TravelWheels www.travelwheels.com.au

We spent a long time selecting a company as we were hiring for 7 weeks and wanted both the best deal and the best service. We were somewhat apprehensive booking with any company as they all seem to review so poorly (something they maybe need to address), but we were nothing but pleasantly surprised with Travel Wheels and how good everything played out.

I would say the van (Hi-Top) was average in terms of age and equipment, which is reflected in the price and to be expected. Having said this, we were not really lacking for anything. The powered fridge was brilliant (Do not use any company that only provides an esky). The extra money you need to pay for the newer vans really doesn't seem to make sense in my opinion.

We picked the van up in Sydney and the lady was very good about taking time to show us about and how everything works. It is well worth making sure you understand everything before driving off. We were a little disappointed when we dropped the van off in Cairns, as no member of staff was present and we ended up just dropping the keys with a mechanic. It would have been nicer to talk about our trip and let them know of a few issues they could have looked at for the next client.

Along the way there were a few small issues (broken door latch and blown brake light etc). These are to be expected over such a long hire period and on an older vehicle so we don't regard these as a problem. Travel Wheels were excellent about helping us to resolve the problems and we are confident if anything more significant had happened they would have done right by us.

It is also really nice that Travel Wheels don't try to trick you into spending extra money, they are very up front with costs and there are no horrid hidden extras like the other companies do. Way to go Travel Wheels.

All in all we were very happy with Travel Wheels and have no hesitation in giving them 5 out of 5.

Australia is a really expensive place! Over the last 12 months we have been travelling all over Australia doing rideshares, campervan relocations, and hitch hiking to save money!

After an epic trip around this crazy country we ended up back in Sydney 3 days before our flight back to England. Hostel are expensive in Sydney, so we look at other options.

For example a private room in Sydney for us two costs between $70 to $100 per day in a rough hostel! I know you can sleep in dorms, but when you are a couple it's nice to have your own space :-)

We were not going to pay that kind of money, so we came up with the idea of a campervan for three days. This means we get a hotel on wheels and can cook as well to save money!

We wanted to go up to the Blue Mountains which is about three hours away, and didn't want to go on those tourist buses where you feel like cutting your wrists as you are a complete tourist!

Therefore we hit upon the idea of campervan hire in Sydney. We did a quick search and found loads of companies. We didn't want a brand new van, so made a short list of camperman Australia, Travellers Autobarn, Jucy, Spaceships, Mighty and Travelwheels.

We got quotes off all of these companies and then tried to get a cheaper quote by saying a competitor was cheaper! You should do the same as they all have these price promise guarantees and will beat competitors! This meant cheaper prices!

Why did we go with Travelwheels? Simply they beat all the competitor quotes in Sydney and we wanted a hitop campervan. This automatically discounted Jucy and Space ships as they only had small vans.

The staff at travelwheels seemed the friendliest! Van was cheap, but clean and had everything we need for our holiday to the blue mountains.

They printed out maps and gave us some guides which was good. They mentioned to avoid a toll road and take an alternative route to save money.

When we got back they even offered us a beer and took us back to the airport. Would recommend these guys! The vans are not new, but clean and the staff are friendly. 

We were looking for a campervan company down in Melbourne to do a road trip to explore some of the fantastic areas close by to Melbourne. We wanted to spend a week exploring the Great Ocean Road. Then cut inland via the Grampians National Park (which is highly recommended) which was sensational for walking and seeing some of the amazing wildlife from Australia!

Then from here we headed back towards Phillip Island via Mornington Peninsula Freeway. Finally we spend the last six days exploring the amazing Wilsons promontory right at the tip of the bottom of Australia!

We were using the campervan as a mini hotel to cook food, and to chill after days out walking, hiking and seeing all that is great in these three areas.

Good points - pick up of the campervan was close to Melbourne airport. Many of the companies are based in the city centre or St Kilda area of Melbourne. For example a taxi from Melbourne airport to St Kida is over $120 OUCH!!!!!!!!

Travelwheels depot in Melbourne is about a ten minute taxi away, so that is way cheaper than some of the competitors for example. We were thinking of using JUCY Campers, but their depot was in St Kilda and the taxi fare from the airport for two of use + all our kit was over $120, so we saved money on the taxi.

