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Some background info on campervans. There are heaps of campervan companies catering for different segments of the market, some are regionally based while others cater for the lower priced market segment (such as backpackers) where the vans will have a more basic layout, less well equipped, older (and often less reliable) vehicles. Have a look at the following website - haven’t used it myself but has been cited on other posts on this issue.

http://www.ecampervanhire.com/

Maui, Britz, and Backpacker are probably the campervans you see most often on the road in Australia. They are all run by the same company which is reliable and professional. Backpacker is for the lower price segment, Mauri the top price segment and Britz in the middle. My wife and I hired a Britz van out of Perth a couple of years ago and were very happy with the van and service. We were upgraded to a Maui from a Britz and didn’t think there was a lot of difference in quality. I used the following website to get some comparisons.

http://www.drivenow.com.au/home/campervan-hire

For the larger companies the van layouts are fairly standard, they use vehicles with lower kilometres on the clock (so are more reliable and in better condition) and they have a reputation to protect.

From time to time you hear of some horror stories with all types of vehicle hire and if you hire at the lower priced end of the market you usually get what you pay for. You might be considering Wicked Campervans – I suggest you do a search on this forum for “wicked” to get some feedback from earlier post!

Be for warned that a number of the campervan hire companies have a base hire rate that includes an excess damage component. Typically the excess for campervans is around $7,000. This means that if you damage the vehicle you pay the excess. All hire companies have an option for an additional charge where you can waiver some or all of the excess which can add quite a lot to the hire cost. Some credit cards and travel insurance policies have an excess car hire insurance component or you can take out car hire excess insurance yourself (which is often cheaper than what the hire company will offer).

You also need to be aware that for campervan hire they will pre debit the excess damage from your credit card BEFORE you take the campervan. This means for a $7,000 excess you need the $7,000 credit available on your card and you will not be able to use this credit while you have the van. And if you have taken out excess insurance separately this pre debit still applies!

Campervan hire companies (as well as for normal cars) generally restrict their vehicles to sealed roads (unless you are accessing a park of some sort). You need to check this for the trip you are planning. While going straight up the guts to Darwin is sealed a lot of the side roads will not.

So you need to check the fine print i.e. the hiring conditions.

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Don't know which are the best, but Wicked are definitely the worst. I saw one the other day that should be reported to the advertising standards board. Is there a campervan standards board?

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There are a few companies that do "relocations" for FREE and allocate a number for days for the trip. If you take longer than the allocation you just pay the daily rate for the additional days.

There are quite a few FREE Camps up and down the coast which can also save on the travel budget. We are currently camped at St Lawrence, free camp, free electric BBQs, drinking water, flushing toilets, hot showers ($1 for 3 minutes). Check out http://www.freecampingaustralia.com.au/ for other locations along the coast.

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I tend to get mine from www.ecampervanhire.com like Habby mentioned. They have the biggest selection to compare prices with, most the other places only really compare about 5 or 6 companies and this mob compare more like 20 or 30.

As to what is best will depend on what you are after and what the budget is. Apolo wasn't mentioned earlier as a major company but they are right up there with britz for size and quality. Cheaper end, try Camperman or Awesome campers. Stay away from wicked.

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I have just booked up a campervan through spaceships for 14 days at a cost of $357 (that's with a 20% discount as I have a visa bureau card.) It is by far the cheapest I have come across and they have pretty good reviews, the only vehicles available are two berth though

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Is it possible to get campervan's with AC? I do not want to be travelling/sleeping in Feb without it? Not sure if this is a unrealistic thing to look for in a motorhome. We are not wanting to go luxury, but not budget either?

(I can't figure out how to post a new thread on LP forum...)

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To post a new thread, look for the green tab labelled "Post a new thread" on the main branch for Australia.