Every campervan comparison site in Australia shows you a headline daily rate, and almost none of them show you the number you’ll actually pay. Between the bond, the one-way fee, the cleaning charge and the “administration fee” that turns out to be a credit card surcharge, the gap between the advertised price and the final bill is the single biggest complaint travellers post about hiring a campervan out of Melbourne.
This guide works through what it genuinely costs, who to book with, and the traps that catch first-timers and seasoned road trippers alike.
Quick facts
| Minimum age | 21 (18 to 20 accepted by some companies with a young driver surcharge and vehicle restrictions) |
| Licence needed | A full, valid car licence (Class C) covers most hire campervans up to 4.5 tonnes GVM. P-plates and learner permits are generally not accepted. |
| Licence held for | At least 1 to 2 years, depending on the company |
| International visitors | An English-language licence plus passport is enough. A non-English licence needs an International Driving Permit carried alongside the original, not instead of it. |
| Typical bond (2 to 4 berth) | $3,000 to $5,000, held on a credit card |
| Excess reduction cost | Roughly $30 to $49 a day through the rental company, versus around $10 to $15 a day through an independent excess insurer |
| Typical daily rate | Roughly $60 to $150 a day for a standard 2 to 4 berth in shoulder season, more over summer and Easter, less on relocation deals |
| One-way fee | $100 to $500 on common east coast routes, $300 to $900 to remote drop-offs like Broome, Darwin or Alice Springs |
| Where most depots are | Clustered around Somerton and Tullamarine, 20 to 25 minutes from Melbourne Airport |
| Best months | March to May and September to November for mild weather and lower peak-season pricing |
Best destinations out of Melbourne
Victoria was practically built for this. You can be at a genuinely spectacular coastline, mountain range or outback edge within a few hours of picking up the keys, which is more than can be said for campervanning out of most Australian capitals. These seven, time-proven classic journeys are the routes worth building a trip around.
- The Great Ocean Road: the classic. Around 243km from Torquay to Warrnambool, roughly 90 minutes from Melbourne to the start. Bells Beach, the Twelve Apostles, and enough coastal caravan parks that you rarely need to book weeks ahead outside peak summer.
- Wilsons Promontory: about 2.5 hours from Melbourne, and the pick for beaches without the Great Ocean Road crowds. Squeaky Beach, Mount Oberon and Tongue Point, with Venus Bay and Inverloch as good stopovers on the way down.
- The Grampians: roughly three hours northwest. Big hiking, waterfalls, rock pools and the Halls Gap campgrounds as your base, plus genuinely dark night skies once you’re away from town.
- The Great Alpine Road: 339km from Wangaratta through the Ovens Valley to Harrietville, over Mount Hotham and down into the Gippsland Lakes. Wineries and hiking on the way up, hot springs and lake towns on the way down. This one earns a 2WD-versus-4WD check before you book, since some high-country side roads are unsealed.
- The Macedon Ranges: the easy weekend option, north of Melbourne. Mount Franklin’s volcanic crater, mineral springs, and Daylesford’s spa-town scene if you want a softer trip than a full outback run.
- Western Victoria’s Silo Art Trail: three to four days through the Wimmera and Mallee, with internationally recognised silo murals, Lake Tyrrell’s mirror-flat salt lake, and spring wildflowers if you time it right.
- Mildura and the Murray: a six hour drive and genuinely a different Victoria, river red gums, Mungo National Park, Indigenous heritage sites and some of the state’s best stargazing. Budget five to seven days if you’re doing it properly rather than just ticking it off.
What it actually costs (the hidden fees)
The daily rate you see on a comparison site is the deposit on the final bill, not the bill. Here’s what tends to get added on, and what to budget for it.
- One-way and relocation fees: $100 to $500 for a standard one-way drop-off between major cities, jumping to $300 to $900 for a remote drop-off (Broome is the most expensive at up to $900).
- Extra driver: around $3 a day, usually capped once you hit around 50 days.
- Young driver surcharge: applies under 21, sometimes under 25, and varies by company rather than being standardised.
- Fuel and gas: return with a full tank or you’re paying an admin fee plus a per-litre rate well above bowser price (up to around $4/litre with some companies), or you can pre-pay a refuelling package for around $290 to $305 that also covers gas and AdBlue.
