Getting travel permits with hire vehicles

Hi Phil,

Yes that is a risk I'm taking. Britz is fully aware of my intentions but obviously permission can't be given until I get there - in fact they allowed me to book a sat phone but not pre-pay for it in case I can't take my original route, and won't really need it.

I went through a similar thing a couple years ago when I went from Alice to Broome and back to Darwin, and I had to wait until that morning to make sure I was allowed to take the Britz 4wd on the Tanami and the Gibb River Road. Over a year of planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip hinged on the folks at Britz circling two road names on my hire agreement that morning...which luckily they did (after getting a good chuckle at my horrific Canadianized mispronunciation of 'Tanami'). So all went extremely well...and so much for 'once-in-a-lifetime' :)

Like last time I plan on arriving with a solid plan B (and possibly plan C). The folks at Britz in Alice were awesome and if they decide I can't/shouldn't take the campervan on a specific route, there is probably a good weather-related reason, in which case I probably don't want to.

Thanks!
Steve

Good to see that you are really doing your homework. Our son had a prang up on Cape York with an inexperienced driver in a hire car. The bloke was on the Tele Track, a non gazetted dirt track, without permission. The hire company somehow with some good legal action made the poor bloke pay for everything before he left the country. Two front corners and bull bars etc. Bloody ouch.

Anyway that is beside the point, I hope that you enjoy the adventure.

Phil

Great advice given above.
Check carefully where you are permitted to go with the vehicle
Wife & I worked on a Cattle Staton in the North West On the Gibb River road. We helped a tourist with a hired 4WD that he had written off & found out weeks later the insurance company pinged him for the whole value of the vehicle due to not having permission to drive it there.
Another thing to watch is that some insurance policies will not cover single vehicle accidents on hire vehilcles.

Cheers
Stu

Definitely good advice! Along with verifying - and complying with - route restrictions, I also max out on liability reduction and get the single vehicle accident coverage as well. Makes for a very expensive 2 week hire but far better than the alternative.

And Stu, your story about the National Park pass is exactly what I'm hoping to avoid! With any luck someone has had to get these permits with a hire vehicle. But I guess there is always the absolute worst-case scenario of hitting up an Internet cafe in Alice the day of, since I should be able to get the instant issue passes. Not a plan I want to rely on though.

Thanks!
Steve

It's a long shot but why not send Britz an email and see what people there can say about the permissions. You aren't the first that has gone down that road. (sick joke)

Phil

Hi John, thank you so much for the offer, I really appreciate it. Might take you up on it...if I manage to somehow track down the right numbers to call.

They've changed their name to Dept. Aboriginal Affairs now. Phone not working for some reason.

email; permits_queries@daa.wa.gov.au

DAA Permits

I will try again tomorrow. May be my home phone causing the problems.

Mick

Hi Mick,

Thank you so much for doing this. It looks like you may be running across the same issue I did.

I sent emails to the following:

permits_queries@daa.wa.gov.au: rejected instantly with address unknown.
ngcouncil@ngaanyatjarra.org.au: sent November 5, haven't heard anything back yet
permits@clc.org.au: sent November 5, got failed delivery notice a few days later.

Not easy folks to get a hold of...at least electronically. (And my wife poked fun at me for 'planning so far ahead'...)

Again though, thank you for taking the time to make the call. You guys are awesome, thank you!

Mate, if it was me, I would fill out the online form and put TBA in all the make, model and rego fields. Also, in the details field where you can write a story, tell them you are Canadian hiring a car. This will get them contacting you one way or another. I'm sure there will be a work around. Cheers.

Thought about that. Might try that if I don't get anywhere maybe by the new year. Thanks for the suggestion!

I was thinking the same as what Mike has suggested.
Maybe just put in a made up rego number etc.
As Mick said, your name on the permit is the main thing.
If you are ever checked just say, sorry the hire car company supplied the original details and then supplied a different vehicle.

Bottom line, your intentions to do the right thing and you have obtained a permit is what matters.

Mick's kind offer to reach DIA by phone would have to be the best approach. The have NEVER got back to me on emailed questions. By contracts, the CLC in central Australia are much easier to deal with and always get back in touch.

Motherhen

Hey, it's Canadian dollars Candace :)