Shaundawn

Hello all
We fly in to Brisbane on 6th September, and was going to hire a campervan for 3/4 weeks and check out various places between there and Sydney.
Have 2 quotes back from Apollo and Britz, but with both they actually debit your bank account for the 7500.00 security bond. I know you get it back at the end (as long as you don't bump it) but I thought they would just swipe the card instead. They also want a 1 way hire cost at 250 dollars...surely someone else will want the other way after us!!
We have looked into hiring a car and travelling, but the hotels will cost even more...this definatley seems to be the cheaper option providing nothing goes wrong and you end up paying the excess.
Any advice would be great
Thanks Dawn & Shaun

markandgill

Hi Dawn & Shaun

We hired a camper in 2007 for 3 weeks with a company online click here for link, at the time they were by far the cheapest option..... One thing was we weighed up the pros and cons of taking the extra insurance, and ended up taking it, was just concerned about the $5000 bond on the credit card. We paid $1936 for 16 days and $720 of this was insurance.... Now this was via Apollo for a 6 berth camper, at the time we had a 2 year old and for us it was far handier having the camper, when you pay the insurance it usual gets the one way fee free.... However when we moved here in March we just hired a car, this was through alpha car hire, click here , this cost us $663, and we didnt bother taking their extra insurance as they didnt take a bond, just an inprint on your card. You can stay in a motel for an average of around $80-$100 a night,

It is definately worth while having a look at both, there are tons of motels all up the east cost, aswell as camp sites, in our experience both have pros and cons.. ie - once you are at a campsite and then need to go to get something to eat, the camper needs packed up again... We found that quite a few evenings we didnt eat as we couldnt be bothered packing it up to go and get something to eat, also is difficult to park and drive around towns. There were loads of pros though... pit stops were great lol. And no unpacking every night in a different motel. Is it just the two of you or do you have kids?

Hope this helps

Gill

grays

We hired a Brutz voyager from Brisbane (2 adults, 2 kids). Yep, it was cramped at night, but it gave us so much freedom during the day to explore where we wanted, stopping off at campsites on the way.
Sometimes you can spend ages searching the web to find better deal. We found most sites came up with more or less the same price so decided to book direct with Britz. I'm sure they just swiped the card with us We stayed at loads of Big 4 campsites which were great. Good luck and enjoy it whatever you decide.

Shaundawn

Thanks for your replies. There is only the 2 of us to worry about, so might go for it. But this debiting of 7500 from our account is a concern, I mean, what if you only had a minor scrape on a bumper?

UK-2-OZ

We hired with Britz this year and although they did say about the $7,500 they didn't actually take it from the card they just took a card swipe. It is a good job as we didn't know anything about it and wouldn't have had any money left for the hols. When we were picking up our van there was a family next to us who didn't have a credit card so they accepted a cash deposit, I think it was $1000k not sur eif this is standard practise though.
We hired the Britz Escape it was a great van, very modern and could easily do 100km. On the way back we had a Maui 6 berth (wouldn't go past 60km) and it was not very nice at all, very grotty, we had a blow out and the spare was flat so we were stranded in the outback for 19 hours, so check your spare before you set off

Red_V_Roger

We hired through www.campertravel.com.au and it was a Britz van - much cheaper than going direct to Britz and the all in package with tables, chairs, gas, etc was also much better...I recommend campertravel.com.au

claretandblue

Try Salamander travel, we used them a couple of times and they were cheaper and more helpfull than anyone else.
Also use the cheapa camper option. They are still Apollo/Britz vans but slightly older. Everytime we have rented, they have also upgraded the vehicle on collection.
Hope this helps and enjoy.
Nige

moonpig

Try Wicked Wheels Campervans.
Much cheaper and I'm pretty sure the price was all in with no hidden extras. Ideal van if it's just the 2 of you. The one way fee is pretty standard on all campervan / car hire.

The campers are pretty basic but it has everything you need. My only suggestion would be to purchase a air mattress (double or 2 singles) for extra comfit as I found the mattress too thin for me. With the added comfit of the airbed I slept like a log.

JenniGee

Did you mean these?

http://www.wickedcampers.com.a
Top company

moonpig

Yep! That's them, my van was Led Zepplin but I really wanted the bright pink Barbie is a slut van!

Red_V_Roger

Depends what you want - if you want a heap of junk with a good paint job, go for a Wicked Camper...if you want something in good condition, toilet, shower, reasonable bed, etc go with a Britz or something.

(BTW I am the proud owner of a Toyota Hiace Camper!)

aussiedreamz

How about Backpacker we used them for 3 months travelling around Oz, their excess rates were around $2500 debited or pay $25 a day fullcomp cover and a one off payment of $50 to insure the whole van from external damage to theft etc. We used them as the cost of hire was so much cheaper than Britz/Apollo.(the exception being Wicked and Hippie-campers but they are total wrecks and have never had an MOT carried out since when they were first built and while I'm on the subject most of the vans are rented out by crusties as the inside of the vans stink, mainly of dead flaky skin mixed with stale bodily fluids and the intoxicating odours of whacky baccie just to enhance the already putrid smell)...

The Backpacker vehicles are only a couple of years older than the Apollo and Britz campers and from what I recall very clean and tidy inside and out. I don't know if backpacker are connected to Britz in one way or another or this was just an agent acting on their behalf, but when we collected the van there were loads of Britz campers on the forecourt so maybe backpacker vehicles are just Britz hand me downs?

Red_V_Roger

Yep Backpacker are part of Britz....I think mainly they change the stickers from Britz to Backpacker on the vans as they get a bit older.

Astronaut

If you're still a UK resident you should consider taking an excess insurance policy before you go. This will cover any claim made against your car hire bond excess, I'm not totally sure it is applicable for camper vans but it's worth a look. It is way cheaper than taking the hirer's own excess insurance waiver. We discovered these policies last year and its a bargain for peace of mind.

Try here:
http://www.insurance4carhire.com

or just tap "excess insurance car hire" into google to find alternatives.


We've just used these people to cover a UK hire (most policies don't cover <150km from your own home, this one does) which might also be relevant:
http://www.questor-insurance.co.uk/

mohogony

Is it only overseas people that have to pay the huge bond or high insurance because they are worried they might damage the car then skip the country without paying?
Alot of overseas tourists who are going on much longer trips around OZ say 3 months or more actually buy a second hand campervan and then sell it when there holiday is over, if they get a good price when they sell it can work out alot cheaper the renting.