Our motorhome and campervan rental rates (apart from any special IdeaMerge discount) and policies match those of our vendor and therefore the rates are calculated in New Zealand Dollars (NZD). This means we do not inflate our rates to cover ourselves against the threat of our home currency, the US Dollar (USD), declining versus the NZD.

Moreover, we do not impose a credit card transaction fee. And we do not truncate the exchange rate (which is another way companies can favor themselves). Furthermore, we use the minimal retail exchange rate — alias the "credit card" exchange rate (as published on www.oanda.com) — to change from the vendor's currency into our currency (USD) for actual charging. Finally we present all this math in the detailed confirmation voucher that we e-mail to you soon after booking the rental. … In these and other ways we carefully save our clients from suffering hidden costs.

downpayment

balance

cancellation fees

changes

A change to a booking does not entail a change fee, per se.

Refunds are not offered for early return of the rental vehicle.

If after the rental has commenced the client wants to change drop-off location, the client should first obtain authorization from the destination depot and ascertain the additional charge that would apply, which charge could be as high as NZD 500.

If after the rental has commenced the client wants to extend the duration of the rental, the client should obtain authorization from the destination depot. The extra cost must be paid by credit card over the telephone. Failure to obtain such authorization will result in a daily fee of NZD 150 in addition to the daily rental rate (which rate will be the present rate, not necessarily the rate the vehicle was booked at).

security deposit

Unlike much of its competition, Kea does NOT impose a 1.5 percent credit card surcharge on the optional items and/or the security deposit or possible traffic fines or penalties and such they themselves charge locally (i.e. upon the pick-up and/or return occasions). Maui and Britz refund such surcharge insofar as they refund the portion attaching to the refund of the security deposit. Apollo does not refund their credit card surcharge — and they charge a 4 percent surcharge on American Express transactions they themselves charge. IdeaMerge, like KEA, imposes no credit card surcharges on the transactions we process.

Kea is of course not responsible for any associated surcharges that might be levied by the credit card company nor for any fluctuations in the applicable exchange rate (if any) between the time of the charge and the time that the vendor credits the charge (in full or in part) back to the card.

Generally the security deposit is fully refundable on return of the vehicle to the agreed location, on the agreed date, with no damage incurred to the vehicle or third party property and with the toilet cassette and waste water tank emptied and no items lost or damaged. In case of any damage to the KEA Campers vehicle or third party property a second security deposit will be collected by KEA Campers to cover the deductible for any subsequent damage. Of course as is generally the case in the auto insurance industry, the insurance deductibles apply per occurrence, i.e. per accident/incident.

Unlike much of its competition, Kea does not charge a "soiling fee." Which is to say, a vehicle returned with an unclean interior does not typically entail a cleaning fee. Nevertheless, if the client returns an especially dirty vehicle and/or a vehicle with toilet cassette and/or waste water tank not emptied, KEA may retain some of the security deposit as a cleaning fee.

reservation

In accord with the automobile rental industry standard, reservations may be made for a vendor's particular vehicle category (what we might call a vendor's "group") only, not for a specific vehicle. Which is to say, although the various images, model numbers and vehicle specifications presented throughout the IdeaMerge motorhome rental pages — especially on the vehicle-specification pages — are carefully selected to accurately and precisely indicate the vehicle that you will get, the vehicle model (and layout) you get might not be identical to what is indicated by said information. In the very unlikely event that a vehicle in the reserved category is not available upon the pick-up date, the rental company reserves the right to substitute a comparable or larger vehicle with the same equipment and the capacity to accommodate the number persons you have delineated (in terms of, say, adults and children) as being in your party. In this case there will be no additional charge for a larger vehicle. However, the higher ancillary costs associated with a larger vehicle — such as ferry charges, tolls, and fueling costs — are to be borne by the customer.

Minimum duration is 5 calendar days except when the pick-up occurs in the span 20 December through 5 January, when the minimum duration is 10 calendar days.

One-way rentals are available — and with KEA no one-way fee presently applies! However, for pick-ups from October 2008 through March 2009 the one-way fee is NZD 275.

If after a rental has commenced the client wants to change drop-off location, the client should first obtain authorization from KEA and ascertain the additional charge that would apply.

age and license(s)

The minimum age limit for renters and other drivers of KEA's vehicles is only 21 years. KEA requires from drivers 75 years old or older a written statement from a medical practitioner noting that the client is fit to operate the booked vehicle (the vehicle being characterized by its weight, dimensions, and transmission).

