Australia Camper Relocations: How to get the Cheapest campervan hire in Australia ($1 a day!)

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I am probably part of about 20 Australia backpacker groups on facebook, and one thing that I see come up time after time is people looking for lifts from A to B. Now, don’t get me wrong, this can be a great way to meet new people and save money but what happens if you simply can’t get a lift from a fellow traveller?

Well, this is where you need to be taking a look at relocation rentals!

I know, it sounds super sketchy to be able to rent a car or campervan for $1 a day but Australia camper relocations are a legit thing. In fact, I did 3 in the space of about 6 weeks and managed to drive from Adelaide to Melbourne (via the awesome Great Ocean Road), Melbourne to Sydney and Brisbane to Melbourne. The cost of all of these rentals combined? A whopping $12!

Hooray! Something that actually isn’t too good to be true!

Nabbing a last-minute campervan relocation enabled Tom and me to still do what we loved best in Australia after we sold our own van. As well as campervan relocations, there are also plenty of rental car relocations in Australia so if you’re looking for something smaller than a van, I think this guide will help you too. Australia is made for road trips and I think campervan relocation deals are a fantastic option and a real travel hack for travelling for less.

You might also like:

• 20 budget campervan essentials under $20
• How to road trip the Great Ocean Road
• 10 of the best things to see between Melbourne and Sydney on an epic road trip

What are Australia camper relocations?

Relocation rentals are exactly what they say in the name. These come up when a rental company needs to get some of its vehicles from one location to another to make sure they have enough vehicles in each location to meet the demand. It’s really common in Australia for people to hire a vehicle for a one-way trip so when this happens, hire companies could easily find that more of their vehicles are in one place than another. This is where relocation rental hires come in.

Why are Australia camper relocations so cheap?

Relocation rentals are kind of a reciprocal thing. The hire company needs their vehicle to be moved from one place to another ASAP in order to be able to hire it out again at full price, and travellers (like you ane me) are looking for a way to get from A to B. By hiring these vehicles out super cheap, the companies don’t then have to pay to employ staff to do these trips, so it’s a whole lot cheaper for the company to hire them as a relocation rental. It’s a win-win situation!

Where can you pick up relocation rentals?

There are so many routes that might be available for a camper relocation. It appears that the most common routes go between Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne as the east coast is the most popular route to travel in Australia, but it’s definitely not restricted to this. I’ve seen relocation rentals available that will take you through the middle of Australia, along the west coast and even over to Tasmania. Different companies are based in different locations so they all have different supply demands to get their vehicles to certain locations.

Things to know before you book a last-minute campervan relocation

Aside from needing a full drivers licence (of course), there are some extra things you should know about in advance.

Time and Km limit

As rental companies need vehicles to be moved to meet demand, there will be a day and Km limit that you have to stick to. Generally, the Km limit is going to determine the route you will take as this, in turn, should give you the shortest route making it easier to reach your destination in the time frame. This time and Km limit does mean that you probably won’t be able to see absolutely everything you want to but this is the compromise you have to take for nabbing the cheap rental cost.

Bond

when you pick up the vehicle, you will need to pay a bond. A bond is an amount of money that the rental company will take from your account until the vehicle is returned in good condition at the end of your trip. If you return the vehicle without any damage and in a clean condition (fingers crossed) you will get the full amount back, however, if there are any damages then a fee will be deducted from your bond to account for it.

For each of the 3 relocation rentals in Australia we used, we rented from 3 different companies and each required a bond of $1000. It’s also super important to note that getting this bond back can take between 48 hours and 21 days (I know, such a variance right?) so you will need to still have enough in your account to see you through in the interim.

Extra costs

Extra costs can vary from company to company so make sure you read the terms and conditions before you book. Things like camping chairs and tables and even towels and linen are sometimes an additional cost and you might also need to refill the LPG bottle before returning the camper. However, some relocation rentals come with perks such as free LPG and even money towards your fuel costs. Nearly every vehicle will need to be returned with a full tank of fuel so this is also something to keep in mind.

