Buy or hire in Australia? (1 Viewer)

[Douglas]

We are thinking of going to Australia next winter and need to collect information on buying or hiring a MH for a few month.

We would be glad of anyone experiences of all things Ozz.

Doug...

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

Hiya,
we were going to emigrate to OZ . After having a month long reccie , (we left the kids at grandmas )we decided against the idea.
Great holiday destination though .
Long story , but we realized we'd be better off as a family in many ways staying here.
We hired a Camper van , like one of the transit van type things with a wash room loo and shower though. It was more expensive than hiring the equivalent type of thing over here , and rather tatty.
Infact we took the first one back after a day , as i couldn't stand the smell coming from the drains and it was very grubby in the cupboards and shower.
Wed picked it up straight after arriving , jet lagged. I think it cost just over £500 a week and was very basic.
Second hand cars , vans , motorbikes infact anything with an engine in are a lot more expensive than what you'd pay over here.
So i suppose it depends on how much you have to spend . The longer you hire the better rate you get.
They also don't do Mot's out there so there are some real death traps of all types driving around, and Ozzie drivers are not the most easy going. They like to drive right up your bum , under taking is the norm , and they'd never dream of letting anyone out at a junction
We stayed in South Australia as thats where we were going to emigrate to. I don't know if its the same for the whole of Oz , but it is the same for Perth too.
One thing is for sure , they are totally geared up for the camping life style. Fantastic sites , free BBQ points , Fab facilities. Quite cheap in comparison to similar sites here, especially back in 2007/8 when the exchange rate was better.
We would have been hard pushed to be able to afford to buy a very basic caravan out there though. VERY expensive.
Motorhomes like the one we own now, would have been way out of our price range. Ours is bought n paid for , out there we wouldn't have been able to afford one on finance even , not on the wages Ralph could earn if we'd have decided to jump ship.
I suppose It would be different if you were earning British wages and spending out there.
The styles are very 70's too , lots of orange and brown draylon
Things might have changed a bit now , i don't know , we were last over there 2008.
Dont know if any of this helps, id just google motorhome hire/ sales in which ever area you plan on visiting. Youd get a rough idea then.
Bev

 

[Douglas]

Bump

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[pappajohn]

from a previous post on a thread by american dream regarding rental costs in oz...


quote.....

just done a quick check and a 6 berth, from brisbane back to brisbane for 6 months will cost you a grand total of........$51398.80

yes.......$51398.80

 

[kijana]

Hi Doug

We're just back from 4 months motorhoming in Australia. We absolutely loved it!

Due to the length of time we planned to tour, we elected to buy a motorhome out there, and then decide what to do based on how we got on out there.

We trawled the web for many weeks several months before we left, & got a feel for the market. It's a LOT more expensive than over here But it's also very expensive to hire for any sensible length of time (& remember, Australia is a vast country, so you need as long as you possibly can spare to even scratch the surface).

We are very fortunate in having an offspring who has settled in Sydney with his partner. so when we had a shortlist of 3 or 4 vans, all in the Sydney area, we prevailed upon him to go & suss them out. One emerged as a clear winner, & nipper negotiated a price & drove it home. We also encouraged him to go away in it a few times, by way of troubleshooting.

So our van was waiting for us when we arrived, all ready to go.

After our 15,000km tour, we decided we liked Oz so much we'd do it all again, so we elected to keep the van for next time. It currently sits outside nipper's house in suburban Sydney, & they use it occasionally to keep it in g.w.o. Had we decided to sell it, we would have got him to do so on our behalf, so that we wouldn't have to take the first offer made on it.

So if you have a friend or relly who can broker a deal like this, that's the way to do it!

If not, then your options are probably influenced most strongly by your budget. Use the web to get prices on hiring, but for anything decent you must expect to pay over £1500 per month, & you can easily spend much more than this.

If you elect to buy, again, search the web. http://sydney.gumtree.com.au/ is as good a place as any to start, but there are many sites. Lots of backpackers get round in Toyota Hiaces that have had a long hard life as budget rental vans, but still seem to keep going. There are any number of big old bus conversions, and of course everything in between. But the typical European type Luton van is very expensive (over £30k for even a modest example), and not overly common. We bought a Ford Transit panel van, this being the smallest van we could find which included toilet + shower, as we like to wildcamp. Ours cost around £28k for a 2004 van, with 160,000km on the clock. You may even want to think about buying a car + caravan :Blush:, as caravans of all varieties abound, & are probably cheaper & easier to resell.

