My name is Brian and I am one of the founders of Transfercar. I have written this article series to help people who are thinking of relocating a car, camper van or motorhome for the first time via Transfercar.

This is the third and last article. The first part in this series explains what a relocation car is on what it means to be a relocation driver, and the second article explains how to find and book a relocation.

On the road

Day 1, our flight was scheduled to 6.40 am and we arrived Chrichchurch on time 8.00 am. On arrival we called the rental car company and they picked up us from the airport for free. It is a good idea to arrive early to get the most out of the first day.

The relocation motorhome was ready to go, but first we had to sign a normal rental agreement (just as if you rented a vehicle under normal circumstances). Standard insurance was included in the relocation deal, but we still chose to upgrade the insurance to full cover. The additional insurance was $25 per day - no excess and a peace of mind but it is totally optional. Before getting on the road, the friendly staff of Jucy gave us a tour of the vehicle including how to operate the shower, kitchen and power.

Around 9 am we were on our way to Picton via Kaikura - approx 330 km. First stop was Kaikura to have fresh Crayfish at Nims’ Bin at State Highway 1. It was a fantastic day and absolutely gorgeous to sit on the beach in the middle of the winter.

Day 2,  we drove around the Marlborough Sound before crossing to Wellington at 2.30. The weather forecast predicted gustily wind, but luckily it turned out to be North Easterly with gave us a smooth crossing. In Wellington we stayed overnight at a public car park at Victoria Heights. We woke up in the middle of the night because we thought someone was trying to force their way in only to find out the next day that the rumble was an earthquake - 5.2 in magnitude. In a motorhome that feels shaky.

Day 3, we drove from Wellington to Napier over Greytown and Dannevirke. We found this little neat tea-house in the middle of nowhere serving high-tea in good old English fashion (sorry for those living in Greytown but it is in the middle of nowhere). We arrived Napier around 5 pm after about 5 hours driving from Wellington. Weather was beautiful the whole way and very mild 21 degrees.

Day 4, from Napier we took the inland route to Taupo, where we stayed overnight at a parking lot nearby the lake before returning to Auckland the next day. No earthquake this time but just a beautiful view over the lake. In New Zealand you are allowed to stay overnight at most public places (variation of rules may apply to different districts - see for instance camping policies for Tasman District), but the problem of course is that lack power supply and disposal of wastewater and rubbish. Therefore it is advisable to stay at a dedicated campground every now and then to put fresh water on the campervan and empty wastewater. You don’t get far with only 80L of water in the tank. Top 10 Holiday Parks are located throughout the country and they charge between $14-$22 per person per night including the campervan.

Day 5, we  returned at Auckland Airport at 3.30 pm. We had a great trip and spread out the driving equally on 4 days. One day normally goes with crossing the Cook Straight. Bear in mind that these campervans are not race cars. They can be difficult to get up to 100 km/h and it does take longer time to get from A to B than a standard vehicle. Normally we covered 70-80 km per hour depending on elevation and traffic.

For 5 fantastic days on the road our total expenses looks something like this for 2 people:

This is the third and last article in the article series about relocating with Transfercar. The first part in this series explains what a relocation car is on what it means to be a relocation driver, and the second article explains how to find and book a relocation.

My name is Brian and I am one of the founders of Transfercar. I have written this article series to help people who are thinking of relocating a car, camper van or motorhome for the first time via Transfercar.

How to get a relocation vehicle - preparation and planning

The first thing is to find a relocation car at www.transfercar.co.nz that suits your travel requirements. The table of available relocation cars on the front pages gives a good overview of what is available. Pay attention to the free extras column that tells you what is included in the relocation deal. The more things included the better for you as a relocation driver. Normally the rental car companies include ferry and standard insurance with the relocation car. From time to time the rental companies also add petrol vouchers or a free tank of petrol. Often this applies to urgent relocations. The available column tells you the earliest pick-up date and latest drop off date. It does not mean you can have the vehicle during the whole period. The number of days you can have the car for free is specified in the details that can be viewed by clicking anywhere on the row of the relocation you are interested it. Most rental car companies allow between 4-7 days for a relocation between Christchurch and Auckland.