One extra cost you might have available and might want to consider is the option to pay for a day or two more for the hire. This isn’t always an option available but Tom and I did this for our Adelaide to Melbourne relocation rental and it was great!

Cleaning

It’s super important that you return the campervan in a clean condition to avoid any fees. This includes the usual stuff like emptying the fridge and cupboards of all food, have clean surfaces and reasonably clean floors, removing linen and emptying the bin. If your vehicle has a toilet you will need to return than empty if you’ve used it and also empty the greywater.

How to find Campervan relocation deals in Australia for $1 a day

A quick google of ‘campervan relocations’ will pull up a number of websites for you to choose from, but from personal experience, I can vouch for imoova, CoSeats and Transfercar. These websites are third party booking agents so on these sites you will find a long list of vehicles to choose from. Alternatively, you can take a look at individual rental company websites and see what they have available there. However, it seems that some companies only advertise their relocations through third-party websites.

When you take a look at imoova, CoSeats and Transfercar it’s as simple as putting in the dates you are looking for and seeing what is available. You can usually filter by pick up location or start date to make things easier to search through. Here’s a little bit more information about each of these sites.

[columns]
[column size=”1/3″]imoova

– Lists all the relocation rentals in the whole of Australia.
– You can filter by pick up and drop off location and number of passengers.
– Lists the general type of vehicle that you will be hiring.
– States any perks that might be available.
– Has a $25 booking fee.
– You won’t know which company’s van you’ll be driving until you book.[/column]
[column size=”1/3″]CoSeats

– Lists all the relocation rentals in the whole of Australia.
– Has a little image of the type of vehicle available and the number of passengers it can hold.
– States any perks that are included.
– Clearly shows the cost of the deposit and bond payments.
– The site takes you directly to the rental company’s website so there’s no booking fee.[/column]
[column size=”1/3″]Transfercar

– Lists all the relocation rentals in the whole of Australia.
– You can filter by pick up and drop off location and number of passengers.
– Has a clear image of the vehicle available.
– States any perks that are included.
– You get a good description of the layout of the van.
– Gives you the option to pay for extra hire days.
– Clearly shows the cost of the deposit and bond payments.
– The site doesn’t take you directly to the rental company’s website but there’s no booking fee BUT you don’t know the company you will be hiring from.[/column]
[/columns]

One thing to note about using these third party websites is that there can be an additional booking fee involved. However, Transfercar takes you directly to the rental company’s website to book which then means you avoid the booking fee meaning you truly can get the rental for $1!

When you find a vehicle you want, you will need to put in your card details and request the hire. You don’t automatically get the rental relocation right on the spot but for us we had no issues getting it approved by the company and it took very little time to come through.

Things to know when you go to pick up your campervan relocation rental

When we picked up each of our campervans we had to watch a video on how to use the different things in the van, pay the bond and check the van over. It’s so important to do a really thorough check of the whole of the van and get anything and everything recorded. Look for any dents, scratches or scuffs on the bodywork, scuffs on the wheels and wing mirrors, window chips and any damage to the roof.

No matter how tiny you think it is, don’t be afraid to mention it as when you return the vehicle it will be inspected as any damage that isn’t recorded at this stage might cost you part of your bond. Be sure to also make a note of the odometer reading just to make sure you don’t go over your kilometre allowance and make sure you know if it’s petrol or diesel!

At this point, you will be required to pay the bond and to sign paperwork stating you understand the terms and conditions of the hire. If you have any questions at all, don’t be afraid to ask. The company will also need to see your drivers licence so be sure to have that to hand. You might also have the chance to pay extra to increase your insurance cover and reduce the premium in case you have an accident, or pay for extra cover like tyre and windscreen cover.

Aside from these checks and bits of paperwork, you’ll pretty much be handed the keys and are free to go!

How to plan your relocation rental route

As relocation rentals have a Km limit as well as a time limit, it’s important to work out the best route to suit this before you go. For us, on our road trip from Melbourne to Sydney this meant driving inland instead of the coastal route. Sadly this isn’t as pretty as hopping from beach to beach but it’s the compromise we took for getting such a bargain on the rental.

