The camper van itself was basic but very comfortable.

The service / added extras are shocking. We had initially opted for the standard liability reduction. A very persuasive person at check in sold us a $300 policy whereby our liability was reduced to $0. This was sold on the basis of 'piece of mind' blah blah. We were told that there was exclusion for the chassis and roof. Okay we thought. On returning the camper we were advised there was a paint scuff about head height. We are adamant we did not cause this and believe it was there on taking the camper. We should have conducted a much more thorough inspection of the camper ourselves on pick up rather than rely on the sales agent. Our mistake. However, on returning the camper, we thought no worries; we had paid over $300 to reduce any liability to $0. As the claimed damage was neither on the roof or chassis, we thought, sweat, we are covered. WRONG! There are so many exclusions it’s not funny. Rather than just being the chassis and roof, on returning the van we were told that the expensive liability reduction we had gone for excluded anything above head height! I am 1.67m and the camper is 3.5m. If the chassis and anything over 1.67m are excluded, you can work out there is actually very little included! To make matters worse, Cheapa Campa demanded a $2500 credit card deduction to cover repairs for the scratch, charged us a $75 damaged fee and a 4.5% credit card administration charge!!! We have managed to get some of our money back, but still have a large amount in dispute. This has turned out to be the most expensive trip of the 5 camper van trips we have had in New Zealand. We will avoid Cheapa Campa (and their sister brands such as Apollo) in future. In my opinion, if you do go with them, note all the liability exclusions and get these explained to you before you sign anything. Also, avoid our mistake and make sure you do your own check of the camper on check out and note down every single scratch!

Reviewed over 12 years ago