend is now swinging towards travellers creating their own mini packages from a mixture of free rental deals available online.
Take for example a French couple I have been following. At first I thought they had been making a mistake requesting so many vehicles to diverse locations as the dates seemed to overlap. As it turned out, they were planning a little nationwide trip using a series of our vehicles.
They started by taking a 7 day, 2 berth Roadrunner campervan from Auckland to Christchurch. They then picked up a 4 berth Britz motorhome for three days from Christchurch to Queenstown. I then saw them take another Jucy rental for 4 days from Queenstown to Dunedin; returning to Queenstown in a 3 day ACE Rentals sedan. I’ve lost them from here but am keeping an eye out for their next move.
This has basically given them a 17 day holiday for a fraction of the price of what they would have normally paid if they rented these vehicles for this period.
Others are looking for relocation deals with wide date availabilities as with these vehicles there is often the option of purchasing additional days on top of the free days already offered. Thus, a 5 day relocation between Auckland and Christchurch becomes a 7 – 10 day relocation holiday. Yes they still pay for the additional days but still the overall cost of the vacation is way lower than what it could have been.
From these observations come great changes to the way we operate, as we continue to evolve to meet the needs of our travellers. The next couple of months will see a new phase in Transfercar’s vehicle listing and requesting process. Options such as purchasing additional days when requesting a vehicle will be one of the many new features offered but I will tell you all about this in coming articles.
Stay safe and have fun!
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