Relocating Camper Vans around Australia🏕️

Introduction
Travelling around Australia is one of the best things I have ever done, but it can be very expensive getting around! I first travelled up the East Coast in 2020 by Greyhound buses, which wasn’t too bad. However, the hostel prices is what racked up the bill, and they have only increased since I came back.

Why Relocations
This time around, to save more money on accommodation, we travelled around Australia starting with the West Coast, by relocating camper vans. We used Imoova, which is a hire vehicle relocation third party company. There are other relocation companies, such as Coseats and Transfer Car, but we ended up using Imoova for all our relocations. Essentially, vehicle hire companies use Imoova to advertise their relocations, and find lucky backpackers willing to move a camper van for them for a very cheap price ($1 AUS a day, plus a small booking fee deposit). You are probably sat there thinking no way is it $1 a day to have completely free reign of a camper van and have the time of your life road tripping around Australia, well you better start believing, because it really is that cheap. Of course, this amazing price comes with some down sides, which I will explain, but in my opinion these do not get in the way of the experience.

Deposit & Costs
Firstly, a $1000 AUD (£523) bond is required to be paid in full upon collection of your vehicle. Don’t worry though, you get this back in full once you have delivered your camper on time and undamaged. One thing to keep in mind is that it may take up to 14-28 days to receive the deposit back, which may be a problem to backpackers on a tighter budget.

Secondly, you will have a deadline to which you have to make sure you drop your vehicle off before 3pm on the final day at the correct drop off location. Normally, Imoova provides 6 days at 1$ a day, which is enough time for short to medium road trips without a lot of stops. But this can be a challenge for longer road trips in which there are many interesting things and places that you want to see along the way. Do not worry though, as hire companies are normally very reasonable and will negotiate a few extra paid days, the price varies by company but roughly $75 a day, which is still a lot cheaper than renting. Extra days are sometimes added on the relocation listing as +X amount of days, if the listing doesn’t have that then you could ask the hire company if they would allow it. If you want any extra days, make sure you confirm with the hire company so they can book it on the system, if you don’t do this beforehand they might not be able to approve it on the day of collection.

Another thing to keep in mind is keeping a track of your kilometres. When you sign up for a relocation you are given a specific amount of km’s that you are allowed, so lots of extra detouring might creep you over that range. If you are paying for extra days you are given an extra 250km per day, which is a nice added bonus. If you do end up going over your allowed km’s, your contract states you will need to pay something like 50 cents per km, you are over your limit. In our experience if you turn up on time with a clean camper and no damages and with a smile on your face you are generally let off the hook for going over the contracted km’s. However, you may meet a stickler for the rules when you come to drop off your van so be cautious.

Rules
Lastly, there are a few stricter rules to which you have to follow which can be a nuisance but overall we found to be things we just got used to (we just kept saying “it’s $1 a day” and laughing). The first of these rules is no night time driving. This means, from sunset to sunrise you are legally not allowed to drive your camper. This requires careful planning of the days itinerary, to ensure you don’t end up driving after dark to get to your campsite. Don’t think you can get away with it either, the hire companies have GPS trackers and know when you are driving at night and can fine you your deposit. This may seem annoying as you might think it would be useful to get some miles in at night to enjoy the day time a bit more. But honestly, this is just good driving practice when living in Australia, the Kangaroos are nocturnal so come out at night. Roos can grow to be up to 90kg (200lb) and WILL jump directly into the front of your car, evidence of this is the roadkill you will get used to seeing all over Australia. 

The next rule is no speeding, which may seem obvious, but the hire companies know when you break the speed limit. Going over 110kph consistently will cause the hire company to ring you to tell you to slow down, failing to do so will get your deposit fined from you. 110kph is fast enough in a camper anyway especially with the road trains and kangaroos to watch out for (trust me).

Finally, driving on unsealed roads. This is a little bit more of a grey area than the previous two rules, but generally speaking you are forbidden from driving on unsealed roads. This means any road that is not tarmac, so dirt roads and beach’s, are off limits even if you are driving a 4X4. We found that it was pretty much impossible to stick to this rule 100% of the time as the campsites you will use are all sand/dirt roads in sections. This made us be a little braver and take a few very short dirt tracks to see viewpoints and places of interest. However, if you are caught driving on unsealed roads or you damage the camper by doing so (remember they have GPS) yep you guessed it say goodbye to your $1000 bucks.

Finding a Camper
To find a camper, I would recommend checking Imoover’s website or any relocation website every two days to see if they upload any new campers which needed to be relocated. On the website you can add filters to find your perfect van, for example, how many people, the date you want it from, where you want to pick it up and drop it off. Any vehicles shown matching your requirements, you better snatch up quickly because guaranteed within the next hour, that camper will be gone. After filling in your details and paying the deposit, you are all booked in! Check out Imoova’s website below for more information!

Leading on from this, on the day in which you are picking up your camper, I would recommend getting to the hire company as soon as they open or as early as possible. From our experience, we were in Perth and went on a Monday to collect our camper and there were twelve other camper van pick ups before us in the queue when we got there at 9am. It’s a first come first serve thing, so I would go as early as you can. Once you have signed your contract and gone through the safety procedures you are ready to go.

With all that being said go have the best and cheapest road trip of your lives!!!

Check out my other blogs which go into further detail about our West Coast road trip, some helpful tips and the incredible stops we did on the way!