info on new zealand

wow fast reply thanks for that . you mentioned driving was not as good why ? also can they be driven on a standard car licence? cheers

They are fine on a standard car license.

The twisty, steep roads in NZ were very slow to drive, particularly along the west coast and through the passes. Was OK but a smaller campervan would have been better. Plus parking a 6-berth monstrosity was just plain annoying!

Add the Diesel Tax Recovery fee and it is not that cheap.

Andrew

Andrew
This can vary from company to company.
The company I'm going with next month pay the diesel tax recovery fee, so diesel is actually cheap. (Pacific Horizon - largest & original hire firm, not a backpacker cheapie) Apollo, Maui, Britz etc do not. (No afilliation etc....)
They also refund any gas we use, which is good as it's not only the cooker, but also heating (gas heating essential if parking up somewhere for the night in winter without power....)

Greg, good point re the van parks & prices. Will pay to find out about free camp areas.

cheers
Mark

Yes, i should have said that...thanks Mark. Not all are what they appear...it's good to see PH seems like one of the better ones. :)

Andrew

we went with Pacific Horizon, very well run.
great van as well, didnt miss a beat,
ill give you another tip. dont go over 100km. cruise around on the highway at 90km.
i went through diesel at a great rate of knotts until i realised that my speed had all to do with it.
you dont realise how much better is is at 90km, you see more, spend less, and a lot more comfortable. the exhaust brakes got a good work out all the time. just love the sound of exhaust brakes. had to get my play in.
we optioned the van up with a BBQ, but never used it.
and it was cheaper to go to a camping store and buying a copule of cheap chairs than hiring the ones they have.
another item to consider, even though the vans g/box has syncros. changing up hills and down hills, you will need to double clutch, other wise you will leave the g/box in the middle of the road. i learnt that pretty quickly as well.
you will have a blast.
the wife and i are going back there after we do the simpson, but to do the north island this time.

Good point Andrew.
I dealt with a wholly NZ firm (mentioned above)
Booked thru their own website, as that was the only way to get 2 free days.
That being said - I haven't actually hired a van yet, but hopefully will have good news to report back on in Sept!

thanks for that we are going to be in the south island from the 4th september to the 18th september, any info would be appreciated.

Zacc, Spring time should be a nice time of the year still plenty of snow on the alps but be aware that it can still be rather cool at times and you may also find out how a 'rain forest' get's it's name. Drop me an email at;

nzrees@yahoo.com

I will send you some possible trip logs. I guess you will be starting and finnishing at Christchurch.

KK

we went in september and it was bloody cold. use the heater to your full advantage. and fill up your gas bottle every 4 days

One aspect which we found quite different over in NZ compared with camping/caravaning here in Australia was because it was so cold, there was little opportunity to be outdoors in the evenings, i.e. happy hour, meeting with others in the camping area. We found it quite lonely just because it was too cold to be outdoors.

Also we thought in retrospect that a larger campervan (we had the basic two berth) would have made things a little more comfortable. We tended to have to move suitcases etc. every time we wanted to sit down etc.

Nevertheless, we had a great time. Hope you have the same.

Hi
I am a Kiwi from Dunedin and have spent 5 years working in Milford Sound and

.4 years at Wanaka so can also give you some tips on places to go.

From New Zealand Frontiers Motorhomes Website:
Some rental motorhome operators in New Zealand charge a ‘Diesel Recovery Tax’ This is actually a misrepresentation of another tax called the Road User Charge (RUC). All taxes on diesel fuel are paid at the pump, at the time of purchasing the diesel and anyone claiming to charge you additional diesel taxes is doing so dishonestly. New Zealand Frontiers is not charged a 'Diesel Recovery Tax' by the government or any other authority - because there is no such tax.

It is common to receive conflicting advice from rental vehicle operators in New Zealand on the subject of 'Diesel Recovery Tax' and the collection of this additional fee by many companies upon vehicle return is a source of frequent disatisfaction among visitors to New Zealand. You will certainly find no such tax listed on the website of the New Zealand Inland Revenue Department.

Tax applied to diesel sales in New Zealand is considerably less than the government's taxation of petrol. This results in the pump price of diesel being significantly cheaper than petrol in New Zealand. Naturally some of the tax collected from fuel sales is used to pay for roads. Because diesel powered vehicles contribute proportionately less towards road construction and maintenance through fuel tax, their contribution is collected additionally through RUC's. The Road User Charge is levied not only on all diesel vehicles, but also on heavy petrol vehicles and even on vehicles with no engine such as heavy trailers. It is not a diesel recovery tax or any other type of fuel tax and is charged differently for each vehicle, according to the vehicle's impact on the road. Some companies pass this operating expense on to clients as a false 'Diesel Recovery Tax'. New Zealand Frontiers (and many other rental vehicle operators) do not impose extra charges on clients to recover this expense, just as we would not add on separate charges for any other business expense such as tyre wear or safety inspections.

