Campervanvillage  Reviews 

No issues with the vehicle however after dropping of the car 36 days ago we still haven’t received our $7500 bond. The terms of the contract clearly state that you will receive your money back within 30 days of return. Have checked with the support team and they confirmed there were no issues with the return and that the refund had been given the okay. The support team themselves and the interactions with depot staff have all been helpful and no issues. The accounts team on the other hand seem lazy and still have yet to reply to my email from 5 days ago (which is the only means of communicating with them), since then; radio silence. This company has breached the contract agreed upon and as a result we are looking into legal action against them. $7500 missing for 6 days now is a major concern. Don’t trust Campervanvillage with your money! Looking at other reviews, this seems to be an established trend.

Avoid this company at all costs. We were initially happy with the car and service provided. However, when it came to dropping off the car, we were told that as per our contract agreement it would take up to 30 days for the $7500 bond to be returned to us. We were assured that there were no issues reported with the state of the car once it was returned and yet after multiple communications we still don’t have our returned deposit after 32 days. Since this is a breach of contract we will now be looking into what legal routes we can take as the company are clearly in no rush to return the funds.

We spend 5 days , drove 1000 km in winter and all in all was a great experience! I would recommend Nissan Elgrande for a couple. Kam was very polite

Van ok. Asían language a bit awkward .

We rented the Nissan Elgrande campervan. We had a very good experience overall. All stuff that was promised online was included.

The Company rented us an incomplete 4x4, with insufficient gear, leaking rooftoptents and without any proper instructions. Afterwards not any effort was made to answer properly let alone to settle the problems.

The camper was great , and the experience beautiful!
But I am still waiting the refund after 2 months

The mechanics at pick were great and did their best given the circumstances. There should be better communication between admin staff and the workers at the pick up office. We arrived at our pick up time and had to wait 2 hours because our van didn't arrive till an hour after we showed up. However the van was in good shape. There could be better chairs as they were falling apart and cooking equipment. Van itself was in solid shape. Car would shake when breaking. Just need to fix their pick up times as the workers at the office were trying to get multiple vans ready for pick up at the same time. We shouldn't have to wait over 2 hours when customers can choose their pick up time. We understand there are unforeseen delays but maybe if the admin team was more organised and there was proper communication with the vehicle staff there would be better reviews. There was no where to wait and multiple other groups were also waiting. If we received an email saying there was delays we could have adjusted and not be surprised on pick up.

Stay away from Campervanvillage and Wickedcampers!

They managed to totally ruin my traveling experience in Australia. And seem to go through lengths to further upset and bully already dissatisfied customers.

Borderline criminal or at the least just very incompetent.

First of all they go through great lengths to try and keep as much of your prepaid bond money as they can. Hiding behind their small print which they will say of course is all transparant on their website. But nobody will explain anything about it during the pickup of your van, that is how transparent they are.

I tried to find the silver lining but they managed to push the boundaries of my patience and understanding.

You can find all the details below and form your own opinion:

- (disappointing)
- I payed 2500 dollars extra compared to my friend, same company, same rental period (22 days), because I chose the 4x4 D5 adventure van. It was nearly identical to hers with the only difference mine was 4x4 but fitted with standard tires and not at all fit for offroad driving if I would have to assess. So I would stay away from this very overpriced option, which seems to me more to be a marketing stunt than a serious consideration for offroad driving
- Be aware about the deductible amount whenever there is damage. With the same insurance my friend had a bond of 500 dollars and a risk of 2000 for single vehicle incidents (hitting a roo for example). But since with my nearly identical vehicle, since classified as a 4x4, my risk with the same insurance was 2000 dollars bond and 5000 dollars risk when having a single vehicle incident (yes, that is on top of the 2500 dollars I had payed extra for the adventure van) (read/study all details on their policy here before you book: campervanvillage .com/policies
- The engine failed (overheated engine) 4 times during the trip seriously limiting the speed and rpm capacity of the car (no compensation or even interest in these issues from either campervanvillage or wickedcampers.
- Be alert you pay 55 cents extra per kilometer you overrun the standard km’s. My gage was broken so I had a unwanted surprise at the end of an additional 900 dollars. Bringing the full rental price to 6000 dollars for a 22 day rental period. In my opinion extremely overpriced for an old and very basic campervan.
- Somewhere in the small print is written that beach driving isn’t allowed. So a 50 meter drive on a hard sand beach which I did cost me 600 dollars. To so called: clean the undercarriage. Total nonsense. Total of the rental has become 6600 dollars now.
- Website info says the car will manage 12 KM per Liter. In real life: if you manage to stay below 2000 rpm while frustrating all the other traffic around you or only drive highway kilometers you’ll get 10 KM per Liter. Normal driving behavior will most likely give you 8 or 9 KM per Liter at best though
- Be aware the van requires Unleaded Fuel 95/98, next to the fact it is harder to find in more remote areas expect to pay 10-15% more for your fuel. Together with the range it adds up quickly I experienced
- Kilometer gage was broken, stuck on 44779 (If I would need to guess I’d say it is more likely the car has done around 200/300k kilometers)
- Water handpump system (of the kitchen) doesn’t really work comfortably, much force needed for some drops of water. You’re better off with a separate jerrycan with a tab on the bottom. The van I got was delivered with a broken 10 liter jerrycan, I had to find a replacement myself
- No on board navigation, CarPlay or phone mount in the car. You’ll need to be creative in order to (safely) navigate
- No explanation about the functionality of the car at pickup other than; that’s your fridge. The person at pickup was actually quite rude and unwelcoming. My friend had the exactly same experience
- The added bedding option I don’t recommend. Everything’s synthetic and pillows are flat. You might pay a bit more but getting some cotton sheets yourself will give you much more comfort
- The ‘sunpowered’ shower I also cannot recommend. One of the online videos shows a shower head attached to the van. The thing they gave me was a black 20L waterbag with a hose and spray head. You can warm the water in the sun, but need to put it up high above your head to be able to use it (it works with gravity). I found it unusable to say the least
- This might be nitpicking for some people but the sound of the fridge is quite audible and the little motor will run every 15 minutes or so. (Also while sleeping ;))
- The car didn’t seem to have two separate batteries. The day that my fridge died (due to a lack of sun power, needless to say my food was ruined also) the car wouldn’t start anymore and needed to be jumpstarted