- Cleaning and tank fees: leave the van genuinely dirty and expect a cleaning charge up to roughly $300, and a separate charge of a similar amount if the toilet or grey water tank isn’t emptied. Pet cleaning, if you’re travelling with an animal, runs higher again (around $325).
- Gas bottle refills: roughly $27 to $47 depending on whether the van has a gas hot water system or toilet/shower setup.
- First aid kit: a flat fee (roughly $20 to $50) applies if the kit’s seal is opened, whether or not it was actually used.
- Credit card surcharge: typically 2 percent on debit, up to around 3.1 percent on credit, and higher again on American Express. This is the one travellers most often mistake for a scam fee when it’s actually a disclosed surcharge, so check the terms before you’re standing at the counter.
None of these are secret, exactly, they’re all in the terms and conditions PDF nobody reads before booking. Whilst the headline daily rate is real, treat it as the starting point for a bill that’s commonly 20 to 40 percent higher once fuel, an excess reduction option and a one-way fee (if you need one) are added.
Insurance and the bond
Every hire campervan comes with a bond, a hold on your credit card that covers the excess if something goes wrong. The standard excess is high (often $5,000), and the company will offer to reduce it for a daily fee. Here’s roughly how the major operators compare:
| Company | Standard excess | Reduction cost | Reduced excess |
|---|---|---|---|
| Britz | $5,000 | ~$49/day | $0 |
| Maui | $5,000 | ~$49/day | $0 |
| Apollo | $5,000 (campervans), $7,500 (motorhomes/4WD) | ~$38 to $45/day | $0 to $2,500 |
| Mighty | $5,000 | ~$45/day | $0 |
| Cheapa Campa | $5,000 | ~$39/day | $0 |
| Jucy | $3,000 | ~$32/day | $0 |
| Spaceships | $3,500 | ~$30/day | $500 |
On a two-week trip, paying the company’s own reduction can easily add $400 to $700 to your total. An independent rental vehicle excess insurance policy (bought separately from providers such as Tripcover or RentalCover, not through the campervan company) often runs at roughly a third of that daily rate for equivalent cover, which is worth comparing before you tick the company’s box by default. It won’t reduce the bond amount actually held on your card at pickup, but it will get that money refunded to you afterward if you do have a claim, rather than being an out-of-pocket loss.
The clause that catches the most people out isn’t the excess amount, it’s what voids the insurance entirely. Standard 2WD campervans are restricted to sealed roads, with a narrow exception for well-maintained access roads (generally under 12km) leading to a recognised campground or major attraction. Drive further than that onto gravel, a beach, or a 4WD-only track, and your insurance and excess reduction are void completely, not reduced. You become liable for the full damage cost, which can run into tens of thousands of dollars. This applies even if the road itself wasn’t the cause of the damage. If a route you’re planning includes anything that isn’t clearly sealed bitumen, ring the company and ask directly before you book, don’t assume.
One more thing worth budgeting around: bond refunds are not instant. Several major companies take one to a few weeks to release the hold back onto your card after you return the van, so don’t plan a trip that leaves your available credit right on the edge.
Requirements: licence, age and ID
A standard Australian car licence (Class C) or the equivalent full car licence from your home country covers you for the vast majority of hire campervans, since most sit under the 4.5 tonne GVM threshold that would otherwise require a Light Rigid licence. Larger motorhomes over 4.5 tonnes are uncommon in typical hire fleets, but if you’re booking one, check the licence class required before you pay.
- You generally need to have held a full licence for at least one to two years, depending on the company.
- Provisional (P1/P2) and learner licences are generally not accepted, regardless of age.
- Minimum age is usually 21, though some companies will hire to 18 to 20 year olds with a young driver surcharge and sometimes a smaller vehicle restriction.
- International visitors with an English-language licence just need the licence itself plus photo ID (a passport). If your licence isn’t in English, you need an International Driving Permit carried together with your original licence, not as a replacement for it, and not as a photocopy.
One-way hire and the $1-a-day relocation
If you want to pick up in Melbourne and drop off somewhere else entirely, that’s a standard one-way hire, and it costs what the fee table above says: $100 to $500 for a common route, considerably more for a remote one. The company still needs to get the van back to where demand actually is, though, and that’s where relocation deals come in.
