4WD rental

You don't really need a 4x4 to get around up there, most of the roads you will be using can be driven with a standard vehicle.

Cheers

Merv

Well, no one else has cars at these dates or automatic or this and that...

Guess I'll give up on Karijini. I have a 4WD from Perth so I'll stick with that and just explore along the coast. There's enough to see , just a shame.

I also don't get how people who must rent a 4WD can go off road at all.

Maybe no one does? Or they're forced to go on organized tours?

I like to roam, peacefully, without too much of an itinerary. The rental companies make it very complicated (unless I'm missing some big secret that other travellers are in on).

Oh well, it's my first trip to OZ, I'm sure there's more than enough to enjoy no matter where I go. I just want to relax and see the land. Cheers!

G'day Cloudseeker

Sorry to read the angst in your post, but there are plenty of vehicle hire organizations based in Perth who allow their hire four wheel drives to be driven off road.

Obviously there are requirements you might need to meet financially and legally with the hire company, but there are hundreds and possibly thousands of hire 4wd vehicles circulating throughout the regions above the 26th parallel and Karijini is a destination you can definitely visit in a hired/rented four wheel drive ~ maybe not Avis/Perth.

The Newman branches of all the hire vehicle organizations are absolutely chocka block with ready to go four wheel drives, none are provisioned for remote region travel, so you need to provide your own food/water camping gear etc ~ yes Newman has a shopping precinct and you would be able to purchase everything you require, even a permit/pass to enter and travel throughout Karijini ~ Millstream and Rudall River National Parks.

How do I know this, I live in Newman and I was at the Newman airport just yesterday afternoon.

Do I personally use a hire 4wd ~ No
Do I arrange hire 4wd's for my clients ~ Yes (when requested)

I also recommend the use of a high clearance vehicle (4wd) for touring through Kaijini and anywhere you have to travel on an unsealed road, simply because conditions can and do change quickly mainly due to wet weather, but also because of road works and most two wheel drive vehicles can then be found to be the wrong choice of transport in the outback. My home weather station has recorded 9.3 mil of rain in the past 10 hours.

I just used this text "4wd offroad hire perth" in google.

I clicked on the first one past the ads and got Aussie 4wd offroad hire

I don't know them or anything about them but it's a start.

Phil

I'm confused why Perth Avis won't allow the "4WD" you rented to be taken off the pavement. Is it actually a car-based vehicle, as opposed to a Landcruiser or something like that?

Did you verify if that vehicle includes unlimited kilometers per day, or if there's a limit? maybe things have changed since 2008 but when I was researching then, many of the rentals had the limits.

I'm not sure why you would think "non-Australians simply don't camp", or why you have the idea non-Aussies don't go into remote areas on their own, given we have talked before about my 2008 trip. I rented a Bushcamper (manual transmission, though) from Britz (www.britz.com) and camped every night for four weeks. Only four of those nights were in campgrounds, one of which was a remote and otherwise unoccupied campground with simply an "honesty box" for payment.

The only places I wasn't allowed to drive that vehicle were a few of the more notorious outback tracks, such as the Canning Stock Route and the Simpson Desert. Otherwise I was free to go anywhere in the country, with unlimited Km's. I picked it up in Darwin and returned it in Adelaide.

Judging by this thread, you forgot or ignored most of the info and advice I previously offered (here and via email), lol!!!

I don't know about now, however 10 years ago Budget didn't care where you went!!!

In 2009 we wanted to hire a 4WD to tour the Kimberley. Not one could guarantee that we would even be allowed on the Gibb River Road until the day before pickup. Our son had an altercation (prang) with a hire 4WD on the Tele Track up the Cape. The bloke had to fork out for BOTH cars. He did not read the fine print. Only allowed on gazetted roads.

Careful with rentals.

Phil

The big three are mainly interested in business custemers,not renting 4wds to tourists,but the niche 4wd rentals will rent you a proper 4wd for touring.If you read the fine print on any big three rental agreement they are not to be taken off road. Lots do but the xxxx hits the fan when and accident happens.
Good luck Pete

Long story short, looked up Newman, flights to there, costs...didn"t work. Looked at smaller 4WD companies - they didn't have anything, either for my dates or automatic or whatever was the case.

Did find an automatic 4WD (not a campervan) at Britz Perth, so I booked that (and had to pay in full at time of booking). They don't have restrictions on travel to either Exmouth or Karajini, and my feeling is (though I'm not 100% sure) that they're more flexible about allowing pulling off the main road for camping. It's much more expensive than Avis, possibly because it includes what you would pay for excess.

In any case, good to know about Newman, will keep that in mind for future trips. I'm not sure if their 4WD are automatic, though. I guess if I were only to be somewhere remote with very little or no traffic I could struggle with manual transmission, but with traffic, and traffic lights, and roundabouts, and other cars with irritable drivers all coming at me, all on the wrong side for my brain, I can't do it.

For now, nervous about driving on the other side, so I'm glad I have a suitable vehicle which I feel comfortable in. Will pick up supplies without going into Perth downtown, then go to the highway and then just stick to the correct side. Hopefully I can turn off at some point, drive a bit and camp. I'll only get the camps wide book when I get to Australia, it's not yet available on Amazon.

Sort of wish I had a private driver to get me out of town. :)

I've seen these guys at the 4WD shows (I have no personal knowledge or connection to them)

http://www.crikeycamperhire.com.au/

Not cheap, but they seem to allow you to go most places.

So a week before I'm supposed to go, after checking, double checking and triple checking with Britz - yes, it's an automatic.. yes, you can go camping, you can let out air of needed. You can go to the Gibb river road with permission.

I discover that the car is not Britz but Europcar, but Britz insists it follows their terms since it's rented through them. I call to make sure - and NO. No offroad, no nowhere. No camping.

Britz has only manual 4WD which I can't drive. I might try in a very rural location with no other cars around for short distances, but no way I can do this in normal driving conditions, not on top of needing to drive on the other side.

So I guess no company has automatic 4WD which you can take camping/offroad. Even though we do this in other countries all the time.

So that's that. Either cancel my flight or get a regular car and be stuck with hotels. Considering the price and quality of hotels in WA, I guess I'll just cancel the trip.