Campervan & motorhome hire Australia for German travellers

Yes, for vehicles up to 3.5 t total weight, which covers most Camplify campervans. Heavier motorhomes need Class C1. Total weight is shown in every listing; if unclear, ask the owner. An International Driving Permit is recommended in addition to your Class B licence; bring your passport too.

Yes. German, Austrian and Swiss passport holders apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) online for around A$20. The application takes about 15 minutes through the official ETA app or immi.homeaffairs.gov.au; approval lands within hours in most cases. Valid 12 months from issue, multiple entries, up to three months per visit.

Every Camplify hire includes 24/7 roadside assistance. Australia doesn't have a single federal motoring club; each state has its own (NRMA in NSW, RACV in Victoria, RACQ in Queensland, RAC in Western Australia). All reachable through your booking's roadside line; you don't need a personal membership. In the outback, help can take longer; a satellite messenger is worth carrying for the Red Centre.

European phones on Telekom, Vodafone, O2, A1, Magenta, Salt, Sunrise and Swisscom all work in Australia on roaming. Daily rates add up on long trips. The cheaper move is an Australian prepaid SIM at the airport (Telstra has the widest rural coverage; Optus and Vodafone are cheaper but thinner in the outback) or an international eSIM like Airalo before you fly.

Australia has a reciprocal healthcare agreement with Germany (and several other EU countries). German Krankenkasse-insured visitors get essentially free emergency hospital treatment, doctor visits at subsidised rates, and prescriptions at the lower PBS price. It is not a full replacement for Auslandskrankenversicherung (no air-ambulance, no repatriation, no non-urgent treatment), so most German visitors still take out a separate Reisekrankenversicherung (typically EUR 20 to EUR 40 for a 4-Wochen-Reise). Camplify's protection is vehicle-only and runs separately. Bring your europäische Krankenversicherungskarte and your passport.

Australian Kindersitz-Vorschriften are stricter than German Auflagen and strictly enforced. Babies under 6 Monaten need a rear-facing capsule; ages 6 Monate to 4 Jahre an approved rear- or forward-facing restraint; ages 4 to 7 an approved Booster. German-bought Kindersitze are NOT certified for AS/NZS-1754. Most Camplify owners can supply approved seats on request when you book; one of the practical things owner-listed hire handles cleanly.

Australia has 1,500 plus paid holiday parks at A$25 to A$60 per night with full hookups (the equivalent of a Campingplatz mit Stromanschluss), thousands of low-cost national-park sites at A$10 to A$20, and many highway rest areas that allow free overnight camping (look for the camp-icon sign). WikiCamps and CamperMate show all three categories and work offline.

Every booking requires Camplify's Accident Excess Reduction (AER), covering damage to the RV and to third-party property up to the Selbstbeteiligung you choose. Eligibility is licence-class and age (typically 25 plus, some owners 21 plus), not nationality. Two tiers at booking: Risk Taker (default, A$0 to A$5,500 excess depending on the RV) and Happy Camper (A$0 to A$500 excess, daily fee on top). Australian excesses are higher than European norms, so Happy Camper often pays for itself on a multi-week trip. AER doesn't replace personal travel cover; it covers the vehicle and third-party property, not your belongings or personal-injury liability. Your German Reisekranken-versicherung covers those. 24/7 nationwide roadside assistance is included via the booking fee.

Yes. This is one of the bigger differences between Camplify and a depot rental. Australian owners regularly deliver to caravan parks, national-park campgrounds, beaches, hiking trail heads, and private properties. Owners typically charge A$1 to A$2 per kilometre delivery from their home base.

Yes to both. The near-airport filter (special_place=airport) shows vans within 15 minutes of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Cairns; many of those owners deliver direct to the terminal. For one-way (fly into Sydney, road trip to Cairns, fly home from Cairns), most owners agree a kilometre-based one-way fee; a few don't. The simpler alternative is a domestic flight to your finish city and a local owner's van there.

Summer somewhere every month. The southern half (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Tasmania, the Great Ocean Road, the wine regions) is best November through March. The tropical north (Cairns, the Reef, Darwin, the WA Coral Coast) is best May through September; January through March is wet season up there. April and October work almost anywhere.

Three weeks is the sweet spot for an East Coast loop or Sydney-to-Adelaide. Two weeks gives you a great Tasmania loop or Sydney-to-Brisbane. Less than a week works for a focused trip out of one city, like Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. Australia is bigger than most Europeans expect; pace your distances. Five to six weeks gets you a full coast-to-coast crossing.

Petrol runs roughly A$1.80 to A$2.20 per litre, about EUR 1.15 to EUR 1.40 depending on the exchange rate. Diesel campervans are common and 20 to 30 percent cheaper to run on long trips. Tolls exist on parts of the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane motorways and are billed automatically through a small electronic tag in the van; rural Australia has very few tolls.