Christchurch City car hire for Spring Festival: one deal, done
Mid-February in Christchurch is golden light on the Port Hills by 8pm and the Avon still busy with punts while everyone back home shovels snow. Spring Festival, better known here as Chinese New Year, fills the city with lantern displays and long queues at the dumpling spots on Columbo Street, and plenty of visitors tack on day trips to Akaroa or Hanmer. If you are booking a Christchurch City car rental for 11 to 18 February 2027, here is exactly what the numbers look like.
The honest headline: supply is thin. Five vehicles are quoted across those seven nights and four of those quotes came back sold out, leaving a single live rate of $1,624 for the week from Ezi. That's not a bargain-hunter's market, it's a first-in market, and the smart move is booking the moment your flights lock in rather than waiting for a price drop that has nowhere to drop from.
The one car on the board is a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid 2WD, and honestly that's the car I'd pick anyway, since a hybrid sips fuel on the long flat runs to Akaroa and the 2WD handles sealed roads fine in a Canterbury summer. Pack light-ish, five seats and a boot fill fast with four suitcases. Aim to collect before the airport shuttle rush mid-morning, because the depot queues during festival weeks stretch longer than the rental counter itself.