Platforms like Imoova and Transfercar list campervans that rental companies need moved from Melbourne to another city (or the reverse), sometimes for as little as $1 a day. The catch, and it’s a real one rather than a marketing trick, is that you’re driving on the company’s schedule, not yours. Deals come with a fixed number of days to complete a fixed route, a set kilometre allowance, and go live with little notice since they depend on what stock a company happens to need moved that week. Some include fuel or ferry costs, some don’t, and the terms vary listing to listing, so read the specific deal rather than assuming it matches the last one you saw. If your dates are flexible and you’re comfortable with less control over the itinerary, it’s a genuinely good way to see a big chunk of the country cheaply. If you have a fixed two-week window and specific stops you want to hit, a standard one-way hire will serve you better.
Key companies in Melbourne and where to find them
Something worth knowing before you shop around: a lot of the “different” brands share the same depot, and in several cases the same parent company. Apollo, Britz, Cheapa Campa, Hippie, Maui and Mighty all operate out of the same Somerton address, for instance, which is why their fleets and terms often look suspiciously similar. Almost everything is clustered within 20 to 25 minutes of Melbourne Airport.
| Company | Melbourne depot |
|---|---|
| Apollo, Britz, Cheapa Campa, Hippie, Maui, Mighty | 40-46 Hume Highway, Somerton |
| Jucy, Star RV | 1 Silicon Place, Tullamarine |
| Cruisin, GoCheap | 25-27 Catalina Drive, Tullamarine |
| Let’s Go Motorhomes | 25 Hewitt Way, Tullamarine |
| Travellers Autobarn | 5 Assembly Drive, Tullamarine |
| Awesome, Calypso, Campervan Village | 45 Bond Street, Ringwood |
| Indie Campers | 1872-1874 Sydney Road, Campbellfield |
| Camperman Australia | 273 Elizabeth Street, Coburg |
| Spaceships | 42 Macaulay Street, Williamstown North |
| Zu Motorhomes | 112 Boundary Road, Braeside |
Confirm the exact address and opening hours directly with the company before you fly in, since depots move and hours shrink on weekends (Jucy’s Tullamarine branch, for example, closes an hour earlier on Saturday and Sunday). Most depots don’t run a dedicated airport shuttle, a rideshare or taxi is the standard way to cover the last 15 to 25 minutes from the terminal.
Common issues and how to avoid them
Most of what goes wrong with a Melbourne campervan hire isn’t the driving, it’s the paperwork and the pressure at the counter. These come up often enough in traveller reports to be worth planning around specifically.
- Upsell pressure at pickup: some staff push hard on the company’s own excess reduction, occasionally implying the van will be scrutinised more closely for damage if you decline. You’re entitled to say no and rely on separately purchased excess insurance instead, it’s your legal right as the renter, but be ready to hold your ground politely.
- Comparison sites quoting a price the depot won’t honour: several travellers report the price shown on a broker site not matching what’s charged at the counter. Ring the company directly to confirm the final figure before you arrive, and keep a screenshot of the original quote just in case.
- The bond tying up real money for weeks: budget for the full bond amount to be unavailable on your card for the length of the trip, plus a buffer afterward for the refund to clear. Don’t book a hire that would leave you unable to also cover fuel, camping fees and food on the same card.
- Driving on unsealed roads without checking first: covered above, but it bears repeating, this is the single most common way people accidentally void their entire insurance and end up personally liable for full vehicle damage. When in doubt, call and ask before you turn off the bitumen.
- Disputed cleaning and tank charges: photograph the van’s interior and the fuel/gas gauges at pickup and again at drop-off. It’s the fastest way to resolve a “you left it dirty” dispute in your favour.
- Generator noise and caravan park curfews: many caravan parks run generator curfews (commonly 8pm to 8am), and free camping areas often ban them outright. Check before you plan on running one overnight.
- Turning up without booking ahead in peak season: over Christmas, Easter and the summer school holidays, popular caravan parks along the Great Ocean Road and in the Grampians fill out weeks in advance. Book your first few nights before you land, even if you plan to freewheel the rest of the trip.
None of this makes campervanning out of Melbourne not worth it, Victoria genuinely delivers on the coastline-to-mountains-to-outback promise within a few hours’ drive of the city. It just rewards a bit of homework before you hand over your credit card. If you’d rather skip the driving altogether for a shorter trip, our Ride Share and Limousines guides cover the alternatives.