You will find nearly all vans have very high mileage, because they're nearly all ex-hire vehicles. And because Australia is so big, it's easy - and necessary - to do vast mileages to go anywhere different. (Only it's not mileage, it's all kilometrage)

There are supposedly carparks in Sydney and Townsville where backpackers go to buy or sell cheap vans for travelling north or south. You might find these places mentined in one of the Rough Guide or Lonely Planet books.

If you do buy, Queensland, NSW & Victoria all have MOT's, included in the 'rego' required when transferring ownership. Also incuded in the rego fee (about $140 in NSW) is compulsory 3rd party insurance. You might want to think long & hard about buying any further cover, as fully comp for our van was about £700 Same applies if you hire a van: if it's not compulsory, you'll save a lot of money if you tour the roads less travelled (out in the bush) and drive carefully, without fully comp insurance.

When you come to sell, you could maybe advertize on the 'net before the end of your tour, & hopefully have a few punters lined up for when you arrive at your departure town. And allow as long as possible there so you can barter a bit. DON'T do what the guy who sold my son a van in NZ did, & let slip you're leaving in 3 days time. My ruthless offspring drove a very hard bargain for his little van because he knew the seller was desperate!

Whatever you decide, definately go to Oz. You'll love it, and it's sooo motorhome friendly.

Good luck

Bruce

 

[wanderer]

Hi Doug
You have not given out much regarding your situation eg. just 2 of you, guide to monies to be spent, level of comfort , are you townies or is bush tucker your bag.
W e went out a couple of years ago and we are in our 50,s , we bought a small Toyota campervan in Sydney for 5000 aus dollars at the underground carpark in kings cross , it is well known for selling back packers vans . It was the most expensive on sale when we visited and was in good condition and owned by a German who was resident in Sydney ,I would not buy a backpacker van , they do not look after them and dont have the money to do any mechanical work,
We went to a camping shop and purchased any items that were not supplied with the van including a small tent which we only used for storage when on site(gave us more room).We nearly always stayed on campsites (99%) as they provided cooking facilities , fridge, showers, toilets, electic, tv or film rooms, barbecues. We spent 6 months travelled the following route sydney-Melbourne-Adelaide-alice Springs- Ayers rock-Kings Canyon-Adelaide-Perth.
We sold the van in perth for 4800 aus dollars after spending 350 aus doll on a service. We took proof of our uk no claims bonus which was accepted at the aus RAC. We found that the small vehicle was easy to manouver in cities , but we usually parked up onsite and used public transport when available. If we wanted to go off road we booked separate tours such as Perth to Darwin via Gibb River Road , Takes 3 weeks and then flew back to Perth.
We are going again in september for 6 months, since we were last there our daughter has emigrated to Perth which will be our starting point. We have been doing some research and have this time decided to buy a camping offroad trailer (see Jayco or Kimberley Kampers) and tow with a 4x4 vehicle.We are going to leave in Oz for future family /friends use
Hope some of this stuff is useful to you, could have written pages but currently in Spain and the wifi is bad. Please message me if i can help you in any way
Wanderer

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[Douglas]

So we have found that; its cheaper to buy in Perth than in Sydney, that it is cheaper to buy and sell rather than hire and the vehicles are usually very old with high mileage. As I am mechanically skilled I can live with this.

We did originally think that we would need a motor home similar to our own but found out that as most of the living is done outside the "van's" main use is for transport and carriage of gear so the size needed is much smaller that is needed in Europe.

As to our intentions in Ozz, we are moderately adventurous but with a large sense of personal safety so we may try a little of the bush but but not much. we do not intend to do any 4X4 type driving.

Thanks to all for the info and please keep it coming.

Doug...

 

[Ralph-n-Bev]

When you say you will be mostly living out doors , using the van to travel n sleep in , think hard about the time of year you go , and the spec of your van/mh.
If you go in their summer, our winter , you will definitely be needing air con in your van/mh.
It can get so hot peak season , that you literally want to stay indoors, in an air conditioned building or vehicle.
The heat is so strong, sometimes its like standing in front of an opened oven
Definitely a case of mad dogs and English men , the cool breeze can be like a hot hair dryer .
Air con is a must , if you want a good nights sleep. :thumb:

On the other hand , if you go our summer their winter , make sure you have fleeces , lots of layer clothes and a good heating system in the van / mh.
I kid ye not. It can get blooming cold through the night. We woke up with very cold heads, tight scalps , frozen noses , in September , in Adelaide when our heating went off through the night. The vehicles aren't winterized / insulated like ours.
Oh i nearly forgot, they change the price of petrol on different days (in S.A) Tuesdays was the cheapest. Weekends was always more expensive It never bothered us as we were surprised how cheap their expensive was , but locals kept reminding us of the fact
Bev