Rather than make this large and debatable question into a massive article, I’m going to simply break it down into positives and negatives on whether you should look to rent or buy when looking to do a long term road trip in a campervan. However for those just wanting an answer to the question without why – Rent if you plan to travel for up to 10 weeks (2 + 1/2 months) Anything over that – Buy (but make sure to read my last article on what to look out for when buying a campervan).
Renting
Positives
- You get a funky looking (possibly) and fully functional van without having to worry about much paperwork/registration and maintenance
- It will be modern (less than 10 years old, and therefore have things like air conditioning, clean interior, and higher reliability
- It should be reasonably affordable if the bill is split between multiple people, but only on short ish trips (over 3 months it gets extortionate)
- When you finish your trip, you hand the vehicle back, and get on with life
- If anything goes wrong, the chances are it will be covered and not your problem (financially)
Negatives
- You’re tied into one company to fix any issues that happen (including breakdown and legal insurance)
- With 2 people driving, it’s usually quite expensive for the both of you
- You usually have restrictions like not being able to go off road (trust me: any good mechanic can tell if you do this)
- It’s VERY expensive to rent long term, meaning you’ll minimise your time in the van, and your cost will still go up needing to stay in other accommodation at the start/end of your road trip
- Rental campervans always have a company logo on – so no chance of hiding your camping intentions in a city
Buying
Benefit of buying? – Awesome Colour Schemes
Another funky paint job on private campervan
Positives
- You can haggle the price
- You can keep it as long as you want, and the price doesn’t go up or down
- It’s yours, it’s an asset, if you run out of money, or need some for the flight home – you can sell it
- You get a chunk of money back when you sell it
- You can go at your own pace with no time, destination or distance limit
- You can add bits and pieces and sell them as a feature when you need to get rid (e.g. comes with surfboard)
- If it’s not funky looking – you can change that
- Likewise if you have a plain van, you can blend in much better in urban areas than a orange/green/blue van with red writing on
Negatives
- Hassle of registration in your own name (you’ll need a home address in the country you’re residing in)
- Any problems are your own – this usually means joining a breakdown service if the worst happens. It also means having to refill the gas bottle at your own expense, replace any tires that burst, rusty body panels that fail inspection, etc
- At worst it means you might have to get major work done (One of the mystery machines previous occupants got the engine fully rebuilt).
- There really is no-one to blame but yourself if you have a bad vehicle, you can’t just swap it if something goes wrong
- Massive up front cost for an old vehicle – You need to come up with a couple thousands dollars between you and any travel mates
- It can be an utter pain to sell at the price you bought it for, especially if you’re in a different state to the vehicles registration
- If it’s a modern van comparable to rentals, it will be much more expensive – and therefore harder to sell too
However some owned campervans have poor paint jobs…
I hope that has helped you decide either way. As I mentioned at the top of the article, I think up to 10 weeks of travel it’s probably best to rent, as hassle is a big issue with a time limit like that (you don’t want to be selling the van the morning of your flight leaving in the afternoon). However, if you have a long visa (like a working holiday visa) and an open-ended plan, then buying is much more pleasurable in terms of the freedom you get. Additionally, if you need to get rid of your old camper, consider getting help from Camper Removal services.
Feel free to add any comments on something I’ve missed, my experience has been with a bought vehicle so I’m keen to hear more positives and negatives on rental ^_^
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Plus if you come home broke or the zombie apocalypse hits you can just pick up and move on again with your home-mobile.
While I have only campered in other folks rigs I hope to attain the status of own someday.
What do you think about buying one and reselling at the end of your trip. I would think you could almost break even assuming you don’t trash the thing..
That’s a very true point that I missed. Might get an angry zombie campervan rental group after you for not paying if you don’t own here though.
It is very possible to break even with buying. Maybe even make a profit. I actually had a chance to break even (including break down expenses) but I thought the campervan was worth more so I kept the price up. Eventually I sold lower so lost out quite a bit. The people who bought it from me can certainly make a decent profit if they have nothing go wrong with it.
It depends where you are traveling to.If going to Africa,buying is the best option as there are not available in some countries like Uganda so selling it after your trip would be very easy.
Thanks for the info, I’ve not had experience in Africa, I guess my advice changes slightly depending on the country. But for developed countries where rental is available, it is sound.
If buying that will be ok in Africa a tour company or a safari camp/ lodge would be the best people to buy as it might be a challenge selling it. They can use this for their clients.
This article is very much focused on Australia, it’s very easy to travel around there and buy a vehicle as a foreigner. I don’t imagine it’s easier in any other country so renting is usually the best option.
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