Hippie Campers are part of the Apollo group of campervan hire companies, however they have a much smaller vehicle selection than most of the other companies in the group. Just for the record the Apollo campervan group includes, Apollo, Cheapa Campa and Hippie Campervans.
Hippie Camper is aimed squarely at the “budget” market and seems to be going head to head with the “budget” market leader, Wicked Campers. This includes the wild painting on the side of the vehicles so everyone knows you’re in a Hippie Camper vehicle. Their vehicles are based on the Mitsubishi Express, which is cheaper than the Toyota Hiace that you will find in the mid-price range of companies. It also has lower headroom so you will have to bend over a little more in the back, particularly seeing as Hippie Campers don’t come with a pop-top or high-top model. The up side for younger folk is that this company is aimed at them, so they allow drivers aged between 18-21 to rent the vehicles.
The distinct advantage of Hippie over most of it’s competitors is the young age of the vehicles and the quality of the interior living space. Hippie claims all vehicles are between 0 and 3 years old. This is great advantage over the aging fleet of most competitors and gives better piece of mind for when travelling in the middle of nowhere. However, keep your eyes open when shopping around, there are other companies that do have near new models available – Traveller’s Autobarn and Explore More come to mind.
In general, the maintenance and general appointments of a Hippie Camper interior is good for the price range. The other distinct advantage is that even the budget version comes with a fridge and an electric water pump. Most the others in this price range are going to come with an esky (cooler box, chilli bin), which is a pain as you are constantly having to find ice supplies and the ice melt will inevitably ruin some food. Generally the fridge is the way to go, however you might have to put up with some humming during the night when it turns on. If you’re a really light sleeper, this may be problematic, but worst case is to turn it off at night and turn it on in the morning. Fridges will always run off a 2nd “house” battery so there is no need to worry that you will flatten the car battery when you use it whilst parked.
Another nifty little thing is the awning for the rear door, the only other company that I have seen offer this is OzPods in Western Australia. The awning is going to help protect from searing sun and pouring rain when you are cooking and also give you a break from the flies in some regions. Again it comes on both the budget and deluxe models. In fact to tell you the truth, I can’t really find a difference between the budget and deluxe models except for a safe in the deluxe. I wrote to Hippie Camper to get them to clarify the difference and they eventually returned the email saying the only difference is age of vehicle. If all vehicles are 0-3 years old then,really, there is going to be very little difference between the models.
Hippie Campers sometimes gives free upgrades from the budget model to the deluxe. Given the very limited difference between the two, you are better off booking the budget and see what happens. However, they don’t allow bookings for the budget model from Melbourne. Stupid really, what happens if someone does a one way to Melbourne in a budget model? They are going to have to pay to get it back to Sydney or further. Whatever, just be aware that if you are starting in Melbourne, you are going to have to pay for the Deluxe model even though the difference between the two is negligible.
Hippie Campers only service the east coast of Australia and actually have travel restrictions in the contract about going in to other states. If you are looking to go in to the Red Centre, Adelaide, Darwin or even further west then this won’t be the company for you. You should check directly with them if you think your destination will take you out of their covered areas, but there are lots of other campervan hire companies that have national coverage so there is no need to worry about finding something else.
Overall Hippie Campers are a good hire in their price range, but are still only providing the essential services in a campervan. If you are restricted in the budget, however, then this is definitely one to get a quote from. If they come out a few dollars more expensive than their competitors, then it is probably worth it for the comforts provided.
UP SIDES: reputation for being clean &new, good interiors, cheap
DOWN SIDES: Destination restrictions, very few depots, low headroom inside
To see more reviews, head back to the campervan hire home page. If you are sick of reading reviews and just want to compare prices, click on the compare prices button below.
| Ratings | |
| Vehicle Quality |  |
| Service |  |
| Value for Money | |
| Overall | |
RosC
from United Kingdom
Ranking: 6/10
Van good, but not enough info about how things actually work.
Reviewed 02 March 2010 and experienced in February 2009
NatakeC
from Germany
Ranking: 8/10
Good price, low fuel consumption, good bed, great fridge outside.
Reviewed 03 March 2010 and experienced in February 2009
I would rent from Hippie Campers again.
We used Hippie Campers in December. The van we rented was OK, Apollo who own Hippie Campers were not. They claim we incurred toll fine and for this they have charged us $150. The authorities have not fined us but Apollo will not refund the money as they say it is an admin fee so whether we owe the authorities or not is irrelevant. The holiday was great, shame we have to end on this sour note.
Very bad experience. The interior lights are not working from the first night. When I went back to their Perth branch 3days later. They told me its because the battery is not properly connected. Hard to believe that such a large company could miss checking that important part before they rent out the vehicle. The staffs were too busy to take care of me when I went back the branch. Waited for 1 and half hour.
Will never hire Apollo vehicles.
Very good Expierence.
Good van (bed, fridge, tv), good value, efficient people.
Would definitely hire from them again.
My girlfriend and I hired the Hippie deluxe and what a pleasant that was. Well-equipped, cozy and much fun during our 1 month trip in Australia. No Problems with the vehicle and the best thing was the comfy bed, just slide it out and you got yourself a nice large bed.
the only good thing i can say about these guys is the one nice guy that we picked the van up from and the fact we had a near new van. the total package cost me over $300 in extra expenses as they 1) took an unauthorised payment off my credit card, then refunded it, but the mistake cost me $100+ in international credit card fees and a change in exchange rates and 2) refunded the ‘bond’ (less the $51 in fees that you have no choice to lose as they only take CC) to a different credit card so that it cost me another $150+ in fees and bank cheques to correct their mistake. not worth using these guys, hence all the bad reviews EVERYWHERE!!! check tripadvisor.com, they guys really are bad. go Jucy or britz, they actually care about their customers.
Best time of my life. Did some amazing activities and the campervan was really ok. No Problems, everything was there and clean as well.