As of July 22 this year, 185 people have died, compared to 170 at the same time last year.
Skipper's Canyon Rd also remains uninsurable for most who decide to make the precarious trip.
Tony Mortensen, president of the Rental Vehicle Association, told the Herald: "Very few, if any, rental vehicle providers allow customers to operate the rental vehicle on the Skippers Canyon Rd."
"The reason being is that as operators we do not know the individual skill level of each driver.
"It is our opinion Skippers Canyon Road is a very difficult road to navigate due to changing weather conditions, a primary unsealed surface, narrow width in most places, no road markings and a clear lack of any safety barriers.
"Even a minor incident on this road could lead to serious damage to the vehicle and injury to the driver."
Mortensen said the association wasn't sure if it was the most dangerous road in the country, "but from our perspective it is not a road we believe should be used by any driver who does not have the correct vehicle type - all-wheel drive - and a high level of driving competency, with significant experience on unsealed, narrow, high-country roads."
While Budget Direct found Skipper's Canyon the most dangerous, MoT data gathered between 2012 and 2015 showed SH1 at Oram's Rd, Auckland, had been the site of the most fatal accidents, with eight during that period.
In 2017, the Automobile Association identified the country's most dangerous state highways as SH22 - from Drury to Pukekohe - where three people died, 19 were seriously injured and 44 people suffered minor injuries.
An International Transport Forum report showed Covid-19 played a big part in New Zealand's reduction in crashes for April 2020 - nine, compared to 35 at the same time in 2019.
Rural roads in New Zealand were also most likely to claim lives; 257 compared to 91 in 2019.
Several of the most dangerous roads in the world as determined by researchers for an Australian insurance company. Photo / Budget Direct
Skipper's Canyon - cut out of a sheer cliff face by miners more than 125 years ago - was also dubbed the most dangerous in 2014 and in 2016 by dangerousroads.org, but that was quickly slammed by locals as "absolute nonsense" as none could recall any fatal crashes.
The methodology used was unclear, as the company stated that it preferred publicly available road crash data for the highest crash data. If that wasn't available they used "the road most commonly listed as the most dangerous, with supporting data from local news reports".
