Campervans/Motorhome questions
 

We are returning to New Zealand after an absence of 7 years and plan on spending 4-6 weeks touring probably just the South Island by Motorhome / Campervan ( never sure what the difference is!).

I could do with some advice/guidance/opinions on which rental company to use. Last time we used Adventurevans for the whole eight weeks and they were pretty good. Older vans and we had one or two problems but they were fixed pretty quickly. Other companies I have looked at include Britz, Apollo, Maui. Any thoughts or experiences on any of these companies?

Also, the excess charges/ deposits seem very high, varying between 3-7k NZD. The daily fees to waive these also seem riduculously high, in some cases, almost doubling the cost. I have found a couple of UK insurance providers that will cover this excess ATM a lower price but wondered whether there are any alternatives in New Zealand.

Any input would be much appreciated.

We spent just under 3 weeks touring NZ in November 2009. I rented from Wilderness Motorhomes and I must say all was great! I highly recommend these folks, and in fact, I'm planning to use them again for a month around October - November 2016. No games, no funny business, just good people to deal with. I found them reliable and honest in all dealings.

We had zero issues with our motorhome. By the way, I believe the difference is that Motorhomes are fully self-contained, whereas Campervans may not include niceties like showers. We could literally camp anywhere it was legal, which was pretty much anywhere on the South Island in 2009. I believe things may be a bit more restrictive now so you may wish to research this a bit.

Our Motorhome was based on a Fiat Ducato chassis powered by a 2.3 liter 4 cylinder turbo diesel with 6 speed manual transmission. This rig was a joy to drive and we managed about 23 MPG without even trying! I was very pleasantly surprised by this Motorhome in every way. This was my first experience with right hand drive - and it was interesting for about the first day shifting left handed, but not really difficult to adapt to. I found the difference fun with the unexpected benefit of a constant reminder that I needed to reverse the norm for right hand driving! Not the easiest thing for someone used to left hand for the past 40 plus years!

I loved New Zealand, the South Island in particular. The country is beautiful, the people we met were always friendly and helpful. I can barely contain myself over the prospect of returning for a month on the South Island. I hope you folks have a wonderful time in NZ.

Thanks for the response LSI. You are the second person to recommend Wilderness. Unfortunately both recommendations were received after I had booked with Maui. In the end I went with their all inclusive package to save any hassle.

We are getting a VW or Mercedes 2.3 diesel auto transmission. Fortunately, coming from the UK we are used to RHD but I do know what you mean, I had the same issues with LHd in South America. The main problem I will have is driving an automatic. For the first day or so I am frequently putting my foot on the brake thinking it is the clutch - annoys the hell out of my wife sitting in the passenger seat!

I wasn't expecting to receive any replies and just came back here to ask another question re itinerary - perhaps you will chip in.

Crellston, when will you be on SI? We will be there in November.

hi FromDC we arrive in Christchurch next week and leave Auckland at the end of September. A GTG would have been great, if only our dates had coincided!

Great, a spontaneous trip, very exciting, have a great time.