Not enough characters left to say anything positive might say enough.

Do your research and don’t book with campervanvillage!

The cars was not in a good condition. Space between front door and back door so it was raining in. Air conditioning vents were broken. Wheels/tires were not okay so the steering was vibrating over 100km/h

From Switzerland, we rented a 4WD camper with a roof tent (Desert Sands 4x4) from Campervan Village (CV) for 6 weeks. The rental involved a lot of bureaucracy in advance (electronic signature here and there) and shortly before departure we had to pay a deposit of 2000 AUD. This was charged to the credit card and the refund - combined with an exchange rate loss of CHF 70 - was only made on request and more than 5 weeks after the car was returned. Not the smart thing to do.

CV only works in the background and is obviously only the intermediary for the campers. The work on site (handover in Darwin and return in Cairns) is delegated to the company "wicked campers" and its employees. The quality of this company is completely inadequate: there is only an explanation of the vehicle with answers to questions that are asked; equipment is missing (spare canisters, poles for the tarpaulin, bedding for the roof tent etc.); it was concealed that the vehicle had previously been in an accident; the vehicle did not correspond to the one shown for hire on the CV website (missing awning and winch). The superstructure at the rear was a pure handicraft of insufficient quality. We think that more should be expected for over AUD 10,000.

The 2nd point in the rating is only for the employees of CV, with whom we had a lot of contact by e-mail, WhatsApp and telephone conversations due to the problems (with the battery for the cool box, with the leaking water tank, because of the missing equipment parts). The staff at Campervan Village were very friendly and helpful at all times. But our conclusion: CV, that's not the way to do it!

We rented Johnny Feelgood in Cairns and left it in Adelaide. Everything went smoothly and the off hours drop off in Adelaide was really smooth as well. We would highly recommend.

DO NOT RENT FROM this company if you want to get your security bond back within 30 days!
My son rented a campervan from November 4th to 26th from Campervan Village / Wicked Campers. He had to pay AUD 1900 for the rental. The security bond was AUD 7500 for 'standard liability'. The car was already full of dents and scratches when he received it. The horn didn't work either. I think the car wasn't worth much more than the total security bond!
I wondered why my son had to pay such a high security bond. After returning the car on November 26th, it was supposed to be inspected within 7 days. However, his car was only inspected after 15 days. No issues were found. The bond refund process was to be handled by the account team. Then the nightmare began. My son sent multiple emails asking where his security bond was. He only received emails from their contact center with positive but meaningless texts like "Do not worry, the accounts team has your refund under their radar and they will inform you once processed". After 31 days, I helped my son to issue a formal complaint. Campervan Village had breached the contract. He immediately initiated a chargeback with the debit card company. He provided all the evidence. Campervan Village still did not want to refund his security bond. "Due to having initiated a chargeback, the bond refund process timing is now out of our control". This was not true, as they could have processed the refund immediately, but they chose to keep his money as long as possible. After 51 days, he finally got his AUD 7500 back. The credit card company told him that he had won the dispute.
The question is why does Campervan Village treat its customers this way? Do they have a cash flow problem or are they trying to scam customers?

Self pick-up and drop off, so you need to be able to call them once at the pick up location for keybox code. Something that I would have liked to know before. Otherwise, super reactive and helpful contact via WhatsApp during the trip 👍

Regarding the vehicule, it is ok, could have been better for the price. We didn't have any issues, just some noises with the brakes. It is equipped with the strictly minimum, like too basics for a van life experience. We had to buy some stuff like a Bluetooth device with car-USB charger and there were no curtains. Also, it could be a bit more ergonomic. I think the position of the sink could be facing the trunk. But we made it out and had a super cool experience through NZ.

Very helpful staff, Kriti has been great! We weren’t sure we would be able to get a van booked in time for our upcoming trip but Kriti has been going the extra mile to help us! With card issues on our end and a ten hour time difference, she’s been more than accommodating to make sure we got our booking confirmed. Thank you Kriti!

Fantastic staff and service. Brilliant van. Loved it. Only dropped 1 star due to usb not strong enough to charge a phone and could not connect Bluetooth to it, and be aware the depo is a long long way out of Melbourne CBD. Other than that, great stuff, thankyou very much.

Great easy to use company & brilliant customer service. Penny is an awesome representative that I personally dealt with. I’ll return again.

Great experience with our van and lovely customer service at the Brisbane Depot. We did the upgrade cover and it was totally worthy 🙌. Thank you Campervan Village

Simple pick up and drop off, and good response time with any queries you have

We had the best 5 days with this excellent camper van driving up to the Daintree Rainforest! It was better than we expected and there was a lot of flexibility in giving the car back at the end of it. Has everything you need. Very comfortable sleeping!