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Campervan Tips

Choosing a vehicle

Keep it short! New Zealands roads are often narrow and winding and the ferry rate depends on the vehicle length. The bigger the waste water tank is, the more autarchical you are. Then you won't need a campground so often what's quite a nice thing as there are so many beautiful spots where you can stay for free in New Zealand.

You won't need a shower in the mobile home. We didn't make use of ours as taking a shower needs so much water and you have to dry the cabin afterwards. You can wash with a facecloth and nearly every campsite has showers, most of them hot. So you have less to worry about refilling and emptying the fresh- and waste water tanks. A toilet inide a mobile home is convenient without question.

I was glad we had internal walk-through access, so the driver's cab was part of the living space. You can put your clothes on the driver's seat when you go asleep and you don't have to get in and out the vehicle if you need something such as maps or clothes.

Keep it short. The ferry rate depends on the vehicle length.

Rental Companies

I can't fall back on a wide range of experiences, because our holidays in New Zealand were the first ones in a campervan. We guessed Britz was the right choice as the name is quite popular. In the travel agency catalogue the campervan - we choosed the Britz Elite - looked nice. When we arrived at the rental station we were disappointed. Our Britz Elite turned out as a converted Volkswagen transporter. Though it had everything the car hire company promised nobody worried about creating a comfortable and practical surrounding for a long journey. There was no tray, only two hooks and the cutlery had been accurately counted (2 forks, 2 knifes). After a few days there was grey water in the shower cubicle although we didn't use the vehicle shower. Then, while driving, the water was running out of the car, although the waste water tank could not be full. It turned out that something stuck in the pipe and they had to replace the campervan. That meant phoning around, being put off several times and waiting on the campground for the return calls for hours. Finally, they promised to deliver the new vehicle in the late evening. We asked for a better vehicle as compensation for the trouble we had (troubleshooting, waiting, no water, phoning around) and they agreed to. In the evening they gave us a call, the van wouldn't be replaced until next morning. We should be ready from 7.00 am. That's not my idea of holidays – and over that, we'd been spending the evening waiting for nothing.

Next morning a driver arrived with the new campervan. It was the same vehicle, but from Maui, and no upgrade as they'd promised before. Eddie the driver meant, the gear change was better. Actually, the vehicle had a better handling than it's forerunner which was obviously the worst of their so alleged modern vehicle fleet (though we'd booked at the beginning of the year). At least the second gear could be engaged without using violence now. But when we checked the Maui vehicle, new defects turned out: a cupboard door didn't close and had to be repaired (otherwise the kitchen equipment would've been tossed in front of the car while driving), a curtain lacked which we replaced with a dish towel (for sleeping). Bound and determined not to get annoyed anymore and to finally enjoy our holidays, we continued our trip. After driving just 50 kilometres on a surfaced highway (!) a back tyre burst, old and brittle. Yeeeha.

The tyre was that burst we couldn't fix it under the vehicle again. Unfortunately, we were in lack of the special tools you need to separate the tyre from the wheel, so we had to leave the wheel there as well. We gave Maui a call to inform them where to pick up the tyre and they instructed us to get a spare tyre at an authorized repairer. When we'd finally found a Firestone garage, it turned out they couldn't help because we were in lack of the wheel and we had to return to the vehicle rental in Auckland. Fortunately it was no detour, as Auckland was on our further route and once in the Britz / Maui office, we planned to ask for compensation. On our way there we got advice to make sure (in writing) that the tyre and the wheel weren't for our account. It was said to be typical business practices to charge the credit card without saying before.

At the office they gave us the runaround and wore us out. Needless to say the supervisor is trained to get the best out (not for you but for Britz and Maui). After 5 hours waiting and protracted negotiations we got an indemnification of 544 NZ$. And they “generously” didn't charge the wheel and the tyre which had burst because it was so old and brittle. There was nothing we could do about it without the help of a lawyer. We were urged to sign a statement of agreement with the indemnification, what of course quashed the possibility of further claims. They refused a simple receipt – no signature, no money. Well, we signed this agreement and have the Britz experience now: never again we will hire a vehicle, mobile home, campervan or car at Britz or Maui neither we will recommend them. Nevertheless I have to say the vehicle handover in Christchurch passed quickly and without any problems and they charged only the diesel tax for the kilometres we had driven with the first campervan.

Britz and Maui are both affiliated firms of the Tourism Holdings Limited, so it's just another company name but the same policy.

Lesson: Good marketing doesn't mean good service or quality at all. Take your time when choosing a vehicle and a rental company. Don't rely on vehicle sketches in brochures, but try to find photos and progress reports on the web. Compare the offers properly and take a close look at the terms and conditions, as there are big differences.

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