James Blond Ltd.

Excellent company to hire a car from, needed a car for 10 – 12 weeks to use while travelling around New Zealand, had looked at other companies and decided to use James Blond as they were we a lot cheaper than the usual car hire companies and they offered the same deal, sent a number of emails to John who answered very promptly, he reassured us of any concerns we had as we normally use the standard car hire companies, we picked up and dropped off the car at the Aeroparks pick up point, which was 15 minutes from the airport on the Aeroparks minibus, the car was 2015 model, we had no problems at all with it and travelled around the whole of New Zealand covering 8000kms, we had breakdown cover included, but didn’t need to use it. Would definately use James Blond again if we are in New Zealand again. Highly recommend using them

Super friendly, straightforward service. Price is best in the city for vans. Have used twice for moving furniture and would use again in a heartbeat.

This family run business, headed by John, is a first class operation, and I appreciate how they conduct their business. Important criteria for me are: price, business ethics and product offering.
I researched all the car rental companies for price, as I needed a car for four months. I obviously ended up here, and was glad I did.
I rented an «older» car, a 2005 model, at the «winter» rate of $ 17/​day. Though the rental period would encompass the summer, as I was taking possession before the «summer» rate went into effect, John honored the «winter» rate for my entire rental.
Since I was renting the car for such a long period, and not having a private vehicle insurance policy, I had to evaluate the company insurance costs. Though his insurance rates are competitive with everyone else in the industry, John advised me not to take out the insurance, or to only take out the basic insurance and add windscreen protection. Considering the four month rental, insurance costs would have driven up the cost substantially, so I declined all coverage (I’m a safe defensive driver).
Regrettably, in the last 10 days of the 4 month rental, I received a severe chip in the windscreen, courtesy of a passing truck, which turned into a big crack, necessitating the replacement of the windscreen.
Though the national windscreen replacement company quoted me $ 450, and John initially quoted me $ 390, when I brought the car in, he had it re-​quoted and it was only $ 320. Obviously, John could have maintained the price at $ 390, and I never would have known. But, his ethics prevailed.
The car was mechanically perfect, and dealing with him, and his staff during the entire rental period was painless, efficient, and friendly.
I would rent from James Blond again, and heartily recommend them!

Had to move a whole lot of possessions from my house into storage, so needed to book a van. Had a look online and James Blond was the cheapest and also provided new vans at a set price with no per km charge (at least for the Toyota Hi-​Ace I rented). Booking online was easy. Picking up and dropping off the van was easy and quick and it was as advertised. Overall, I’d definitely rent here again, but there are a couple of things that they could change to get 5 stars:
1. They take a $ 200 bond and then refund this when you return the van — even though you leave credit card details and could just do a pre-​authorisation on the credit card. Doesn’t really make sense.
2. They don’t walk you around the car to note previous damage. Which meant I had to take photos of the scrapes and dents. Quite disconcerting as you know that you could return it and they could claim you caused the damage and you’d have no defence because the damage wasn’t noted on the rental agreement.
3. They don’t let you park your car there. So you have to find a park on the street a few streets away.

I really love it that this place is called «James Blond» when you’re much more likely to rent a 2004 Toytoa Corolla from them than anything 007 ever drove.
I guess we’ve all gotta have a dream right? Perhaps one day this place will exclusively rent Aston Martins.
In the meantime, it’s probably the cheapest place to rent cars from in Auckland; you’d be hard pushed to pay more than $ 65/​day. They have a range of cars, from a few years old to more recent. It’s all pretty straightforward and they seem like a friendly bunch of jokers.
They are based in Kelston, so if you’re not near there, it might be a bit of a drag to get out there, but they do have a really easy sounding option of picking up your car at the airport if you’re flying in.
They also have a blog where they post gems such as this:
«We have had a Saudi Prince who with diplomatic immunity parks our rental car wherever he feels like and wherever he maybe at the time with total disregard for any posted signage about time limits or private parking, he is currently being pursued in the courts by one of the parking companies to recover the $ 4000 he owes them but since he is a diplomat and protected by international law I do not fancy their chances of recovery.»