We searched around for a number of companies about campervan hire from Melbourne. The guys at travelwheels quickly answered my emails. We gave them a call and they priced matched another deal over the phone without evening asking for a receipt which was good!

We hired a hitop campervan as my wife is tall and we wanted to stand up when cooking and chilling in the camper at night. All the kitchen and cooking kit was included in the price and you can cook and drink wine at the table at the same time!

The JUCY van we were going to hire, you had to cook outside the van at the back which was not as good!

The bed was comfy and easy to convert back to two benches and table. We cooked every night to save money as Australia is very expensive place to buy food and to eat out in the evenings!

We didn't have to use campsites as the van had everything you needed already included in the deal. No toilet or shower, but we always parked near some toilets or by the beach.

Love the fact the camper was a fun way to get around and see everything. We had a couple of days of rain and there was enough room to cook food, play cards and drink three bottles of wine haha!

Three seats upfront, 5 speed manual gearbox, and there was three camp chairs as well. When the weather was nice and hot there is a fold out table included, so we make food and ate outside which was a nice thing to do and got us chatting to other travellers.

The price was cheap, but it was not a new campervan. It's more like a budget model, but was clean, and everything worked which suited us. We normally go camping, so for us this was a luxury to have everything inside.

This was the first time we had hired a campervan and next year we are going to tour around Holland in June, so thinking of getting another campervan for that trip.

We eventually dropped off the van back at Melbourne and within ten minutes were back at the airport. The next day we flew to New Zealand and our new adventure began. We would book with these guys again.

It's been three years since we were last in Australia, so thought it was time for another holiday down under.

The last time we were here we spent four months travelling around from Perth to Melbourne. Therefore on this trip we decided to do a classic East Coast trip from Sydney to Cairns in four weeks.

Three years ago we actually bought a campervan from travelwheels, but this time as we were only here for four weeks we decided to rent one. We emailed Travelwheels and said we used them before and asked for a locality discount :-)

They sent us back a welcoming email and also offered us an extra 10% discount which was good!

Originally we emailed about four or five companies to see who was best on price, customer service, and advice, etc. We were going to plan a Sydney to Cairns roadtrip, but I didn't realise about the wet season in the north of Australia on the East Coast from November to the end of April.

The guys at Travelwheels were the only company that explained about the wet season up north and said they would not recommend doing this trip at this time of the year. They recommended reversing the trip and flying from Sydney to Cairns and then pick up the campervan. This way you fly to the Cairns and do the great barrier reef and explore cairns before you pick up the campervan.

Another reason for doing it this way around is that you are driving away from the wet season and heading towards the sunshine which is more down towards Sydney.

This turned out to be a really good move! For the next three weeks there was very heavy rain in Queensland and we were able to do a big day of driving and head south and miss the worst of the rain. If we had been going the other direction, then we would be driving towards the wet season!

This saved our bacon and this is the reason why I am leaving another review for these guys. The advice we got from the company made our holiday, so would definitely recommend anybody looking for budget campervan hire in Cairns

Thanks

Retired old people living the dream!

I highly recommend you don't use this firm based on our experience below.

We had hired a campervan for around 3 months use initially. However, roughly four weeks in, my mate found out he had to return home early due to severe illness in the family. We gave the director so to speak advance notice of this and said we would return the van in circa 2 weeks time, which he said was fine.

However he stated no refund of any sort would be available.

Whilst terms and conditions of course apply, he made no effort to thank us for using Travelwheels, nor did he even entertain the idea of a refund for handing the van back early. So he effectively profited out of us to the tune of $2000 (the cost of the period from early return to our original return date) and can now re-rent the van out and effectively make double the profit! All out of an unforeseen family grievance that required us to return home early. I find this disgusting personally, we would expect at least some sort of financial gesture in the interests of customer service and goodwill.

All rather bizarre, seeing as he originally cited that his reason for leaving the U.K for Australia was because the country was going down the pan due to Margaret Thatcher and John Major's Tory governments, and yet he chooses to act like the worst kind of Tory capitalist pig! Oh the irony!