To request a relocation car click the Drive it free!-button. Your request is send directly to the rental car company and they will accept or reject your request within 12-48 hours. Sometimes they receive several requests for the same relocation. So if your request is not accepted, don’t despair - just request another one! Until you get accepted the whole booking is a ‘blind process’. You will not be told who the rental car company behind the relocation is until you have been accepted by the rental company.

I requested the motorhome approximately 7 days prior to the date we preferred to pick it up. Our request was accepted within 12 hours and we received a confirmation email from Transfercar and later on we also got an email from the rental car company - In this case it was Jucy Rentals. I called up Jucy to organize the exact pick-up time and drop-time. The rental car company also schedule the ferry crossing for us. In our case Jucy covered the cost of the ferry for the motorhome and we had to pay for passengers - $50 per person when booking through the rental car company (otherwise it is $58 with Interislander)

After having organized the relocation, we booked flight tickets with Jetstar - $39 (without luggage) and $49 (20k allowance) per person. Alternatively try Grabaseat or virginblue - you just gotta love love the competition

Transfercar needs your support!

Install the app at http://apps.facebook.com/kick-start/ and vote for Transfercar at the “Kick-start.

StartUP is a global community designed to assist online Start-UPs. Every week they will be sending their entire group of thousands of visitors to one lucky Start-UP (Transfercar) and provide a major traffic spike and hopefully a lot of new users.

You can help Transfercar by voting for them at Start-UP with on their Kick-Start my Start-UP Facebook App.

So install the app at http://apps.facebook.com/kick-start/ and vote for Transfercar now!

Winners of the petrol vouchers announced

We are happy to announce the winners of the “Wanna win free petrol?” -competition in the December issue of Transfercar’s email newsletter.

For those of you who missed it, this was the competition:

Wanna win free petrol?
Well, you can! What do you have to do to win? Nothing much really, just refer as many colleagues, friends and relatives to us as you can. That’s it!
We will draw 2 winners of $150 petrol vouchers each. To enter the competition just get the people you refer to enter  your username in the reference code on the registration page.
The more new registrations with your username on it, the bigger the chance you have to win!

We have had a great response with almost 650 new users signed up through the referral, so welcome on board to all of you!

..and the two winners of a $150 petrol voucher each are:

Matthew Rice
Queensland
Australia

and

Andrea Wilke
Berlin
Germany

We congratulate you both and thank you for your effort! The vouchers have been issued and sent out to you.

For all of you who missed out this time there will be some more competitions with even bigger prizes in the future. Hopefully we will see some Kiwi’s amongs the winners then as well!

Hot off the press, here is the first Transfercar video introduction, made for Startup:

Transfercar introduction from Espen Grimstad on Vimeo.

I put it together this afternoon, and even if the sound is crappy and the light changing, I’m pretty happy with it. Look out for more to come!

Here at Transfercar we would like to make your visit to and use of our site a breeze. So from Monday the 1^st of December on you will find a couple of new features implemented on the Transfercar site.

For example, there will be more relevant details on hand of the available rentals. As you know, the allowed amount of km’s and days was already specified with your free rental. However, to find out more about the vehicle you had to request it and then find out afterwards. But times have changed! Now you’ll be able to get the rental car company’s specific terms and conditions, more details about their requirements of you as a driver, and a price list of ‘optional extras’ like for example how much extra days or a baby seat costs.

If you are looking for a specific route, destination or date, and –fair enough- you don’t have time to check our site every day, then there is now the option of receiving email notifications. So get notified right away when your ‘ideal’ free rental becomes available, so you’re sure not to miss out.

And what about this-if you see a free rental listed that friends, colleagues or family really could use, you can forward this listing to them in the form of an email through our site.

Go to the site and check it out!

So we’re LIVE!

After a very productive beta testing - we’re finally ready to “Hello World”!
A BIG thank you to all the beta testers who helped with squashing all our bugs out, you hold a special place in our….carburetor =P