Upon pick-up the vendor requires of the client a valid, non-provisional resident-country drivers license, held for at least one year. Moreover, if said license is not primarily or secondarily (i.e. in parallel) written in English, the vendor also requires of the client an international drivers permit (IDP). Such IDPs are available for a small charge (about USD 20) from the automobile club offices in the client's country of residence (but not outside their country), and a person need not be a member of such club to obtain the IDP from the club. See the IdeaMerge "Resources" page for more about IDPs.

Drivers must of course possess their valid domestic drivers license. The Australia and New Zealand motorhome and camper van rental vehicles presented on the IdeaMerge Website are designed such that relative especially to the laws of Australia and New Zealand virtually all non-provisional domestic drivers licenses suffice for operation of these vehicles, even in nearly all cases where the inherent limits of such license (i.e. relative to your domestic laws) would preclude the holder from driving the vehicle in his/her own country. (Which is to say, standard foreign drivers licenses are translated by the laws of Australia and New Zealand such that these licenses basically function in Australia and New Zealand as standard Australia or New Zealand drivers licenses.) Nevertheless, you might be interested in researching the inherent limits of your drivers license. To do so you can check the back of your license and visit the Website of the governmental agency that issued your license. You can also see the following Wikipedia articles: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driver's_license and, say, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Driving_Licence_codes.

animals

no smoking

what's included

There is no charge for additional drivers.

Furthermore all KEA's New Zealand camper rentals include liability insurance (i.e. third party insurance). The KEA camper rentals also include collision and comprehensive insurance. All these aspects of the included insurance inhere a deductible (a.k.a. excess; applicable no matter who is at fault) of NZD 5000, but clients can reduce this figure to either NZD 2000 or all the way to zero by purchasing one of two optional damage waivers (a.k.a. excess reductions):

The second of these damage waivers furthermore extends the coverage to the windshield and tires.

Damage to the overhead or underbody of the vehicle is not covered unless the customer opts for the all-inclusive package (described on the Accessories page).

Clients may store luggage free of charge at the depots; and for NZD 35 per item KEA will forward luggage to the drop-off location, if you like.

Kea does not charge the client a Diesel Tax Recovery fee.

And again, Kea does not charge the client for refill of the LP Gas.

The following are included by default at no extra charge:

multiple rentals

Multiple rentals are also accommodated nicely. If via IdeaMerge — and at the same time — a client rents consecutive KEA vehicles in Australia and/or in New Zealand and the pick-up dates are within 360 days of each other, IdeaMerge will effectively combine these otherwise separate rentals by not charging twice for any overlapping day or days (this by waiving cost of the last day of the initial rental) and by applying to each rental a rate or rates based on the sum of the durations (thus perhaps effecting long-term discounts). If a client makes such a set of bookings but does not place all the bookings at the same time, the booking or bookings placed later, i.e. the new one or ones, qualify for such discounts relative to the original booking but they do not qualify the original booking for such discounts as well. Note: Given this policy and the cost of transporting a vehicle between Australia and New Zealand, such transport is prohibitively costly. Our online reservation software, although highly specialized, does not allow customers to place more than one reservation at once. Therefore IdeaMerge will manually and at the client's request account for multiple rentals as described above.

Our online reservation software, although highly specialized, does not allow customers to place more than one reservation at once. Therefore IdeaMerge will manually and at the client's request account for multiple rentals as described above.

"diesel tax recovery" fee

Unlike much of its competition, Kea does not charge a Diesel Tax Recovery fee.

infringements

road restrictions

breakdown cover and repairs

All the vehicles do include roadside service nationwide, accessible from 8:00 to 22:00 (10:00 pm) by way of tel. 0800 52 00 51 (toll free).

Any problems associated with the vehicle, including equipment failure, should be reported to KEA as soon as possible within 24 hours, this to give KEA the opportunity to rectify the problem without delay. Failure to report as such will compromise any client claims for compensation; Kea does not accept liability for claims submitted after this duration.

Repairs costing up to NZD 100 may be effected without authorization from Kea and will be appropriately reimbursed if the client provides the repair receipt to KEA. For amounts estimated over NZD 100, the client should obtain authorization from KEA. Receipts relating to any repair should be submitted to KEA.

See our "Insurance, etc" page for details concerning the included insurance.

a slight disclaimer

KEA New Zealand's terms and conditions

warning

Although motor travel in New Zealand is not generally considered prohibitively dangerous, there are, of course, associated risks — including death. For quantitative measures of these risks, please see the Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT) http://www.asirt.org.