I’ve found the best way to work out a route is to just put you start and end destination into Google Maps and make sure it’s set to choose the shortest route. From here you can then judge how many Kilometres you have leftover in your allowance to possibly alter your route to hopefully see something you want. You can also then plot your day-by-day drives and work out the drive times per day.

In the settings on Google Maps, you can also set it to avoid toll roads if you prefer. We’ve found them to be pretty pricey especially in Sydney so you might want to avoid them too. If not, make sure you pay them before you give your camper back.

I have to say though that if you do go over your kilometre allowance, there really is usually only a small fee per kilometre (about 28-32 cents). If there is somewhere you really want to visit and you can fit it into your day allowance, it might be worth going for it if it’s only going to add a few extra kilometres on.

Essential apps for travelling Australia

You don’t need much to hit the road in Australia, but I’ve tried and tested these apps over many months of travel and found them to be invaluable. Not only do they make the road trip far easier to plan but they also helped save precious dollars.

Fuel Map App

This is an absolute godsend on roadtrips! This app shows you all the fuel stations nearby based on your location and also allows you to move around the map to view ones further along your route. Not only that but it also shows the prices of the fuel so you can find the cheapest ones on your route. Just a little thing to note though is that anyone using the app can go in and update the prices so it’s not monitored by the fuel station itself. However, we’ve generally found it to be pretty accurate still.

Wikicamps

I have a full guide to using Wikicamps which you can read here, but in short, this app shows you all the campsites in the whole of Australia, including free ones. It will show you the facilities, the location and also has reviews to help you make a choice. Utilising the free campsites shown on Wikicamps has helped save us hundreds of dollars so it’s well worth getting this app.

Google Maps/Maps Me/Waze

A SatNav might well cost you extra but there’s really no need for it when you have your phone anyway. Maps.me is a great offline map app where you can download regional maps over wifi and then not use any data or have to worry about losing phone signal when on the road. Similarly, you can download and area of the map on Google Maps to make it available offline. You simply hover over the are you need and type ‘Ok maps’ and hit search.

Waze is the only one of these map apps that is not available offline but it has its advantages. Waze is a community app whereby other drivers can mark on things such as Police parked on the side of the road and road accidents. It’s a handy thing to have this live information but be sure to not do any updates for the community whilst driving.

Netflix

The Netflix App has saved us from many a gloomy night in Australia, especially in free camps which are often just lay-bys at the roadside. The app allows you to download shows to your phone so you can watch them offline. Perfect for when you find yourself sleeping somewhere without signal!

What’s the best Simcard for Australia roadtrips?

To put it simply, there are 3 main network providers in Australia – Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Telstra has the best coverage, followed by Optus and then Vodafone. Personally, I used Optus for 2 years and regretted not having Telstra when I was on the West Coast and in the outback. However, I had no issues with the signal on the East Coast and with Optus usually being cheaper than Telstra I just went with it.

Other networks are available such as Amaysim and even Aldi but they actually all use one of these three providers, so be sure to take a look at those as well. If you’re only going to be in Australia for a few weeks then I recommend pickup up a pre-paid sim and then selecting which data package you want when you register it.

Ok, so are Australia relocation rentals worth it?

I think they 100% are! Roadtrips are the best way to see Australia and with so many routes potentially available, I actually think you could drive around most of Australia using relocation rentals alone. Not only is it the cheapest way to hire a vehicle but it also means you have your accommodation provided to you as well.

Just to summaries though, here are the pros and cons of Australia relocation rentals:

Pros

• Incredibly cheap
• You get the comfort of the camper without the cost
• The campervan might be fancier than you would otherwise have been able to afford
• Roadtrips in australia are the best!
• It provides you with accommodation and you have the bonus of potential free camps
• You only need to pay for petrol

Cons

• You have a kilometre limit and will be charged per kilometre if you go over this
• You have a time limit
• You won’t be able to see everything you might want to
• You don’t get to be choosy about the vehicle you get
• You have to be flexible about where and when you go

So there you have it! How awesome does this deal sound? I have to admit I was sceptical about it all at first but after doing the first one I was hooked! If you’ve used relocation rentals before, drop a comment to share your bargain road trip story!

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