As the largest privately owned recreational vehicle operator in the Southern Hemisphere, you can rest assured that you are travelling with the best when you choose Apollo for your RV holiday.
Next to Britz, you are probably going to see more Apollo vehicles on the road than any other campervan/motorhome rental mob. Currently they have over 4000 vehicles. Which makes playing Marco-(a)pollo an easy game to play. But seriously, this is a large company, with plans to add another 1500 vehicles to the fleet. Whilst they do have smaller campervans – in particular a hi-top Hiace, they are tend to be more heading for the motorhome market. Their larger campervan should probably be in their motorhome list, but they seem to have kept in their campervan list. Probably more for balance than any other reason. Their leaning toward motorhomes could also be explained by the fact they own and operate Cheapa Campa and Hippie Campers too, which satisfy the middle and lower priced segments of the market.
Apollo’s vehicles are manufactured in their own factory in Brisbane, giving them an edge over all those who just have to retro-fit a standard vehicle, and also meaning that they have great service-ability. That means greater piece of mind for you, the renter, knowing that they will be able to get parts based in Australia. Those companies using imported motorhomes don’t have that luxury.
You definitely want to give Apollo a look in to if you are traveling with 3 or more. Their motorhome range is squarely aimed at family groups and as such they have all the little luxuries that you hope to have as a family traveling together.
They also have a competitor in the 4WD market that is different from most the others. They are NOT using the Toyota Landcruiser troop-carrier as a base model, rather the Toyota Hilux 4×4. This is the kind of vehicle that has a flat-bed rear and Apollo have put a separate shell on it for the living space. Advantage: lots more living space than any other 4WD, making this vehicle a the Taj Mahal of 4WDs. Disadvantages: You have to get out of the vehicle to get in to the back, it is HEAVY and it has pretty lame mileage. Combine this with only having 117 ltrs across 2 tanks and you will be filling up on diesel a lot (Troop carriers tend to have 180 ltrs). Also, it has less ground clearance, so you will bottom out sooner if on those really rocky or rutted dirt roads. This can also be a bummer on soft sand. Put it this way, if you are planning on staying on sealed roads, simple unsealed roads or hard sand when going outback, then this luxury liner is the way to go. If you are going hard core, then get a troop carrier from someone else.
Overall it’s hard to fault Apollo. They tend to have a vehicle to suit most desires and have a reputation of being clean and having good service. But like all the other major players, they are aiming at the traveller who values quality and cleanliness over budget constraints, so prices are not the lowest.
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.
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Campervan hire
Nov 19, 2007, 8:42 PM
Try Apollo Motorhomes they are one of the better operators and allow one way bookings from Brisbane to Sydney. They also have a great online booking system at http://www.apollocamper.com so you can see exactly what vehicles are available at the best rate.
Hope this helps ……..
“ apollo camper credit card bond question? ”
Jun 01, 2009, 8:31 PM
I have rented cars before overseas and stayed in hotels and done bond by credit card with no charges but apollo campervans have got me worried with their fine print:
Bond amounts are:
* $2700 : if you don’t purchase Excess Reduction. (Debited)
* $1200 : if you purchase Excess Reduction Option 1 at $16 per day, paid to Apollo direct. (Pre-authorisation)
* $250 : if you purchase Excess Reduction Option 2 at $26 per day, paid to Apollo direct. (Imprint)
I have my own travel insurance so don’t want to double up, but from what i see they want to debit my card for bond which means i will get fees for currency conversion both ways (paying bond and getting back). Let alone what the exchange rate will do (and at the moment I couldn’t see it moving in my favour).
I also noted in the rental contract this
“Payment of this Bond is only accepted by credit card. The bond will be debited to the credit card account immediately. An administration fee equal to the merchant surcharge applies.”
so if i get this right they are also going to charge merchant fees on my bond which i am guessing would be around 3%. So on $2700 it is $81 Aus or over $100 NZ. Add that with my currency conversion fees and i could be out well over $300 in bond costs for a $250 rental.
From the looks of it i might have to pay the $16 a day so i can get the pre-authorisation bond so it works out cheaper. Even though i got full rental excess insurance up to $5000nz.
Anyone had any experience or thoughts on the matter please share.
