Any tips for South Island campervan rental? (for a local)

I've hired several campervans over the years and one thing is certain - I'd never willingly choose to hire a converted Toyota Hiace again. It was cramped, there was nowhere to put anything, and you basically had to tip all your belongings out the door just to make the bed, then load it all in again either under or on the bed. For me, more is always more lol. I am over 6 feet tall, so I also didn't enjoy being folded in two for the 5 or so days that I had the high-top Hiace. The house battery was also so small that the fridge only ran a few hours before the battery went flat, and it didn't seem to charge with the engine running, meaning powered camp sites were the only option if we wanted cold food and drink. This was in Australia but this van only had standard engine-driven air con - no house air con, so we cooked overnight....

On another occasion (2009) I rented a 2 berth from Britz that was based on a long wheel base Mercedes Sprinter. In that one I had full standing height (even in the shower) and plenty of space to store all my gear. I rented it on the off-peak shoulder season and referring back to my emails I see I paid a mere $32/day for this particular south island tour, which was an absolute bargain.

After that (2014), I took my ex and her two kids on another south island tour in a 6 berth monster from Real Value Campers. Again I got a shoulder season deal of a staggering $41.72 per day according to my email confirmation. Tonnes of space, full cooking facilities, a real bathroom (well almost).

Obviously you can see that I got some killer deals, and whether or not the same sort of pricing can be had today off the back of Covid I am not sure. What I do know is that at the time of booking the above prices, international tourists were paying above the line pricing of $200-$300 a day for the same thing. But I used aggregator search engines to find the best deals rather than booking direct with the hire companies. Sites such as Motorhome Republic and others.

What I do know is that some of the smaller hire companies used to (and possibly still do) charge a "sanitation fee" for using the onboard toilet. When you pick the van up, it comes with a tamper seal on the bog. If the seal is broken, they know you used it and will charge the sanitation fee which can be $100 or more. This is the precise reason so many tourists crap on the side of the road - to avoid paying this fee. I have found larger companies only charge this fee if you haven't made a genuine effort to empty the toilet and return it in a clean state. That is not hard to do.

Some (or even a lot) of companies will charge you for anything they can - duvet/sheet hire, gas bottle refill charges (charge for a whole bottle even if you only used a smidge of gas out of it), and of course the vehicle registration & RUC recovery fees. I feel RUC is fair, but they pay registration whether the vehicle is on hire or not, so I don't see why the renter should have to pay for it.

Like all rental vehicle companies, they will try to stitch you up with insurance excess reduction plans - and excesses on campervans can be $5000 or more. Sometimes they will just hold that sum on your credit card, but one time I actually had to pay it which was nerve wracking. But now I usually get domestic travel insurance for nominal cost to limit my exposure to damage charges or loss of excess. But worth noting that they will immediately take your $5000 for any overhead or underside damage to a camper, so always thoroughly check the vehicle for such damage before you take possession, and then be very careful with it, particularly in camp grounds where tree branches hang out.

I am sure others have better tips. I'm not trying to put you off - I have had some great road trips in campervans, but the fun times were definitely in larger vehicles with a bit more room, and almost all were booked from 3rd party websites offering great shoulder season deals (not mid winter, not mid summer as a guide). Of course if you are going by yourself with just an overnight bag, the the size of vehicle probably means nothing to you.

[EDIT: I just looked at pricing for a week in April on Motorhome Republic and am pretty shocked by the prices - up to and over $1000 for a 2 berth for a week. That's crazy in my opinion! The cheapest Merc Sprinter like I had is $1200....]

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Mehrts