So in summary, avoid and use a rival such as Apollo, Jucy, Spaceships or Britz to name but a few.

My sister and I joined my parents for their tour around Australia. Since we haven't seen them for half a year by then, and Australia has always been our dream holiday destination, and, on top of that, it was Christmas, my parents wanted everything to be perfect. They booked the van two months in advance. When they arrived in Sydney, the day before we were supposed to pick up the van, they decided to go up to the rental place, to sign all the papers and have everything ready when we arrived the next day. When my sister and I arrived the next day, after having travelled for nearly three days (we flew all the way from Poland), it turned out that the van my parents rented didn't meet the description (and the pictures!!!!) that was given on Trawelwheels' website. The front pane was broken, all of the sides of the van were dented. The interior smelled nasty, the fridge was rusty, and the shelves and seats oily. The upper bed smelled of urine, and there were definately leftovers of a poo (I was trying to convince myself it was chocolate all way long) on one of the cushions. When we complained about the standard of the van to the owner, he reacted very aggresively. He was well aware that the vehicle didn't meet the descriptions, yet he didn't want to make any effort to make it better for us. He offended us a couple of times (said that I was dillusional), and after a dozen of strong arguments we were given a van of similar standard, but at least the front pane was not broken. The brakes made a very weird sound while stopping and I'm positive they were in a vey poor condition. The vehicle looked very old, and was very hard to drive. Although we had 4 drivers on board, only my dad was brave enough to stand up to the task. He's got 30 years experience in driving and still says he's never driven such a thing. Beware of travelwheels!

Don't do it! If you are thinking of renting with travelwheels! Customer service seems to be not in their dictionary. They seem to be cheap, but with all the extras they are at least as expensive as the others! If you are still considering to rent with them, take the green insurance as their tyres are so old and run down, they will definitely need to be replaced even if you just drive on sealed road! Furthermore, their cars are not secure - if we didn't went to a mechanic, we still would drive without any breaking pads even though we advised them on our pick up that the breaks are dodgy. Don't trust them, if they counter offer another offer from a different rental company. We did it and were given a offer that seemed to be good at first, but then after our tyres got damage we noticed that they did not offer us the same coverage even though they told us so. Furthermore, they needed more than three weeks (and heaps of reminder and phone calls from us) to replace our spare tyre after it fell down from the car as it was not attached properly. Don't try to complain as you will never hear back from them. Trust us - stay away from Travelwheels, if you want to enjoy your holidays.

I had a good time with Travelwheels! I rented the van for 3 people and I thought it was clean and driveable! We did Sydney to Melbourne in 2 weeks so we didn't rush, we took our time. At first we wanted to do it in 1 weeks but the French girl told us that we would not enjoy everything. We listened to her and seriously she was right! 2 weeks is the minimum to enjoy the trip!

One day, one of the light for oil appeared but when I contacted their office, they told me it was totally fine to drive with. After that I never saw the light again and had a nice time! I would recommend this company to my friends and I think some people here are way to hard on Travelwheels!

I rented a campervan with Travelwheels from Sydney to Cairns and I really liked it. I dont understand the other bad comments about this company as I had no problem with them. I am French and I was even able to speak in French with the staff! The only thing *bad* that I would say is that the sleeping bags were not very warm but it was winter.. Otherwise it is a good company and I had a very good trip!

Before the trip, I talked with the staff by email and they helped me with my travel plans and I thought that was nice because she didnt have to do it!

I recommend this to my friends!

A terrible experience with this company, the van we were allocated was dirty, the plates could not be used before being washed as they were greasy and the pot had no lid. The sleeping bags were not clean and we didn't use them, no water in the window washer bottle, no gas in the gas bottle and only half a tank of fuel when we picked up the van. Hot air leaked into the cabin from under the passenger seat. Everything about this van was second rate, just terrible. Would not recommend this company at all. The van had nearly 300,000k on the clock and they wanted a bond of $2000 which then took nearly two weeks to refund onto our credit card. Should have read reviews before going with this company, perhaps a newer van may have been better but you don't get to choose which van you get. Will not hire a van from them again and I am fairly sure they will delete this post like they did the one I posted perviously.