Cheapa Campa / Apollo
We rented a 6-berth motorhome from Apollo in Perth for 3 week vacation in northern WA. Our plan to was to drive north and visit Kalbarri, Monkey Mia, Ningaloo Reef, and Tom Price. On the 4th day out our vehicle stalled on the highway and glowplug warning light came on. We pulled over, was able to get engine started again but engine would stall again each time it got back up to highway speed. called the Apollo service number from a roadhouse, was told that since it was after 5, there was nothing that could be done. The following day, limped into Exmouth and called the serivce number again- this time directed to a repair shop mechanic who detected a fault with the diesel fuel injector system but since there is no Ford repair shop in Exmouth, I should just limp 1200 km back to Perth for service. decided to cut our trip short and drive back to Perth. The condition of our vehicle persistently got worse (Had to drive under 80-90 kph with frequent stalling- very dangerous and unnerving especially around other vehicles.) finally limped back into Perth and spent the day taking the vehicle to repair shops to confirm diesel engine was stuffed. Apollo service informed us that replacement RVs were unavailable, but they could graciously provide us with a Toyota Camry to continue our trip. I had to refuse this generous offer since we could not possibly fit our group of 5 adults (and gear) into such a nice car. Since RV could not be drive far from town, we have spent the last week of our vacation in a caravan park in Perth. Overall enjoyed our visit to WA, but be forwarned: do not expect any ‘service’ from Apollo once your vehicle is on the road.
Reviewed by: R. Vilgalys Date: June 07, 2009
Re: apollo camper credit card bond question?
Jul 02, 2009, 5:38 AM
Sorry for my english
Same thing arrived to me in Australia.
But in fact the contract in Melbourn agency proposed 3 contracts :
1/ without purchase excess reduction : 7500AD c(debited)
2/ a second one of 2500AD (debited)
3/ and a 26AD per day with the purchase of Excess Reduction.
I got a lot of problems with Apollo. The service is awful.
In Alice Springs I had a problem with battery, the people there never accepted to call the Apollo center for me (I don’t know why). I had to ask a long time they accept to check a mechanical problem.
In Darwin it was the worst I almost missed my flight because of their unwillingness.
I think there is a big problem at the moment between the Apollo agencies and their management.
For non fluent english speaking travellers it is really a big problem.
Re: apollo camper credit card bond question?
Jul 02, 2009, 9:13 AM
Hi Xcell,
Taking the bond out of your account does seem a little over the top. So they basically have your money, can invest it for the period of your rental, earn the interest before they hand it back & charge you for the priveledge.
It may be worthwhile looking at dealing with a different company.
RP
Re: apollo camper credit card bond question?
Jul 15, 2009, 8:33 AM
Plus when you do get your bond back, they dont adjust your credit card immediately like when they take the money out, it takes a further 3-4 business days before you finally receive it.
We hired an Apollo RV24′ in LA .As previous people(and us) found out, the hard way, the Apollo team has their own rules on bond.We paid $US1000 bond + $US 20.- “Bond service fee”? If you are Australian, they have their own exchange rate ( not linked to the official rate , about 5% lower)It cost us $ 70 extra . Bond was taken out the same day, return of bond took 5 days.Beware of their comprehencive 100% insurance.it does not cover demage to the lower part of vehicle or roof of the RV.
We brought the RV back late. Instead of 4 PM we brought it back the next morning 9.30 AM and they tried to “slugg” us for two more days.We only found this out, when we got home , that they helped semself to our credit card at 2X $ 133.00 .Nothing was mentioned at the checking out.
Rental day equals calender day, so you could pay 2 extra days ! Allow for at least 3 hours for pick up and 3 hours to return.
The RV we had, was very good ,17.000 miles on the clock, nearly new.Everything was in good working order. The double bed was too soft for us ,it sunk in in the middle (hammock like).The 10 cylinder engine was thirsty. We got 9 miles/galon at the best.
Just finished our trip through Australia with Apollo’s Euro Star. Very good vehicle, good service and no problems with the bond whatsoever. The all inclusive insurance does cover the damage to the lower part of vehicle or roof of the RV. It’s slight more expensive but we took the safe way and be sure we were covered.
I rented the Apollo 6 Berth and I found it very good and reliable. The vehicle was clean and tidy and also well equipped with no missings or broken things.
The motorhome was well maintained, as I couldn’t find no broken things and was also very good cleaned. Everything was privided what you might need during your camping trip and worked very good. To change the living room into a bed is a very straight forward proces and wasn’t hard to do at all. I can only recommended this company to you as we had a very good experience with them.