Dunedin Airport car rental for New Year's Week: Otago Sunshine and Summer Deals
Roll into Dunedin Airport on New Year's Eve and the Otago light is doing its summer best, long golden evenings stretching past 10pm over the harbour hills. Travellers fly in for penguin colonies on Otago Peninsula, the white-sand sweep of St Clair, and a proper New Year's Day before the crowds of the bigger resorts. Booking car hire in Dunedin Airport early matters this week, because 28 listings are all that stand between you and a summer road trip.
The cheapest week here belongs to Ezi, averaging $1,173 with a floor of $1,011, while Hertz tops the chart at $2,342 for its most expensive car. The real deals hide in the smaller classes, with a Compact SUV and a mystery car both under the $1,232 median by a mile. A smart booker grabs an Ezi compact early and lets everyone else fight over the Premium utes.
The fleet leans small and sensible: 25 of the 28 cars are 5-seaters, 18 run on petrol, and 7 are hybrids, which suits the winding haul up the peninsula or south to the Catlins. Pack light, because a compact boot swallows two suitcases and nothing more. Aim to collect before the New Year's Eve afternoon rush at the terminal, and note that Otago weather can flip from 25-degree sunshine to a southerly squall in an afternoon, so take the hybrid and keep the windows up when the wind arrives.