You can be assured that, with New Zealand Frontiers, the daily rental rate covers all your use of the vehicle (subject to any additional expenses you choose such as the zero excess insurance plan or the cost of recovering your vehicle if you leave it elsewhere from Auckland) Caution is advised towards other companies charging extra fees for the same service. And any company charging you a diesel recovery tax will not be passing it on to the government – because there is no such tax to pay.

I don't know this mob, but they provided an apparently honest and transparent explanation first in Google ;)

The first paragraph is incorrect saying that aALLtaxes are collected at the pump.

RUC which is a tax under another name has to be prebought in usually multiples of 1000km and woe betide anyone caught with an expired certificate.

The fiines when I left in 2002 were the cost of the update plus double for the fine.

Diesel has always been cheaper at the pump because of this but when you add RUC on its not a lot cheaper than here.
It is charged on the max loaded weight of the vehicle in graduated steps.
Eg 2 tonne is about the least you can have as most cars loaded are over 1 tonne.
So a Toyota Corona diesel may pay 4c per km whereas a B double of 44t may pay $1 km.

Therefore if you hire a diesel motorhome and it has say 5000km of RUC already paid by the company and you do 4000k I would think they would be entitled to recover the cost.
UNLESS its built into the hire charge, but as your travel distance is an unknown it would be hard to do.

Here you buy your diesel and at full price YOU pay all the taxes or whatever they call them.

Why should the company pay the RUC on fuel which you bought ccheap by not paying them

Hope that clears it up.

I got caught 1000k over once and luckily the cop was in a good mood.


Not actual figures but just to show the diff

In New Zealand, diesel is just below NZ $1 per litre today. That's around 80 cents Australian per litre.

RUC (Road User Charge) is NZ $32.07 per 1,000 km for a vehicle up to 2 tonne. Or, just add NZ 3.2 cents per km to your pump cost of NZ$0.98 cents per lt.

ANY vehicle over a maufacturers gross weight of 3.5 tonnes OR using a fuel that is not taxed at the pump has to pay RUC.

Heavy vehicles do the most damage to roads so the Road User Charge (not a fuel tax) is on a sliding scale - the heavier you are the greater the RUC / km.

Why is it not paid at the pump ? Because if you do any km 'off road' you can claim back the Road User Charge. Farms, earth moving contractors etc. can buy their bulk fuel (for machinary or heating etc.) with out having to pay the road user charge. Vehicles that run part time off road have to carry a log book and record hubometer (small odometer attached to the vehicle hub) readings when they start and finish off road driving if they wish to claim back their RUC for all 'off road' km.

At 10 km per litre, my estimate in $AU for running a 2 tonne vehicle on diesel in NZ today would be about 12.6 cents (AU) per km

The above charges should be built into any hire km charges and not paid as an extra.

Thats what I said but not quite so elequontly

I forgot about the offroad bit.

The point I didnt make very well was how do they build an unknown figure into the hire charge.
EG one person does 8,000km
Another does only 2,000km

How do you equate that in a hire charge.
Is much fairer to take the hubometer mileage and charge the RUC on the km driven.
I wouldnt like to be no2 as above and pay the same as no1

Just my thoughts.

There are plenty of assumptions made in any business model. This is a pretty simple one.

Tyres and depreciation are also intrinsically linked to mileage, but aren't split out.

I could drone on about the cost model options, but it's frankly boring and off-topic.

It's a business decision as to if / how they charge for this and a consumer's choice as to who they purchase from based on their charging structure.

Many customers like a "no surprises" all-inclusive cost. Many others like to have the flexibility for their needs. Customer chooses.

I have a delightful and expansive collection of 360 degree photos of rental cars I've had to blind-drop and taken GPS and time-stamped images, which if a new vendor (to me) are sent by email to them as soon as reasonably practical (sometimes minutes after dropping it) If there's damage at pick-up, I also take a pic of that too, in case their memory fails them.

Whilst somewhat tiresome and tedious, this should make for a simpler conversation if (never in my case) you are alleged to have damaged the car.

Cheers.

apart from spending a good 10-15 mins going over any hire vehicle before using, i also take photos of any damage, however minor. digital cameras-take as many photos as you want!
fill in their damage sheet and get a copy.